Asking the Difficult Questions

Mark 10:46-52

Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

51 “What do you want me to do for you?”Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

    I was reading an article this week about questions that bring us closer to God and that article started off with some pretty interesting statistics.  Tom Hughes wrote an article called “4 Questions that will Deepen your Faith” and this is how he introduced his article: “Throughout the four biographies of Jesus in the Bible, He is asked 183 questions.  Of those 183 questions, how many do you think he answered directly? Four.”  He goes on to explain that Jesus most often answered the remaining 179 questions with some sort of story or action but most often, Jesus answered with a question.  To quote Hughes again, “In fact, Jesus Himself asked an astounding 307 questions.”  One of those 307 questions is a part of our scripture and message for this morning so we will be looking into some of the questions surrounding faith.

    After reading the question Jesus asked Bartimaeus and the article by Hughes, there was one question that kept creeping into my mind.  It was a question that probably has plagued us all at some point.  It is most likely the question that keeps many from coming to faith and causes others to lose it.  The simple question of why is not so simple to answer.  The reason I have faith seems obvious to me even if I can’t explain it in a way that seems obvious to others.  Our reasons for having faith are probably as unique as we are. Some people may think that professing faith is like hedging a bet.  They may not be certain as to whether or not God exists so they surface-level read a scripture like Romans 10:9, most likely outside of its context, which says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  They may think this is simple enough and it’s not hurting anything to make this confession and then not live by it or any other of the scriptures.  Others have professed their faith, lived it and then fallen away from it while still holding God, and religion, at an arm's length due to these uncertainties.  Others may have been lied to or pressured into faith and fallen away once they saw through the lies and fought through the pressure.  Those are some of the many reasons people have chosen to shy away from faith.  Those are some of the answers people give as to why they have lost their way in organized religion.  

For me, the why is easy.  I have faith, I live by my faith because of the better human being it makes me.  Love for God allows me to see people differently.  It allows me be a better husband because it forces me to see my own faults and seek forgiveness.  It makes me a better father because I see the patience that the Holy Father has for me.  It makes me care about things I didn’t think I cared about.  For example: My faith has helped me see the beauty and glory of nature and the responsibility God has given us to take care of it. But am I a tree hugger?  No.  I can’t even convince myself to go all in when it comes to global warming, or climate change, whatever the buzzword is for this topic.  However, I do have a responsibility to take care of the part of the planet that I inhabit and my faith makes me feel that way.  Another example: I cringe at the use of certain words that never used to bother me.  I do blame extreme political correctness for some things but when you are close to God you are better able to see and feel the pain of others and I can better see how these words affect others.  I have faith because I have been lucky enough to see and hold onto God’s love and grace.  I know that not everyone is this fortunate.  I know that others have gone through some life experiences that lead them to believe that God either doesn’t exist or if He does, He doesn’t love them.  

The question then becomes why does God allow people to feel this way?  Why was Bartimaeus blind?  I’ve discussed this topic with all of you before.  I don’t think God hand chooses who is going to be dealt one hand while someone else’s circumstances seem pretty bleak.  I think God created each of us completely unique from one another and yet identical in the sense that we are crave to worship something.  It is the responsibility of those who see God’s glory and love, those who can answer the why questions in life, to help others.  And we help in the way outlined by the teachings of Christ.  And not some politically twisted version of those teachings.  Teachings that we discuss, interpret, study beyond the written words, and live out in our everyday lives.  We all think we are right and everyone else is wrong, even when it comes to religion but that is not what Jesus was about.  Bartimaeus was shushed by the crowd after yelling to Jesus.  So what did he do?  He yelled louder.  Sometimes we have to yell louder but we must do so with a purpose.  Bartimaeus’ purpose was to catch the attention of Christ.  But let’s look at Jesus’ response, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Surely Jesus knew the answer to this question before Bartimaeus asked it and yet Jesus asked a blind man how he could help and serve him.  Jesus didn’t order this man to follow him.  Jesus told him to go on his way after he was healed and yet he chose to follow Jesus.  Bartimaeus hollered at Jesus to recover his sight and ended up a disciple.  We often ask Jesus “why me” and end up following him.  We often doubt and we are sometimes shushed yet there is the Creator of the universe, the Holy Father, asking me what He can do for me.

Faith in God makes us better people when we see it as our responsibility to treat others just as Christ did.  However, faith doesn’t necessarily improve our Earthly circumstances.  Faith in the resurrection of Christ reassures us that this life is temporary and the glory of God lives on forever.  We have eternal victory so why not use the present to help others to see God’s glory for eternity.  Don’t be the part of the crowed that shushed Bartimaeus.  Be the encouraging and compassionate part of the crowd that told Bartimaeus to “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”  Speak and live with a purpose.  The purpose and goal to spread the good news of God’s Kingdom.  The fact that Jesus asked 307 questions just goes to show that He wanted to listen.  He wanted to understand.  Jesus may still be asking the questions that drive us deeper and deeper into faith.  Jesus may in fact be the one asking you, why?  We can tell by his interaction with the 12 that it was important for Jesus to know that they understood him and he gauged their understanding through the questions he asked.  It was important for Jesus to make sure the disciples took the time to learn and understand those whom they would be ministering to, just as he had with them.  Jesus knew that compassion and love and understanding must exist between each of us or there would be no way to share the Glory of God with one another.  Amen.