27th October 2024
Reflection with readings below
How often have you looked for something – your keys, a jar of jam, a lost coin – and not seen it, only to have your partner come up and say, There it is! And you realise you had been looking at it all the time and not seen it!
In a similar but different way, maybe you have been out bird watching. Initially the view may look to be all leaves and branches but as you attune your eyes you find you can spot one, two or several birds. They were there all along but your eyes initially hadn’t seen them.
Again in a similar but different way, maybe you have been watching the news, but although the pictures pass before your eyes, you don’t really see what’s there. The newsreel shows homes and streets blown to smithereens, their inhabitants – those that survived – dazed and traumatised, but our brains tune out: this is just a film, it’s not real life.
Sometimes we look and do see, but pretend that we haven’t. We turn a blind eye to d eye to the situation – as people did around Al Fayhed. And as many did – and do – in the oil industry, refusing to recognise the damage caused to the climate and environment.
Looking and seeing are different things. Looking is perhaps more about exploring where as seeing is about knowing. Job has discovered this. He now sees and knows God in a different way – in a clearer light. And this has brought him into a better, closer relationship with God.
Looking and seeing can also be about truth telling, standing up for what is right.
Today’s gospel story is also about seeing – and for Timaeus it is about seeing anew. Timaeus is physically blind but this has not stopped him from hearing about Jesus and knowing what miraculous things Jesus can do. Maybe he knows more about Jesus than many other bystanders, for he calls Jesus, ‘the Son of David’ which might suggest that Timaeus recognises Jesus’s messianic status. And perhaps it is that insight that motivates Timaeus to be persistent in wanting to speak to Jesus, and bold in asking for what he really wants. He has had to hold his ground against those in the crowd who were trying to silence him.
So what of us with our often dodgy looking skills?
We can learn to be more observant in our looking, spending time to really look, and being prepared to look below the surface and ‘between the lines’ so that we can perceive the full truth of the situation. We can also learn how to distinguish between what is real and what is white or green wash. Think how easily advertisers persuade us to ‘see’ their product from their viewpoint! We can also learn to be articulate, telling the truth that we see – telling it as it is.
Our observant looking may also lead us into a closer relationship with God. And a closer relationship with God may help us to see more clearly – to understand how we fit into the world, how we can be good neighbours and, as importantly, how we can be good to ourselves. There are some problems we cannot solve but must be willing to trust that everything and every situation is known to God.
And hopefully our closer, more insightful looking will show us how we can be of use, in what ways we can offer help or encouragement or empathy. Equally it may lead us to ask the right questions both of those in authority, or with gifts or skills, and to make the right requests of God.
“Thanks be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits you have given me, for all the pains and insults you have borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, friend, and brother, may I know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day.”
A useful prayer attributed to St Richard of Chichester.
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Job answered the Lord:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.
Psalm 34:1-8
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; *
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
2 I will glory in the Lord; *
let the humble hear and rejoice.
3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *
let us exalt his Name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me *
and delivered me out of all my terror.
5 Look upon him and be radiant, *
and let not your faces be ashamed.
6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *
and saved me from all my troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *
and he will deliver them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; *
happy are they who trust in him!
Hebrews 7:23-28
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; but Jesus holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Mark 10:46-52
Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
The Green Tau 