What prevents us truly seeing?



Meister Eckhart, fourteenth century mystic said, “Some people want to see God with their eyes like they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow. They love their cow for the milk and cheese and profit it makes them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do no rightly love God when they love him for their own advantage. Indeed, I tell you the truth, any object you have on your mind, however good, will be a barrier between you and the inner most truth. God, rid me of God. “
Job and his friends obeyed God for the life promised in reward. The disciples followed Jesus in the hope of being on the winning side when “the messiah” won the day and the life promised in reward. They were like the blind man that Jesus took two goes at healing, who saw giants. It would take a lot, a confrontation with God, a crucifixion and resurrection before they began to see as clearly as Bartimaeus. It takes time to see properly.
These stories are filled with people only understood as categories and not as people. Job’s so called friends stopped seeing a friend and instead saw a sinner. And with the sanitised ending attached later on to make Job more palatable, do we see a person still grieving for all that was lost despite what new life is restored, or just a good person rewarded?
The person, Bartimaeus, gets lost too amongst the others healed. He stops being a real person and becomes a way Mark can make a point. We fail to see his despair and grief over a life lost, or a life never lived because of blindness. Jesus truly sees him and invites those who see Bartimaeus only as a noisy beggar whose place is on the edge and in silence, to call him. Jesus does not assume he knows this Bartimaeus or what he wants. He invites him to speak for himself and to name what it was he most deeply desired. When asked the same question James and John wanted power, wealth, and honour. They are the blind ones. Bartimaeus wants life. And he follows Jesus on the way of/to the cross to that life.
What is it we need to be rid of? Who do we not see? What blinds us to the people around us who we conveniently label? What prevents us truly seeing?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Get those PSA Blood Tests Done Boys!

I had a strange conversation a few months ago. I was lying back in a chair, naked from the waste down, holding a nappy over my bits while I waited for the skin under my bits to go numb enough from liquid nitrogen or some such thing, so that they could inject the local anesthetic and then punch a couple of holes through to the prostate. All in all a fun experience. And while I waited the nurse made small talk and asked what I did. "I'm retired", I replied. "Oh, what are you planning to do now you are retired? any travel?" "Turns out not" I said, "It seems I'm just keeping my dairy open for dealing with health things." And I am still keeping my dairy open and still dealing with them. This journey began last year. I was already dealing with two other things, including a lump in my parotid gland which has been slowly growing there for about 3 years. When I got back from being overseas on sabbatical my doctor called me in to talk about that an...
Read more

What a Ride! - Thankyou and Goodbye!

Image
You can listen to this sermon here   Gate Pa - Ascension Sunday and Easter 7 Year B, 2024 Readings: Palm                            Psalm 1 First Reading:             Acts 1:1-11, 15-17,21-26                     Bible Page 884 Second Reading:        1 John 5:9-13                                       Bible Page 991 Gospel:                         John 17:6-19      ...
Read more

"Just Enjoy The Coffee"

I was just sent this on Anglicans All. Being a coffee enjoyer and a Franciscan I enjoyed it. I hope you do to: Even if you are not a coffee drinker...Have a good day!!!! A group of graduates, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain ,plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite, telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee, the professor said: If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the simple and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it is just more ex...
Read more