Proper 25 - Restoration in Christ Alone

Welcome Statement

Good Morning,

This morning I want to change it up with a question. What do we do when we see the infinite mercy of God reveal itself in our lives? Do we take the moment to bask in it? To give thanks? Do we remember it a week later? Or do we forget? Barely even recognize it? Rationalize it away as a coincidence? Perhaps it is our pride not wanting to acknowledge we didn’t fix something on our own. This issue, of our own pride and lack of humility, is something I touch on and definitely harp on, as it seems to be the prevailing problem for us in a highly self-centered society. Thankfully, we have scripture that shows this has always been a problem to varying degrees.

We saw last week how Job’s own pride and strong will caused him to want to question God at his low points. He believed that if he had the reigns, he could have fixed things better than God could have. Today, we see after God’s rebuttal, how Job repents and laments of his own ignorance in making such claims.

Old Testament Reading - Job 42:1-6, 10-17

Job 42:1–6 NRSV

Then 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.”

Job 42:10–17 NIV

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

Job is Humbled

We see here that Job is humbled by God from the previous discussion, he realizes after God practically showed him how he works in the Universe in ways indescribable ways that we couldn’t imagine. Scripture attempts to grasp what he saw, but it becomes a game of human language being woefully incomplete for God’s infinite goodness, but we see, from this glimpse behind the veil, how God is eternally faithful in making sure everything continues to move as it should. A tangent, every time I think of the passage in Job where God describes all of the things he does to keep the world in working order, I think of modern examples of where nature shows this to be true. We have a natural capacity to dirty up and muck up the environment around us, but then we see “Mother Nature” do its job even if it takes years later to play catch up and clean up our messes. A few examples, back on August 8th it was reported that scientists in germany found a micro-fungi that was capable of eating and digesting plastic. They aren’t the first fungus discovered, but they were the first one that started to eat in the ocean I believe that we have found. This is crazy, considering the amount of junk we create as humans through consumerism. Anyone hear about that awful lanternfly lately or see them? They’re no fun due to how invasive they are. But when you have a bug as invasive as it with the colorful wings to deter animals from eating it, it keeps growing. But recently it was discovered that birds are starting to learn to eat them, as they become one of the few food sources available. We become so sure we are able to conquer the problems we ourselves produce. And we do conquer many problems! Medical problems, technical issues, etc. But these mass scale problems with nature, we never seem able to win. There are examples where we manage to be the cause of improvement, like honeybee populations, but wild bee populations continue to decline. Is this meaning we give up? No, absolutely not, it becomes clear that we are called to serve God and be stewards of this earth, with the best knowledge we can find, but in other cases where we introduced invasive animals trying to kill off another invasive animal, we miss the forest for the trees, not realizing how many connected roots there are in these ecosystems. This is what God was getting at last week, our minds are woefully unprepared for what he is responsible for. I only use the environment as an example since it’s the most relevant to pick as a point. So in the case of Job, he realizes that his predicament makes him helpless, he can’t do anything on his own, he has to rely on the Grace and infinite mercy of God to find everything he has restored. It is never made clear if his repentance restores him, or anything else that he does. I believe Job purposefully leaves this piece of information vacant, to make the point that he had everything restored to him and then some, as a gift of God. There are of course, many trailing questions we find ourselves left with, with the book of Job, but these lingering questions just emphasize the point of us having to rest in the mystery of God’s Will and love for us. This Old Testament example of God restoring people back to their former selves, in the material and spiritual sense, is echoed in Mark.

New Testament Reading - Mark 10:46-52

Mark 10:46–52 NIV

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. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Son of David, Have Mercy on Me!

Immediately, a blind man who heard Jesus Christ, started to beg and shout. I always wondered how he recognized him if he was blind, did he just hear what he was preaching? Had he previously heard his voice in the area and this time decided to finally call upon him realizing he is the Messiah? Some very intricate questions about how God reveals the truth to us, without us realizing it. What is familiar here, is this man being rebuked. I Imagine him wailing and crying for God, and all of these bystanders, cringing at the site of him making a foll out of himself. He was an outcast of society, a nobody, people wanted him to be quiet. This happens all too often today too. I can’t tell you how many times I remember even in my own mind, during an awkward situation, just wishing someone would stop talking, because their words made my ears hurt, or made me uncomfortable. It was about keeping the “worldly peace” and “normalcy” of a secular world. I think of streat preachers who easily get rebuked or find themselves at odds with bystanders, some of this is of course, depending on the preacher, their own fault for whatever topic they decided to go off on, but if they are simply preaching the Good News, it still becomes what we would call, a “disturbance” and sometimes even a “public nuisance”. I personally have mixed feelings on this of course, I can’t really tell you the right answer on public evangelization, John Wesley used to get on soapboxes back in the early days of the Methodist Movement to preach in wide public fields, so there is definitely a time and a place for it when the Spirit moves us! But if we are doing it to simply show God how “good of a servant” we are, we are just filling up our own egos and pride. We see here, Jesus stopping and telling someone in the crowd to call them. Then all of a sudden, we hear them suddenly change their tones, telling the man to cheer up, etc. It comes off almost mocking like “look what you’ve done now”, or “you can stop whining now, he heard you”. The Blind Man doesn’t respond to this however, and just goes up to Jesus. He doesn’t give any long rhetoric, he simply tells Christ 5 words on what he wishes. All of a sudden he has his sight back and follows Jesus. That is faith, the ability to boldly go before the throne as it says in Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” He simply asked, and God answered. No long monologue, nothing, he just received it. How peculiar. Do we preface our requests to God with big fancy words and a ton of nuance? Trying to appease him as we ask for what it is? Or are we to the point and honest? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to respect God, but sometimes at your lowest point, you need to just let it go plainly onto the altar. What I want to be clear however is, this change in posture does not guarantee an outcome, but it does guarantee a deeper, more fulfilling relationship in Christ. Sometimes our Father in heaven says “not yet”, or answers with a completely unexpected response, which from our point of view could be good or bad! I tell you the hardest prayers to pray, are the ones asking for healing because of this reason, because the first thought that always comes to mind is, if I boldly pray for healing for people, and it doesn’t happen, does that mean my prayer wasn’t good enough, or it didn’t reach a desired threshold? Did God wait on my inability? What we need to understand is no, that is not how restoration in God works. In the case of Job, he didn’t even ask for everything back at the end, he repented in dust and ashes, yet he received it all and then some. I believe to a degree that prayer is for the one praying, but it is also clear, it is also for the Glory of God, strengthening our side of the relationship. There is legitimate power in prayer, and there are tough mysteries surrounding the sovereignty of God on whether or not prayer influences his choices, as we see examples of people “appealing” to God to reconsider. I believe this is proof God is more complex than we can comprehend, and that praying is a proof that we trust in that mystery. I don’t mean number of times though, a single prayer of conviction is enough! But it’s important we continue to pray, and it doesn’t have to be liturgical, it doesn’t have to be some fancy exposition, you can walk in a forest and talk Jesus like a friend if need be, just talk to him. We find that the more we do this, the more we realize what is already true, that we are restored in Jesus Christ. He heals all wounds, and reconciles everything to himself. He can’t be bought, or sold, he can’t be defeated, that victory over death proclaims that we too, will live in him, free of all pain at the end of Days. That truth is something we arecalled toshare and realize, as we help spread the Gospel, proclaiming restoration over people’s lives, and also through our actions towards them. It’s time to see what a restored world in Christ truly means, as we continue to build his Kingdom. Let us Pray

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We thank you for this truth of restoration in you. That when we rest in you, and trust in you, we find things restored that we couldn’t see a way out of. Help us to boldly go before the throne and ask plainly our wishes to you, so we can see healing in our time, however you decide to provide it. If we don’t see the restoration we hoped for, or expected, help us to as it says in the serenity prayer to accept the things we cannot change. Help us to understand this nuance of your Glory and your Healing, but to also trust it boldly and believe in all the miracles it creates. We thank you for this infinite gift you give us each and every day.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

A we go out this week, let us remember how we are restored in Christ. Remember where he restored things in your life to either better or their former selves. Share this Good News of restoration with others through your actions and words. Finally, I give you this benediction from Paul in 2nd Corinthians: 2 Corinthians 13:11

2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!