Pentecost 22 (Mark 10:46-52) “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus frequently attributed healing to faith.

Sometimes, it was the faith of the person who was healed. Sometimes, it was the faith of the person’s family or friends. On occasion it was even the faith of his mother.

Faith is not the same thing as belief. People believe all sorts of things with minimal to no evidence. Sadly, belief can be grounded in self-will, the will to power. The evidence of belief grounded in self-will is fear, anger, and pride. This kind of belief cannot evolve into faith. This kind of belief subverts and destroys faith.

Faith is trust, confidence and loyalty. The only proper place for faith is the one whom God the Father sent into the world to call forth faith. That one is the incarnate co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

The great obstacle to faith in Jesus is belief. We reserve the right to believe whatever we choose regardless of whether it is true. The demand in belief is “my mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts. I will not be defined by facts. “

Jesus didn’t just offer his opinion about what is true. Jesus is the truth. He is the eternal logos, the transcendent pattern of truth. As the truth he invites all people to look into the perfect mirror of truth. That perfect mirror shows us where our beliefs are counterfactual. That perfect mirror shows us where we are not in truth.

Beliefs that are counterfactual enslave. These kinds of beliefs enslave us in many ways. Primarily, false belief enslaves us to fear. Of course, most people do not consciously choose to be enslaved to fear. What facilitates false belief is personal pride, institutional power and spiritual separation.

How does this work?

Consider what beliefs Bartimaeus had.

As a blind man he was defined by a religious institutional belief that God was punishing him for sin. He believed he was a sinner because he was blind.

As a human being he was part of a species that chose and continues to choose separation from God. Bartimaeus believed he was lost because he was blind not because of the choice of original separation.

His family and town believed he was disabled and unable to work. He could only sit by the road all day and beg for coins. Bartimaeus defined himself as hopelessly broken and disabled, unproductive, a beggar on the very outer edge of the economy and society.

As with many in his condition, people tolerated him but did not consider him a vibrant part of the community. When he cried out to Jesus people attempted to silence him. They believed he had nothing to offer Jesus, nothing to offer God, nothing to offer the wider community. Bartimaeus believed he was worthless.

Cursed, separated, tolerated, disabled, a worthless beggar- these were the words other people used to define Bartimaeus. These were the beliefs Bartimaeus held about himself. And, he was enslaved to these beliefs.

Then Jesus came.

Jesus very quietly challenged what people believed about God, each other, and the way the world works. Jesus proclaimed the Good News that God is real, God is personal, God is universal unconditional love. Jesus taught a new paradigm that not only challenged what everyone believed but overturned those beliefs. What made his message so powerful and so dynamic was that he embodied what he taught. He never said do as I say not as I do. He proclaimed the universal unconditional love of God, embodied that love, and acted from the place of that love. Those actions produced real, identifiable and measureable results.

Bartimaeus could not see Jesus. He had heard the stories. He had heard the excitement and wonder in the crowd. When he met Jesus and heard Jesus speak he moved from the despair of inherited belief to the great hope of faith. He embraced a new vision of God and himself as a child of God. Before he ever regained his sight he heard the truth and saw the implications of the truth.

As Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants, Bartimaeus has already begun to experience a new understanding and to embrace a new vision. Jesus grants the request for healing in the context of faith, hope and unconditional love. The hope Bartimaeus feels in the Real Presence of the unseen God produces faith. That faith encounters divine love in trust and courage. The faith initiates a process that leads to healing. The love, who is Jesus himself, completes the healing. Bartimaeus receives his sight as he exercises his faith in the context of a new vision of God.

Then, Bartimaeus sees Jesus for the first time. In response to this miraculous healing of faith, hope and love, Bartimaeus makes a real choice to follow Jesus. Bartimaeus becomes a student, a disciple, and pledges his loyalty to Jesus.

All people inherit counterfactual beliefs. What beliefs keep us, keep you, from faith? Where does belief subvert hope and corrupt faith? Where is the fear, the demand, the pride of self will that cannot and will not see the steadfast, holy, unconditional, universal love of God in Jesus Christ?

Where are you still experiencing life as a problem to be solved rather than as a gift to celebrate?

Where do you still sit on the side of the road begging for scraps when Jesus offers the banquet of Eternal Life and Infinite Compassion at the altar of sacrifice?

Where do you allow the spiritual blindness of our secular culture to define your expectations, priorities and beliefs about God, the world, other people and yourself?

It is there, right there at that place of false belief that the Truth himself calls to you, meets you, and asks you: What do you want me to do for you? How can I help?

You can’t see the solution if you are blinded by religious, political or cultural beliefs. As the Holy Spirit reveals to you where and how you are in a state of spiritual blindness Jesus is right there for you. Jesus just doesn’t offer his opinion about the solution. Jesus is the solution. Jesus is the truth that will challenge and transform false belief. Jesus is the universal unconditional love that will inspire hope, give birth to faith and through faith make all things new. Jesus is the new life and the new way of living who yearns to speak these words to each of us today and always:

“Go your way; your faith has made you well.”