This sermon was preached in two parts. Prior to it was read Mark 10:32-45. That is the scene where James and John ask Jesus if they can sit at his right hand and his left. Then comes the first part of the sermon. That sets up the reading of Mark 10:46-52. The rest of the sermon follows. These Bible passages are not included here but you'll want to have them available.
Before we go further in Mark’s
gospel we have to take a step away from it and look at another piece of writing
from the ancient world. If you studied
ancient literature you might have heard of it and be familiar with it. Or, interestingly, if you are an astronomer
or physicist you might also be familiar with it. I’m talking about the 4th Century
B.C.E. writing of Plato called Timaeus.
Timaeus is one of the few books that
every educated person in the time of Jesus could have been expected to have
read. It’s a fictitious conversation
that teaches philosophy and theology and astronomy. The main speaker is a guy called Timaeus who
is an astronomer. The story has two
parts. In the first part he makes the
argument that the universe is arranged in an orderly fashion by a god. The earth, the planets and stars all have
predictable order and are ordered mathematically. It is interesting to note that in this Greek
writing from the 4th century B.C.E. Timaeus asserts that the earth
is a sphere. It is not flat. Also the entire universe was a sphere.
And
on those same lines Timeaus says that lesser gods than the god who created the
order of the universe fashioned human beings.
In imitation of the great sphere of all things the human head was made,
“being the most divine part of us and lord of all that is in us.” (Timaeus
44d) The rest of the body being created
as a servant to the head. Then into this
head are inserted the organs of the senses – mouth, ears, nose, and most
importantly eyes. Timaeus argues that
sight is the most important of all the senses because by it one can observe the
order of the universe created by the gods.
Let me read an excerpt:
“The
sight in my opinion is the source of the greatest benefit to us, for had we
never seen the stars and the sun and the heaven, none of the words which we
have spoken about the universe would ever have been uttered. But now the sight of day and night, and the
months and the revolutions of the years have created number and have given us a
conception of time, and the power of inquiring about the nature of the
universe. And from this source we have
derived philosophy, than which no greater good ever was or will be given by the
gods to moral man. This is the greatest
boon of sight, and of the lesser benefits why should I speak? Even the ordinary man if he were deprived of
them would bewail his loss, but in vain.
This much let me say however. God
invented and gave us sight to the end that we might behold the courses of
intelligence in the heaven, and apply them to the courses of our own
intelligence… (Timaeus 47a-c).
That
passage is the bridge passage to the second part of Timaeus which then goes on
to explain how philosophy ultimately derives from sight. According to Timaeus, the wise will take what
they see in the orderly progression of the stars in their courses and apply
that to their own minds, seeking to imitate such movements in peaceful reason. Near the end of the writing Timaeus
summarizes: let the wise man follow the thoughts and revolutions of the
universe, learning the harmonies of the sphere, “so that having assimilated
them he may attain to that best life which the gods have set before mankind,
both for the present and the future” (90d).
So,
for Timaeus sight leads to wisdom.
Wisdom leads to philosophy.
Philosophy leads to the best life both now and the future.
Like
modern day philosophers, the ancient Greek philosophers were a pretty arrogant
bunch. They thought that philosophy was
the path to ultimate truth. And
philosophy was not for everyone, no.
Philosophy was something only the elite could attain. Thus only the elite could have the best
life. Remember what I read Timaeus
saying, “Even the ordinary man if he were deprived of [the senses] would bewail
his loss, but in vain.” In other words
an ordinary man would not know to fully use his senses in philosophy.
We’re
going to come back to Timaeus again, but first let’s look at the remainder of
our gospel reading. Let me make one note. In Mark’s gospel Jesus heals many people, but
all of those people are anonymous. We
aren’t given their names. But there is
one exception, and we’re about to meet him!
(Read
Mark 10:46-52)
Biblical
scholars have debated for centuries if Mark is spoofing the Timaeus here. I believe he is. In fact the idea of spoofing the Timaeus and
all that it stands for seems to run throughout all of Mark. I believe what we read today is a playful
wink from Mark that has come down to us from almost 2000 years ago.
The
Timaeus is about sight. What is the
healing performed here? Sight.
Mark
is emphatic about this guy’s name – Bartimaeus son of Timaeus. “Bar” means “son of” anyway, so Mark is being
repetitive here to make his point. We
have the son of Timaeus, who is blind. And
who does he meet? Well, Jesus of course,
but look at what Bartimaeus calls him, “Jesus, Son of David…” So we have the son of Timaeus calling to the
Son of David.
Bartimaeus
is emphatic in his pursuit of Jesus. The
crowds tell him to be quiet but he doesn’t stop. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but in the Timaeus
the person is expected to pursue sight.
It does not come easily or passively.
Notice
that Jesus stops his progress and invites Bartimaeus to come to him. He does immediately, springing up and
throwing off his cloak.
If
you were paying very close attention to the passage we read earlier today (Mark
10:32-45) you might notice that Jesus says the same thing again that he said
earlier. Earlier James and John came to
Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of
you.” And Jesus replies, “What is it you
want me to do for you?”
And
what does Jesus say to Bartimaeus? The
exact same words: “What is it you want me to do for you?” This time though instead of asking selfishly
for glory, as James and John do, Bartimaeus asks, “My teacher” (notice that’s
how James and John’s request began) “let me see again.”
Jesus
says to him, “Go, your faith has made you well.” And we learn Bartimaeus immediately regains
his sight and follows Jesus on “the way.”
Let’s
make some contrasts:
In
the Timaeus it is observation and human intellect that leads to wholeness of
life. In Greek philosophy you have to be
smart and elite.
What
leads to wholeness of life with Jesus?
Is it intellect? Is it
elitism? Jesus says to Bartimaeus ‘your
faith’ has made you well. I don’t think
we’re to interpret this as a ‘faith healing’ so much as a statement that faith
leads to wholeness. To follow Jesus is
to receive sight. In other words,
wholeness of life comes through Jesus, not philosophy.
Here
are some excerpts from Holy Ground a Liturgical Cosmology by Gordon
Lathrop:
“In
Mark, the account comes just after the last of the [crucifixion] predictions,
Jesus’ words about sharing his cup and his baptism, and his exhortation to his
followers not to be like the leaders of the Gentiles. Timaeus [was such a leader] and his attitude
towards women and “lesser” sorts of people were examples of the worldview of
such tyranny. Now, the very descendant
of Timaeus is presented as such a lesser sort.
But unlike the figure in the Timaeus, this blind beggar does not lament
in vain. Throwing off his cloak, he
comes to Jesus. Calling Jesus “my
teacher,” he asks to see. And upon
receiving his sight, he follows Jesus “in the way.”…
“This
new Timaeus also follows “the absolutely unerring courses of God” toward the
“best life” as the philosopher advises, but those courses are not found in the
sky but, hidden under the form of disorder and loss, they are found among us,
on the earth, in the way of Jesus Christ, “seen” in faith…
“If
this reading of the Bartimaeus story is current, then Mark has intentionally
created or borne witness to a hole, a tearing in the fabric, of the cosmology
of the Timaeus. This hole occurs just at
the place where the blind cry out for sight and are ignored, where, for the
Christian, the lament is too strong for the cosmological business-as-usual to
continue.” (Excerpts pgs. 31-33)
“This
broken cosmology makes room for the women, for the lament of the blind or
anyone else to whom the world has become too large, for the need of the
marginalized and forgotten, for the experience of an utterly disordered
world. The Gospel of Mark itself
contains several connecting lines out to the cosmos. There is a way in the wilderness (1:2-3). Crowds are drawn from many regions and from
the four directions (3:8; 8:9). A new
sense exists that all the houses, fields, and families of the earth can be sees
as home to those who follow Jesus (10:30).
But the heavens are torn, and the courses of the stars – while belonging
to God – are not necessarily the reliable sign of peaceful reason: the sun can
be darkened (13:24, 15:33), the stars can fall (13:25). Order – deep order for all things – is only
to be found in the word and promise of God and in the encounter with the Risen
One.” (Pg. 36)
I
believe that Mark is not only connecting to the Timaeus here, but his entire
gospel is spoofing Greek philosophy, and the ways of the world in general. Mark is telling us that God is simply not
going to play by the rules of society or of the universe that we think God must
play by.
God’s
grace, God’s love, is too big. It is too
powerful to be contained or predicted.
So let our eyes be opened to the overwhelming immensity of God’s love
and let us find wholeness of life in it.
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