Daily Worship

Healing Personhood

February 18, 2015 0 0

James 2:14-20

Faith without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren?

It is very tempting when we encounter someone with a problem immediately to imagine that with our resources and expertise and even our faith, we can find a solution to their problem. But this is not the way that Jesus went about his ministry. When Jesus visits the town of Jericho (Mark 10: 46 – 52), everyone is slightly embarrassed by the fuss Bartimaeus makes. Here is a blind beggar causing a scene and lowering the tone of the neighbourhood. Sometimes we don’t want important visitors to see the dark underbelly of our community, we want people to see our place at its best. So everyone tells Bartimaeus to be quiet. However, Jesus hears him and calls him over. But Jesus does not immediately offer to find a solution to Bartimaeus’s problem, instead he asks him, “Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you?” Then, when the healing takes place, Jesus does not take any credit himself. Instead, he says, “Your faith has made you well”. In other words, Bartimaeus’s rediscovery of self after being heard and acknowledged as a human being, not just a problem, is what has healed him.  

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, in our eagerness to help fix the problems of other people’s lives,
help us to ensure that we see the person before we see the problem
and that we do not take credit for things accomplished by your Holy Spirit.
Amen.