A couple of weeks back we had to put yellow cones around the bus stop because of the trail of tears caused by the reckoning that it is impossible for a mortal to get to heaven … especially a rich mortal.
Today the same limitations apply, but at least there can be some solace found in reading how Job had his latter days blessed by the LORD … in what would amount to great wealth and comfort.
In terms of Zen Meditation, one could say Job reached Nirvana, as long as one knows that state is defined as, “A transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal.”
Job reached his goal … but his goal was NOT to find wealth and comfort. That was a residual effect of his state.
The problem so many have today is trying to reach a goal of wealth and comfort before ever attempting to reach a goal of a transcendent state … the state of Spirituality … the state of self-sacrifice to God. The parable of the rich man who wanted to fill one more silo with grain before dedicating the rest of his life to God tells how upside down that rationale is. God called the rich man, upon his death, a “fool.”
There is a saying for Zen meditators that goes: “As soon as you THINK you have reached Nirvana, you have already lost that state.” There can be no sense of self in a state where the goal is to be removed from self.
Material things only distract one from one’s spiritual being.
Well, you can’t take the flesh and bones either … but you get the gist.
Now the last verse we read in Job today says, “And Job died, old and full of days.” We learn he was one hundred forty years of age when he died.
Raise your hand if you know a relative who lived to be 140 … or if you expect to live that long.
<look for raised hands>
With the retirement age now somewhere between 66 and 72, it would seem your silo would have to be full to the brim, in order to live off it for what would amount to another lifetime beyond retirement … if you were blessed by God and lived to be 140.
I know there are people who doubt how Old Testament people – especially those in Genesis – lived so long. Some relate it to calendars that were lunar based, such that a “year” was not 365.25 days, but much less.
In my studies of Nostradamus’ work, The Prophecies, his letter to King Henry II of France explains the lineage of Adam, up until Jesus. In listing those great ages, after Noah, Nostradamus wrote, “les dons estoyent Solaires,” which says, “the ones given are Solar ones.” The meaning says a “year,” as stated in the books of the Holy Bible, was based on the Sun’s return to the same position in the sky – a year later. He then added no times listed in the Bible were lunar related.
Now I am not asking anyone to believe Nostradamus, but because I believe Nostradamus was a true prophet, I believe all the books of the Holy Bible were written by true prophets. Therefore, I believe Nostradamus and the Biblical authors ALL knew that a Solar year was how ages were calculated.
This means Job lived to be 140 Solar years of age AND Adam lived to be 930 Solar years of age. Because we do not see normal mortals live to such lengths simply means Job and Adam were not “normal mortals.”
Job was much closer to the genetics of Adam – whose birth came by the hand of God in Eden – so he and his children had lifespans more like immortals, than mortals. After the Great Flood, there was more interbreeding with mere mortals; but still, Abraham, Sarah, and Job lived much longer than we do today. They were closer to God than we are.
The further away from Adam’s creation, notice how the lifespan line gets lower and adjusts to normal human life (sans disease).
Jesus came to give us such closeness, but instead of a “long full life” on earth, with lots of sheep, goats, oxen and camels, Jesus is offering us eternal life. That “long full life” comes by having God within our hearts and Christ in our minds.
Rather than a reward of long mortal lives, Jesus seeks those seeking spiritual longevity. Paul (in his epistle to the Hebrew-speaking Jews of Rome) wrote about this, saying, “[Jesus] is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since [Jesus] always lives to make intercession for them.”
Jesus IS our intercessor, which means it is most important to understand what intersession means.
Raise your hand if you have heard of “intercessory prayer.”
<look for raised hands>
“Intercessory prayer” is understood to mean, “the act of praying to God for others.”
If you noticed, God gave Job a long full life with lots of stuff AFTER we read, “Job … prayed for his friends.”
Job had a lot of stuff before God let Satan strip it all away from him. After Job realized he was indeed sinning, and he repented AND then prayed for his friends, then God gave Job much more than he had prior.
That reward came once Job became the intercessor for many people; and although the mortal named Jesus had not yet walked the face of the earth then, the Christ Mind, from God, through the Holy Spirit, made Job a living, breathing, replication of Jesus … as a representation of the intercessor who always lives.
That makes Paul truthful when he wrote the words “always lives,” as “always” represents that which is eternal – past, present, and future
Now when you see how Job was an intercessor and you believe Jesus is THE intercessor, then you see how their prayers for their friends were MORE than just having a list of people to pray for and trusting God would answer those prayers.
The example today of Jesus and Bartimaeus shows that Jesus was not praying for anyone in particular. He did not tell his disciples, “Be on the lookout for some blind guy named Bartimaeus. He is on my prayer list.”
Jesus walked amid the people, so his prayers were for God to USE him as the answer to the prayers of others to God. Bartimaeus was praying to God for God’s help.
When Bartimaeus got the attention of Jesus and Jesus called for him to come, Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Bartimaeus’ answer was, “Let me see again.”
In the words that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about their blindness – “Do you have eyes but fail to see” – the same could have been said of Bartimaeus. He had been able to see, but at some time sin clouded his vision and he became shunned as a sinner … reduced to begging.
We have to see the parallel of Bartimaeus and Job. In Job’s case, his “blindness” was his inability to “see” the presence of God within him. When God finally answered Job’s prayers for help, Job said, “I had heard of you by the hearing of my ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself.”
Bartimaeus had heard of Jesus of Nazareth being in the crowd that walked past him on the Jericho road. He cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Bartimaeus’ name means “Son of Timaeus.” Timaeus (depending on what vowels are read between the consonants) either means “Highly Prized” and “Of Honor” or “Unclean One,” “Uncleanness.” This makes Bartimaeus a “Son of Job,” who was both honored as blameless and upright, but unclean once Satan cursed him with sores.
That “Son of Job” was calling out to Jesus as the “Son of David,” as the “Beloved Son,” recreating the story of Job that is read today.
When we read Job crying out, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know,” he was realizing God had always been with him, but his selfishness blinded him from that understanding.
Likewise, when Bartimaeus told Jesus he wanted to see again, Jesus said, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Jesus did not give Bartimaeus faith in God, as it was already there.
Faith led Bartimaeus to cry out for God’s help, just like Job’s faith caused him to beg God for mercy.
That faith is where the true intercessor lies – within one’s heart, causing one to pray for help, so one can help others.
Now that Jesus has left the world as a physical being, Jesus remains always to intercede in our lives through prayer. Our faith leads us to talk to Jesus.
As Job said, “Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will declare to me.” That was what Job heard God tell him.
We must listen through prayer, not speak and question God. We must hear the questions God places in our minds; and we must answer those questions.
We have to become the new version of Jesus. We do that by despising ourselves. We do that by repenting in the dust and ashes of our own egos.
If only Jimmy were telling the truth and not plotting success through forgiveness.
Until our eye is opened to see the light of Christ, we are blind beggars by the side of the road, going nowhere. We crouch so that Satan waits at our doorsteps to tempt us to sin.
We must become the intercessor – the answer to the prayers of others – by becoming Jesus … going out in public and being accessible to those who are seeking God’s help.
We have to understand how Bartimaeus immediately regained his sight because of his faith and he then followed Jesus in the same way that we must follow Jesus.
Bartimaeus did not walk the Jericho Road behind Jesus as a sideshow – and example for Jesus to point to, saying, “Look there and see how powerful I am. I healed a blind beggar. Show the people how well you can see Bartimaeus!”
No. Bartimaeus became a model of Jesus and became an intercessor of God, walking a different path where he would be led to find others were praying for God’s help.
We are not to be priests who offer sacrifices day after day, first for our own sins, and then for those of other people – as would one who seeks to retain one’s self as an outer reminder of faith … as did the Pharisees and Temple priests.
We must suffer like Job and Bartimaeus, but retain our faith in God, always listening for when He will whisper, “Call upon Jesus, Son of David. Your sins will then be washed clean and you will be full of days as Jesus reborn.”
We must be quiet examples of Jesus of Nazareth, listening for someone to call for us, so we can ask them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Amen