Out of anger, hatred and killing, ‘Let There Be Light’
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep … Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3) Bartimaeus, a man who was blind called to Jesus to have mercy on him, and when Jesus asked what he wanted, he said, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said, “Go; your faith has made you well,” and immediately Bartimaeus could see. Where there had been a formless void and darkness for Bartimaeus, Jesus spoke, and there was light.
It is no stretch to draw a connection between the light at the beginning of creation and the restoration of sight for Bartimaeus, because there was so much more going on with Bartimaeus than one man getting to see again. The same voice that said, “Let there be light,” said to Bartimaeus, “Go; your faith has made you well.” God was once again bringing light into the darkness.
You might think that God would get tired of saying “let there be light” over and over again in the midst of our darkness, but it seems that in God’s love, God never tires of bringing light into the formless void of our darkness. Anger, hatred, killing. “Let there be light,” God says. “Let there be light.” The healing of Bartimaeus was a sign, a reminder that God is always taking the darkness of the world upon himself and bringing light and healing to this broken world.
I’m guessing that most people who witnessed Bartimaeus’ healing didn’t think to themselves, “Oh, God is restoring light into the void and darkness of humanity’s sin.” Most probably just thought, “Cool, Barty can see again,” but healing of creation is what was really going on, and the cool thing about Bartimaeus is, he got to be a part of Jesus’ restoring creation. He got to be a part of Jesus’ light casting out darkness.
Now, Bartimaeus didn’t do anything great. All he did was ask Jesus for help, but because he did, Jesus got to show that the light of God has not left the world in darkness, but rather God’s light is always with us in this world casting out darkness for those who wish to see.
We are here worshipping in a Jewish synagogue because after Hurricane Harvey flooded our church, the rabbi and people of Temple Sinai offered their sacred space for us to worship in on Sundays. They were the light in our darkness, and as with Bartimaeus, there was and is now something so much bigger going on than a small Christian community getting a place to gather for worship. In our communities coming together, God is working to heal his world. In our communities sharing Temple Sinai’s house of worship, God is casting out the darkness of anger, hatred and killing.
Now, there was no anger, hatred and killing between Emmanuel and Temple Sinai, but as we saw in Pittsburgh, there is still plenty of anger and hatred towards and killing of the people of Israel. People at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh were gathered Saturday for a Shabbat service, for Sabbath rest and peace, and a man walked in and killed 11 people simply because he hated Jews. The darkness of anti-Semitism, that anger, hatred and killing is tragically still with us.
So, when I say we are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves by gathering here for worship at Temple Sinai, I mean we are a part of God casting out the darkness of antiSemitism, of anger, hatred and violence of all kinds. By being here, we are a part of God’s story of taking the formless void and darkness of humanity’s anger, hatred and violence, and saying to that darkness, “Let there be light.”
Now, like Bartimaeus, we haven’t done anything. All the work was done by a Jewish rabbi and her congregation saying, “Come, worship, let our house be your house.” All we did was say, “yes please, thank you,” and God said, “Let there be light.”
That is the story we are a part of by being here. That is the story we get to tell because we are here. We get to be a part of and tell the story of God healing creation. I hope we don’t miss that. I hope we don’t take this time gathering for worship in this sacred and holy place and simply think, “cool, we got a place to worship.” There is so much more going on here than just having a place to gather on Sundays. Jesus said his followers would be kicked out of the synagogues, and yet here we are. Peace and wholeness in creation is being restored.
In Isaiah 2:2-4, we have a vision of peace, in Jerusalem and peace in the world.
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:2-4)
That is the story we get to be a part of by worshipping here on Sundays, by accepting Temple Sinai’s offer for light in our darkness. People need to hear this story. It’s a story worth telling because it is part of a story that is so much bigger than we. Like Bartimaeus’ story was so much bigger than just him receiving his sight, our being here is part of God’s story of constantly saying, “Let there be light,” to the formless void and darkness of humanity’s anger, hatred and killing. In the wake of 11 deaths at Tree of Life synagogue, tell this story. Tell the story of Emmanuel at Sinai, the story of this congregation opening up their hearts to us, the story of God saying, “Let there be light.”