Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale from Kansas takes this fantastical journey to Oz and meets all sorts of characters who remind her a bit of people she already knew in her drab and dreary world she left so far behind in Kansas when she went soaring over the rainbow in a tornado. This movie is so well known and so beloved that you know, as they say, the rest of the story. At the end Dorothy realizes she left the best thing that ever happened to her and wants nothing more than to return 'home' to her beloved Oz. As she's leaving, the Good Witch Glinda tells her she has the power to return on her own.
Dorothy: Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?
Glinda: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
Dorothy: I have?
Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda: She wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
Glinda: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
Dorothy: I have?
Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda: She wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
Same thing, in a sense, that happens to the blind man Bartimaeus in this week's scripture. He asks Jesus if he can see again and Jesus simply says to him, "Your faith has made you well" and his eyesight it restored. Amazing story. All Bartimaeus had to do was believe in Jesus and ask for healing. And he got it.
When Glinda tells Dorothy she has always had the power to go home but has to learn it for herself we see hints of this story. We catch a glimpse in a family film of what sort of faith and courage Jesus is referring to when he says to Bartimaeus, "Go! Your faith has made you well."
What lessons can we learn from these stories? That the answers lie within our own hearts? That Jesus is just waiting for us to ask for redemption and wholeness? That we need to recognize for ourselves what we can be and do in the world with faith?
I'd be interested in your thoughts. Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.
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