Father Dave's Bush Eucharist - Sunday, October 24, 2021

I had two wonderful guests join me online this week for the Bush Eucharist - my old friend and colleague, Jodie Mollison, and new friend and journalist, Joel Jammal. Despite some technical issues, there was still plenty of vibrant dialogue between us.

Our reading from the Hebrew Bible concluded our series from the book of Job. The broken man finally gets what he was asking for - an audience with the Almighty - and that seems to satisfy him. What he doesn't get though is any real explanation as to why he had to endure so much unjust suffering. Perhaps God's presence is the answer, or perhaps the fight continues?

Our reading from the Hebrews again extols the greatness of Jesus relative to the religious leaders that the letter's readers were familiar with. More than likely, there was a fair degree of disillusionment amongst the people about their priests and other clergy. Jesus, once again, is the answer. :)

Our Gospel reading from Mark, chapter 10, recounts the story of how blind Bartimaeus received his sight back from Jesus. In some ways it is an unremarkable story - just one of any number of healing miracles recounted in Mark's Gospel - and yet this story is full of details that are missing in similar stories. Could it be that Bartimaeus was still well-known to the community of believers when Mark's Gospel was published? After all, Mark does say that Bartimaeus "followed [Jesus] on the way" (Mark 10:52)

Dave
http://www.fatherdave.org
http://www.fighting-fathers.com

P.S. Hear more from Joel via his Telegram page: https://t.me.realjoeljammal