Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 10:46-52I’ve told you before, I think, that one way to read scripture is to try and put yourself in it; try and imagine yourself in it. The story of the healing of Bartimaeus is perfect for that exercise. Are you one of the crowd? Are we hushing people, not wanting them to come forward? And are we willing to let Jesus soften our hearts and bring those people forward to him?
Are we Bartimaeus? Are we blind, but we know that we can see…we can sense that there’s something out there? Are we calling to Jesus to have mercy and to heal us so that we can see clearly? Do we have the courage of Bartimaeus to throw the cloak off, get rid of earthly things, and concentrate on what Jesus is calling us to do?
Are we Jesus? Are we standing in front of someone in need, someone in pain, but not assuming we know what they need and are we asking: “what is it you want me to do for you?”
There is no right answer.
For myself, I feel kind of like Bartimaeus. But I’m a little scared to be Bartimaeus because, while he seems totally energetic and 100% on board, jumps in front of Jesus and says “heal me!” I feel overwhelmed and scared when I hear the question “what is it you want me to do for you”, So I know that I need to pray about that and figure out what I’m pushing and pulling from.
My hope is we can be like Bartimaeus. I hope that we can follow Jesus on the way. I hope that we can see what’s around us. And there’s a lot around us that we don’t like to see. There’s homelessness, disease, gun violence, war, domestic violence, abuse – you name it, the list goes on and on and on – the things that we hush. We need to bring them forward. We need to care.
So, I encourage you to pray about this passage. I encourage you to be like Bartimaeus – to be excited, to ask Jesus for mercy and for sight, and to follow him on the way.
Peace,
The Rev. M.E. Eccles, LPC
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