October 28, 2012 22nd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:46-52

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
   So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
   51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
   The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
   52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Jesus hears the interruption of Bartimaeus calling out.  He gives to this blind beggar, whom everyone is seeing as a nuisance, the attention no one else will give him.  And he sees!  And of all the faces in that anonymous crowd, his name is the only one remembered to this day.

This story reminds us how important it is to allow interruptions in our otherwise carefully scheduled lives, for miracles of healing happen when we are open to the cries of others, even at the least opportune times.

It also reminds us of how important it is to be an interruption - when we are hurting - and dare cry out for help - God’s help available to us in human form even today.

 “The Way Of Suffering”

In the passage just preceding these words, the disciples miss what Jesus is saying to them three times.  So he gives them an object lesson.  He heals blind Bartimaeus even as they too needed their eyes opened to see him as the Suffering Servant.

It is not easy to connect suffering with the way we would have it with our God.
We want a God who puts things right and keeps things right, so bad things do not happen to good people.  We don’t want a God who is so human he suffers and we don’’t want to see anything good in suffering.

Yet God came as a suffering servant and God is present even in the silence of suffering.
The cross, and instrument of great suffering, is also a sign of great love.  A love which is greater then all the suffering possible;  a love which nothing can separate us from- a love which is eternal!