Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
Journal: In your life right now do you feel more like James and John or more
like Bartimaeus? Why? What do you want Jesus to do for you?
Reflection:
It’s a striking contrast. On the one hand you have the brothers, James and John, who
come to Jesus and ask, “Will you do for us whatever we ask of you?” And on the other hand you have Bartimaeus,
who simply cries out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” One thinking they deserve something, the
other realizing that he deserves nothing.
One jockeying for position, the other firmly set in the lowest position
possible. One filled with a sense of
entitlement, the other filled with desperation.
One asking a favor, the other begging for mercy. And yet, Jesus meets them both with the exact
same question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
It makes me wonder if, in
addition to a miracle, Jesus’ interaction with the blind man was also a
teachable moment for his ambitious disciples, attempting to give them a living
example of the truth he was just trying to teach them about being the last and
the least. To show them that how
they ask is almost as important as what they ask. To allow them to see that, like
Bartimaeus, they really couldn’t see at all, otherwise they would have been
begging for mercy as well. Maybe Jesus
was showing them what it looks like to come rightly before the throne of God
with a request. Or maybe he was trying
to show them that the thing they should have been asking for was also to be
able to see again. Who
knows?
The one thing I do know is
that the question he asks James and John, as well as Bartimaeus, is the
question he asks each of us this day.
What will our answer be?
Prayer
Closing
Prayer: Rabbi, let me recover my sight. Amen.
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