Mark 10:46–52
What do you make of this passage? Here are a few of my observations:
– Bartimaeus clearly knew about Jesus.
– He demonstrated immense faith in the ability of Jesus to heal him.
– The people tried to stop Bartimaeus from calling out. (Why would they do that?)
– Jesus asks the man what he wants (Surely He would have known this anyway)
– What a different request from James and John, who immediately prior to this incident (see last week’s Gospel Reflections) ask Jesus for gold pass reserve seating for themselves!
– Was this a deliberate ploy by Jesus to starkly contrast the selfish nature of the earlier seating request?
From what I can gather, it seems that this is no coincidental, happened to be by the side of the road, blind man miracle, but a deliberate part of the strategy by Jesus to try to get through to the people in his last days, that the kingdom is not necessarily for the upright, respectable, law-abiding citizens who think they have all of their bases covered and certainly not exclusively for the Jewish people. There is no way to salvation other than to turn to Jesus and put our faith in Him. It seems everyone else had written off the blind man. They imply that Jesus does not want to waste His time with this loser. Jesus however demonstrates otherwise, ramming home the point that it is only people who trust in him and turn to him who will be saved.
So what is this saying to us as individuals today? Well that’s for each of us to answer and I think that’s what scripture reflection is all about. What is God saying to ME right now, TODAY through this passage? You might like to respond with a comment on the blogspot.
As will also be my habit with these reflections, I’d like to ask the question “What does this mean for us in Lutheran Schools?”
One thing that sticks out for me, is that we are called to look out for the lost, the least, the lowly. We should not just shrug off the student in the classroom who is disruptive, crying out for help, or maybe written off by some as a lost cause. Neither should we reject the family who is struggling, marginalized or seemingly unable to live up to the image of a respectable and acceptable parental member for our school community. With James and John are we sometimes guilty of choosing those who we want to have sitting alongside of us in our school community?
A colleague talking to me about this passage yesterday commented on the significance for her of verse 51 where Jesus says "What do you want me to do for you"?
ReplyDelete"He threw off his cloak, jumped up and came to Jesus."
ReplyDeleteIf I were blind I would be keeping my personal possessions very close to me ... unless I believed I would see to find them again ... unless meeting Jesus was the beginning of something new and belongings no longer mattered.
His faith is already at work before anything has happened.