Jesus is walking down the road and the blind man, Bartimaeus, starts calling out to him. He says, "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me." And the people say, "Oh, be quiet." But, he doesn’t pay attention to these naysayers and he just cries out more, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." The people keep telling him to be quiet. Finally, Jesus stops, and He walks over to the blind man, and He says to him, "What do you want me to do for you?” And Bartimaeus says, "Lord open my eyes so that I may see."
Think about his answer. When is the last time you came to God and begged God to do something for you that you desperately needed? Most likely during the pandemic, you asked for God’s help more than once. However, sometimes we don't do it? Why, because we're proud. We're arrogant. We're not like Bartimaeus. He is humble. He's not confused about the fact that Jesus can fix his problem. There's no doubt about that whatsoever.
We talk about faith. We talk about trust. This guy, he had it. He had absolute faith that if he could get to Jesus, Jesus could get the job done. If Jesus showed up in your life today and just got in your face and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" What would you ask him for?
One of the mistakes we make when we read the Bible is that we think of these people as other. We think, "Oh, it must be hard to be blind," when the reality is that we know what it's like to be blind because we all have a spiritual blindness. What is your blindness? What are your blind spots in relationships? What are your blind spots when you're judging other people? What is your spiritual blindness?
At a recent funeral luncheon, a family member complimented the service for his brother. He said that he had not been in church for awhile. I simply asked, why not? He answered; “father, honestly, I don’t know.”
What is your blind spot about not coming to church anymore? Is it fear of getting Covid, or scandals in the church, or neighbors you judge as hypocrites., or hanging onto a few unhealthy habits. In what way are you like Bartimaeus?
So Bartimaeus is this blind man and everyone tells him to shut up. Be quiet. Leave Jesus alone. But he persists. Do you have that persistence? Sure, we come to God, and we say, "Hey, God, we need this," or cry out to God for this or that, but do we have the persistence to keep coming back and saying, "Help me. Help me figure out why I am so depressed or burnt out.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that You open our eyes so that we may see the goodness of all people. Help us to let go and drop our prejudice that comes from pride. Give us the grace to open our hearts and welcome all into our community with your love and kindness.
