Mark 10:46-52 (The Message)
46-48 They spent some time in Jericho. As Jesus was leaving town, trailed by his disciples and a parade of people, a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting alongside the road. When he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, he began to cry out, “Son of David, Jesus! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!”
49-50 Jesus stopped in his tracks. “Call him over.”
They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus.
51 Jesus said, “What can I do for you?”
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “On your way,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.”
In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road.
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, an 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!
"It is when things go wrong, when the good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly." Madeleine L'Engle
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, help me to see your goodness when bad things happen. Open my eyes to see your love even in my suffering.”
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