Presented to TSA Nipawin Corps 03 May 2009 and TSA Alberni Valley Ministries 09 June 2024 by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
This is the 2024 BC Version, to read the 2009 SK version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/05/mark-1046-52-open-our-eyes-lord-we-want.html
People
are in Toronto now for Commissioner Floyd Tidd’s Celebration of Life. Later in
June Commissioning will be held in Mississauga. In thinking about this I am
reminded of when we were commissioned many years ago in Winnipeg and then 2
years after that we went to something called Captains’ Institute in Toronto.
Captains’
Institute was where you would get together for a few days with people that you
went to CFOT (seminary) with. It was a good chance to talk, listen, pray, and
find out the sort of things that God is doing in the lives of people that we
used to spend so much time with, people with whom the Lord has already allowed
us to connect with spiritually.
We had
the opportunity to share stories about our ministries and offer assistance to
our colleagues but it wasn’t just about connecting we also got to pray and
worship and learn together. At one point we were able to join in spiritual
activity known as ‘Lectio Devina’ – It is a neat activity where we reflect on
various passages of scripture and look for and listen to what the LORD is
telling us and then share this in a group. The passage that we looked at was
Mark 10:46-52. We read through this a number of times each time seeking an
answer – in silence – to a number of questions and then sharing those answers
with each other. We were to listen for a word or phrase that struck us from the
passage. We were to meditate on that word or that passage in our own life. We
were to seek the Lord as to an appropriate response and then we were to pray
for each other. I will read now (Mark 10:46-52) from the New Living
Translation:
46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples
left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of
Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of
Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on
me!”
48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him.
But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come
here.”
So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on,
he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to
Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.”
Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.
Here
was my revelation at the time about this pericope: Jesus is busy. His disciples
are busy. They are doing the work of God. They are traveling the countryside
and the Judean townships spreading the work of God. They are busy.
I
don’t know if any of us ever get so busy that we just don’t feel like we have
time for anyone. It seems every season here is busy. I finish one season and we
are on to the next. Busy with family; busy with work; me when I just got back
from time with family I was working full steam ahead with Port Pub, HR, BC
Housing, Heather had dance, band and school events. After the service today we
are back to meet family in Victoria only to return here again tonight. I have
grant applications due tomorrow: busy.
When
Jesus is busy with a large crowd and his disciples traveling to Jericho, there
is a street person. There’s a beggar. He is just sitting there and then as
Jesus and this crowd come near. He just starts to shout at them. He starts to
yell. He shouts! He shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son
of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”[2]
I
don’t imagine that he just called this out a couple of times or in a quiet and
an orderly fashion (vs. 47) because it says that many of the people rebuked him
and told him to be quiet but he shouted all the more (vs. 48). Can you imagine
if you went to a concert or to see a famous person and he is coming near and
you’ve taken time off work and camped out for days and he’s finally coming near
and you are trying to see and hear what he is doing and there is this smelly,
dirty street person just yelling at the top of his lungs right when the person
is coming by? Right when you actually have a chance to hear him in person. Some
marginalized person is yelling “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me!”
It
must have been quite annoying for them and not for just one of them, not for
just a couple of them but many of them. Many of the people who were following
Jesus told the beggar to ‘knock it off!’ as it were. They told him to ‘be
quiet!’ and they rebuked him (vs. 48) all the more! He was getting in the way
of their seeing and hearing Jesus! “Be quiet,’ they said. ‘Stop it!’
But
Jesus heard him and Jesus stopped. Jesus is the one who stopped (vs. 49). He
listens to the man. Jesus asks the noisy beggar what he wants him to do for him
(vs. 51) and then Jesus does it (vs. 52). Jesus is busy. The people with Jesus
are busy. Jesus takes the time to listen, to hear what the man wants and as the
man comes to God in persistent, noisy, confrontational faith, Jesus gives him
what he asks for.
When
someone interrupts us in our busy lives, when we see that annoying person who
can just grate on everyone’s nerves, when we are in a hurry, how do we treat
the people God sends to us? Do we take the time to ask the people who we come
across in life how we can help them or do we just brush them aside? When we are
busy and our children or grandchildren want us to read the Bible to them, when
we are busy and people knock on our doors with a question or a concern do we
open it? Are we open to them? What do we do? What do we do?
God
encourages us even when times are difficult. Verse 49 – the people say to the
man, as Jesus is calling him, “Cheer up.”[3] There are times when life may seem
difficult when we need to be offered the comforting words of ‘cheer up.’
This
brings us to two things the really struck me initially about ‘Lectio Devina’
and this text here. One is Mercy. The Lord took mercy upon those who called
upon his Name and I trust that He will also have mercy on all of us.
The
other is faith: God calls us to step out in faith. Bartimaeus stepped out in
faith. Even though Bart couldn’t see what was happening. Even though Bart
couldn’t possibly see what lay ahead. Even though Bart wasn’t able to see the
Lord when He was right in front of him. Even though those around him were
telling him NOT to cry out to the LORD. Even though those around him – who were
also seeking the Lord – were trying to prevent Bart from coming before the
Lord. Even though people in the crowds following Jesus tried to stop this man
from reaching Him. He called out. Bart called out to the Lord.
And
when Bart called out – even though he could not see the Lord – when Bartimaeus
called out, the Lord could, would and did see him. The Lord loves him. The Lord
has mercy on him and the Lord says to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.”
Bart’s eyes are opened and he in that moment follows the Lord down life’s road.
This
message is for me and this message is for us. For now we see through not only
the eternal glass darkly, but we also only have a blind man’s view of our
immediate future here. We do not see right now where God is in this. We do not
see what Jesus is doing. We do not see what lies ahead. We cannot possibly see
that but what we can do is call upon Jesus. What we can do is call upon Jesus
over and over again. What we need to do is to not take ‘no’ for an answer from
any who would want to discourage us from seeking the Lord in faith. What we
need to do is to call persistently on the Lord in this time and in the times
ahead and as we do, I have faith that He will heal us; He will open our eyes
and He will make it so we too can see Jesus.
Let us pray.
Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus.
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