Exodus 10:21-11:8
Psalms 42, 43, 137, 144
2 Corinthians 4:13-18
Mark 10:46-52
Mark 10: 46-52
“Take heart; rise, he is calling you.” And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus.
How is it that the blind man can see Jesus, and know he has the power to heal, and he exercises the courage to ask for healing? And yet the great multitude within which Jesus is standing, who can see Jesus, are asking nothing from Jesus. Our eyes are a great gift but they can also be a burden. The multitudes see Jesus and they judge him to be just like any other Rabbi - a great teacher. And since this passage reveals nothing about miracles being done in Jericho before this encounter with the blind man, they do not perceive the healing power of Jesus. The blind man only knows of Jesus from what he has heard from his place on the roadside.
Imagine being that blind man; each day sitting there on the roadside as people pass into and out of Jericho, hearing bits and pieces of the story of Jesus. No one taking time with you to give you the whole story in one sitting. As you sit there in the sun begging, you weave together in your mind the story of Jesus from the fragments you have heard, and begin to formulate your own picture of who and what Jesus really is and what he is really doing. Without the hindrance of sight and in the absence of judgment you weave a story based on facts and not the perceptions that sight can create. The blind man’s picture of Jesus was so perfect in his mind that he was able to spring from his seated position on the ground, to his feet, and move towards Jesus. He was drawn to Jesus and God was guiding him. ( for no one comes to Jesus except through the Father).
We Christians have been hearing about Jesus all our lives, from the very day of our birth. We have been creating in our mind a picture of who Jesus is and what he can do in and with our lives. If all of a sudden we heard the words from the lips of another person, “Take heart; rise, Jesus is calling you.” Would we be throwing off our mantles and springing to our feet and racing towards Jesus? Or would we be as blind as the multitudes who when seeing Jesus, only saw a great teacher? We are called to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul. Nothing about loving based on sight.
Lord give me the faith of a blind man that I might know you not by what I see but by what you reveal to me in my time with you in prayer and meditation.
“Take heart; rise, he is calling you.”
Bob Felice