Decibels
George Sneddon
October 15, 2021
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Mark 10: 46-51 (NIV)
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
Today we return to the story of Bartimaeus. As we dip into this powerful example of mercy, we are introduced firstly to hopelessness. Bartimaeus is an honourable man, his name tells us that. And yet here he is abandoned for much of his life by the roadside, ignored by the crowd. He’s the epitome of marginal: disabled, forgotten, distant, outcast from society. He can offer no work of his hands, and thus he means nothing to anyone in his world.
And yet on a busy day in Jericho, he hears of Jesus: the healer, the one who claims to be the Messiah. And who can blame Bartimaeus for taking the chance.
The funny thing is, Bartimaeus approached this situation with carnal basic need: to see the same people around him who forgot him, who diminished him, who marginalised and left him for dead.
But God’s mercy has many more plans for him than simple physical sight
You meet a lot of folks in this world who take you for granted, who think you don’t matter, who downgrade your ability, or tell you that you are worthless. But when you call on the mighty, unfathomable, and yet simple mercy of God: you will be heard.
No matter what the crowd say, or how much they try to dim your voice, God’s paying you all his attention to the great universal cry: Have mercy on me, Lord.
PRAYER:
Lord,
I’m devastated at the times
when I have not understood the
extent to which you pay
attention to me
I cannot fathom that you would want to
think about me, or know about me
I cannot understand why you’d want to listen
to the moaning, and the grievances
and all the problems going on
And yet, we’ve seen how your mercy works
When we call out, when our passion for your mercy
reaches its highest decibels
You are there, and you bestow
more than we will ever imagine
Amen.
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