Seeing and Believing

•March 23, 2012 • 1 Comment

When we went to the theatre the other week, there were some people shouting out during the performance – all very gentle and non threatening, part of their enjoyment.  It didn’t bother us, it was a local performance and all part of the general ambiance, but it was clearly bothering the people sat next to me.  That, in their opinion, was not the way to behave.

Mark 10:46-52

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

46Jesus and his disciples went to Jericho. And as they were leaving, they were followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. 47When he heard that it was Jesus from Nazareth, he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” 48Many people told the man to stop, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”

49Jesus stopped and said, “Call him over!”

They called out to the blind man and said, “Don’t be afraid! Come on! He is calling for you.” 50The man threw off his coat as he jumped up and ran to Jesus.

51Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man answered, “Master,I want to see!”

52Jesus told him, “You may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.”

Right away the man could see, and he went down the road with Jesus.

Close-up of Eric Gill relief, Moorfields Eye Hospital From geograph.org.uk by ceridwen

Bartimaeus can hear a great kerfuffle.  He wants to know what is happening, realising that it is clearly something of huge importance.  When he is told that it is Jesus passing by he shouts out,

“Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”

Despite having no eyesight, he clearly sees two things that others have been failing to notice – that Jesus is the ‘Son of David’, with all the connotations that has; and that Jesus is the one who can help him.

How sad then that the response of the crowd as he shouts out is basically to tell him to shut up.

This man has seen what many others have missed – and he is told to be quiet.  He is calling out to Jesus is his need – and he is told to shush.

How terrible!  And yet…

…would we act any different?

Do we think some people should not be calling out to Jesus?  Are we embarrassed that they do?  They are so loud – do they not know how you should approach Jesus?  Why do they have to shout about their problems?

Yet Jesus hears his cry and stops.  Jesus was probably on his way somewhere.  Someone may have been waiting for him, there could have been an appointment to get to.  Yet Jesus pauses and calls the man over.  He asks him what it is he wants.  And the man knew just what he needed.

I wonder if we are so insightful about what we need from Jesus?  Not necessarily what we want, but what we need.  Are we willing to cry out to him for it?  If our time in lent has revealed to us what our deepest need is, can we reach out and ask Jesus to meet it?  (Tom Wright’s words on ‘flinging the cloak aside’ are very helpful p 106)

Or are we busy telling people to shush, so Jesus is not disturbed?!

Jesus is more than willing to stop and reach out.  The man could already see what was most important, and what so many around him weren’t seeing.  That is seeing and believing.  Is it for us?

Lord,

may I know my need.

May I reach out to you

and allow you to meet it.

May I also allow others to reach out to you,

and not put them off,

tell them to shush,

make it seem like you don’t care about them

or their needs,

but join them

in truly seeing you

and believing

– that you can and will meet my need

This year, I am again following the BigRead using Tom Wright’s Lent for Everyone – Mark.  I’ll reflect here – if you’re following it too, or even if you’re not, please share with me.

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Best Seat in The House

•March 22, 2012 • Leave a Comment

You walk into a room, and you look around for the best spot to sit. Near enough the heating to be warm, but not so near to be cooked; near enough a window for some air, but not so near that you’re in the draught; near enough the front that you can see, but not so near you might get dragged into the action; a comfy seat; just enough light… Everyone wants the best place.

The Request of James and John

35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, will you do us a favour?”

36Jesus asked them what they wanted, 37and they answered, “When you come into your glory, please let one of us sit at your right side and the other at your left.”

38Jesus told them, “You don’t really know what you’re asking! Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from or be baptized as I must be baptized?”

39“Yes, we are!” James and John answered.

Then Jesus replied, “You certainly will drink from the cup from which I must drink. And you will be baptized just as I must! 40But it isn’t for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. That is for God to decide.”

41When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with James and John. 42But Jesus called the disciples together and said:

You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. 43But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. 44And if you want to be first, you must be everyone’s slave. 45The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.

This story has echoes of the “Who will be the greatest” argument of Mark 9:33-41.  Jesus must have felt that he was banging his head against a brick wall – they were still failing to get the point…

God’s new thing was not about who was going to get the best places in heaven.  God’s ways are not about jostling for a nice position, they are about serving others.    The question should be not what favour Jesus will do for them – but what they are going to do for others.

The main focus of Jesus life was to show us how God would live – how we should live, not to bring comfort for eternity.  Following him means nothing if it does not make us act as he did…

 

Our Servant King, calls us to follow him, to daily live out lives as he did – in the service of others.

Are we looking for an easy life, eternal rest, or to serve others as God would?  That might not be a glamorous or easy life – but it is the one God calls us to, for that is how his new way will come. Will you join him?

Tom Wright’s prayer for today (p 105):

Help us, Lord Jesus,

servant and saviour,

to be grasped by your vision of God’s new world,

and to follow you in the servant-work

through which it is accomplished

 

This year, I am again following the BigRead using Tom Wright’s Lent for Everyone – Mark.  I’ll reflect here – if you’re following it too, or even if you’re not, please share with me.

Posted in Jesus, lent
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What Do I Have To Do?

•March 21, 2012 • Leave a Comment

When you move to a new area, there are lots of new things you have to register at – a doctors, a dentists, schools, the library…  You spend a lot of time asking,

What do I have to do to join?

And you soon discover there are various pieces of information you need to supply, proof of where you live, who you are, where you’ve come from.  Joining something new can be quite precise and a certain degree of hard work.  And then when you start going somewhere new, you have to find out the rules of the new place, which are probably different to where you were before – how to pay dinner money, how to get a repeat prescription, how many books you can take out…

So, a man comes to Jesus and he wants to know what he has to do.

A Rich Man

17As Jesus was walking down a road, a man ran up to him. He knelt down, and asked, “Good teacher, what can I do to have eternal life?”

18Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 19You know the commandments. `Do not murder. Be faithful in marriage. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Do not cheat. Respect your father and mother.’ ”

20The man answered, “Teacher, I have obeyed all these commandments since I was a young man.”

21Jesus looked closely at the man. He liked him and said, “There’s one thing you still need to do. Go sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come with me.”

22When the man heard Jesus say this, he went away gloomy and sad because he was very rich.

23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “It’s hard for rich people to get into God’s kingdom!” 24The disciples were shocked to hear this. So Jesus told them again, “It’s terribly hard to get into God’s kingdom! 25In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God’s kingdom.”

26Jesus’ disciples were even more amazed. They asked each other, “How can anyone ever be saved?”

27Jesus looked at them and said, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”

28Peter replied, “Remember, we left everything to be your followers!”

29Jesus told him:

You can be sure that anyone who gives up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land for me and for the good news 30will be rewarded. In this world they will be given a hundred times as many houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and pieces of land, though they will also be mistreated. And in the world to come, they will have eternal life. 31But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.

Jesus tells him the “rules”, the expected behaviour – the Ten Commandments.  The man knows all that, he’s been doing it for years.  But he recognises in Jesus, in the new thing that God is doing, that there is more.  Just following the rules is no longer going to be enough, those rules need to touch the whole of life and effect behaviour.

But he’s not ready for what Jesus tells him,

Go away, and whatever you possess – sell it, and give it to the poor (v 21, Tom Wright, p 98)

At that point the man walks off sadly.  He cannot do what Jesus asks of him.  His problem is not that he is wealthy, but that his wealth means more to him that anything Jesus can offer.

Jesus does not ask all who follow him to give up their possessions, but he does go to the heart of what is more important to us than him.

As we journey through Lent, as we have focussed on God, is there something we are holding to more important than him?  Something that if he asked us to give it up, we wouldn’t be able to?  Not because God wants to take things away from us, but because he wants us to have room for all he is going to give us.

Is there something that you know is coming between you and God?  Something that he needs you to give up, that your focus may be more fully on him?

Lord,

I have so much “stuff” in my life.

Some of it is really helpful,

but some of it just gets in the way.

May I come before you,

in honesty,

and consider what I have that I put before you

and before others.

Lord may the things of my life

never be a stumbling block

that causes me to miss opportunities

with you and for you.

This year, I am again following the BigRead using Tom Wright’s Lent for Everyone – Mark.  I’ll reflect here – if you’re following it too, or even if you’re not, please share with me.

Posted in Jesus, lent
Tags: , , ,

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