One of the
greatest strengths my former boss had was his ability to simplify solutions to
what most of the rest of us thought were insurmountable problems. He would say, “I’m the laziest one here, so
if there’s an easy way to get the job done, I’ll find it.” And he usually did. I was reminded of his adage as I reflected on
a passage in Mark’s gospel (Mark 10:46-52).
Bartimaeus
found the easy way. The blind man said, “Master,
I want to see.” and Jesus told him to go his way, that his faith
had saved him. This opened the blind
man’s eyes, and he was able to see. For
us, as we search our faith to find answers to help us find what we need, that
make us search for God’s truth, then that truth is always easy to find. Master, I want to find peace; Master, I want
the hurting to stop, Master, I don’t want to be alone. He’s always ready to give us the authority,
the freedom, the ability to find what we need when we need it.
Don’t stop
searching – don’t stop asking. Our Lord
always provides what we need. If we’re
hurting, maybe we need to learn from that pain. If we’re lonely, maybe there’s something in
that loneliness that will open our eyes to what really needs to be seen.
As I
reflect, I think the ‘easy way’ is prayer.
Prayer isn’t always easy in and of itself, in my experience. But
Bartimaeus sets for us a wonderful example of how we should pray to our Lord. First of all, he was in a state of need. His blindness symbolizes every weakness and
need we have in life. What is it that we
struggle with the most in life? What is
our greatest habitual sin? Or what
causes us the most grief?
Seeing our
weakness is the first step. Once we’re
aware of our greatest needs, we must also “cry out” to our Lord just as
Bartimaeus did. Upon hearing that it was
Jesus, Bartimaeus somehow sensed within his soul that Jesus wanted to cure him.
How did he sense this? He listened to the voice of God within; he
heard the commotion of many speaking about Jesus as He walked by. But this alone couldn’t have compelled him to
cry out and to know that Jesus was the source of the mercy he needed. That which compelled him was the clear voice
of God, a prompting from the Holy Spirit, within his soul, revealing to him
that he needed Jesus and that Jesus wanted to cure him.
At first,
those around him rebuked Bartimaeus and told him to be quiet. And if Bartimaeus would have been weak in
faith, he may have listened to the crowd and, in despair, remained silent. But it’s quite clear that he not only ignored
the rebukes of others he “kept calling out all the more.”
Bartimaeus
gives us a double witness of how we must turn to our Lord. First, we must sense His gentle but clear
presence within our soul. We must
recognize His voice and His promptings of grace. He wants to heal us, and His presence in our
lives must be sensed within. Secondly,
we must become intensely fixed upon that voice within. The crowds who rebuked Bartimaeus are symbolic
of the many “voices” and temptations we experience in life that try to keep us
from faithfully and fervently crying out to the God who speaks to us. Nothing should deter us from our wholehearted
determination to call to Jesus with our need.
And if it’s
peace that we long for, then search no more.
His peace and His grace are enough.
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