"What do you want me to do for you?"
-- Matthew 20:32
The men are blind, but see more clearly than most.
We don't know how many days, years or decades they sat on the well-traveled road outside town. Begging. Hopeful for scraps; but with no hope of a life.
Likely, they had never dreamed their lives could change. Change was not possible. They were desperate men. But their world was about to become dazzlingly bright.
One of the men was named Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). Our names speak to our identity. They are part of who we are. Bartimaeus means "Son of Timaeus." When the baby was born blind, his parents spoke over his whole life by saying, "He's not even worthy of his own name, we'll just call him by a generic name for the length of his desperately sad life."
Our names speak to who we are... Who we become however, is only limited by the focus and intensity of our desperation.
A large crowd approaches. That is good news for the men. There is money in the crowd. Hopefully there is mercy (for beggars) in the crowd. Somehow they hear that Jesus is in the crowd. And suddenly the focus of their desperation turns from handouts to hands of healing.
They yell his name. Their desperate pitch interrupts the hum of the crowd. It makes people uncomfortable; so much so they are chastised for their audacity. Focused desperation doesn't care. It screams louder - and so did the men. Jesus notices (I think he saw them there by the gate long before they woke up that morning).
Jesus calls them to himself. They spring to their feet and stumble toward his voice; possibly tripping once or twice along the way, and eliciting muffled giggles by onlookers.
"What do you want me to do for you?" (He knew.)
"We want to see." (Intensely focused desperation doesn't have to fumble for an answer.)
Done. Sight. Dazzling brightness. A whole new world. A new direction in life. Hope. (And as a kicker, the first face these born-blind men ever see is that of a smiling Word-Became-Flesh Savior.)
Where is our desperation? Are we intensely focused and desperate for Jesus? Or are we content sitting by the roadside hoping for scraps?
He saw you before you woke up this morning, and he asks, "What do you want me to do for you?"
God, I want to see.
For now...
D
We don't know how many days, years or decades they sat on the well-traveled road outside town. Begging. Hopeful for scraps; but with no hope of a life.
Likely, they had never dreamed their lives could change. Change was not possible. They were desperate men. But their world was about to become dazzlingly bright.
One of the men was named Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). Our names speak to our identity. They are part of who we are. Bartimaeus means "Son of Timaeus." When the baby was born blind, his parents spoke over his whole life by saying, "He's not even worthy of his own name, we'll just call him by a generic name for the length of his desperately sad life."
Our names speak to who we are... Who we become however, is only limited by the focus and intensity of our desperation.
A large crowd approaches. That is good news for the men. There is money in the crowd. Hopefully there is mercy (for beggars) in the crowd. Somehow they hear that Jesus is in the crowd. And suddenly the focus of their desperation turns from handouts to hands of healing.
They yell his name. Their desperate pitch interrupts the hum of the crowd. It makes people uncomfortable; so much so they are chastised for their audacity. Focused desperation doesn't care. It screams louder - and so did the men. Jesus notices (I think he saw them there by the gate long before they woke up that morning).
Jesus calls them to himself. They spring to their feet and stumble toward his voice; possibly tripping once or twice along the way, and eliciting muffled giggles by onlookers.
"What do you want me to do for you?" (He knew.)
"We want to see." (Intensely focused desperation doesn't have to fumble for an answer.)
Done. Sight. Dazzling brightness. A whole new world. A new direction in life. Hope. (And as a kicker, the first face these born-blind men ever see is that of a smiling Word-Became-Flesh Savior.)
Where is our desperation? Are we intensely focused and desperate for Jesus? Or are we content sitting by the roadside hoping for scraps?
He saw you before you woke up this morning, and he asks, "What do you want me to do for you?"
God, I want to see.
For now...
D
