Persistence Pays Off!  – 27 May 2010

 

Today’s Gospel reading in the Lectionary is Mark 10:46-end

??Now they came to Jericho . As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.   And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth , he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, ??Son of David, ?have mercy on me!”

Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

?So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” ?And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

?So Jesus answered and said to him,  “What do you want Me to do for you?”  The blind man said to Him, ?“Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”  ?Then Jesus said to him,  “Go your way; ?your faith has ?made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.   (NKJV)

I love this little story of persistence.

Blind Bartimaeus is sitting begging by the side of the road as he did day in and day out.  Today he hears that this man Jesus was passing by.  As he hears the crowd he starts to call out to Jesus and the people around him turn on him and tell him to be quiet.  Disabled people were looked down on and many thought blindness was a curse from God – so it wasn’t proper for him to be calling out to Jesus in this way.

But Bartimaeus could not be shut up – “Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more”

He wasn’t going to miss this opportunity and these stuck up people were not going stand in the way of his encounter with Jesus.  Jesus responds to his shouting and asks him what he wants.  It must have been fairly obvious but Jesus wanted to hear it from Bartimaeus’ mouth.

Bartimaeus asks to be healed, to receive his sight, thus demonstrating his faith in Jesus – he received his sight and followed Jesus.

I sometimes wish I had the persistence of Bartimaeus – how many times have I just given up because I have been put down by others or simply been too lazy to persist, how many opportunities have I missed?

Don’t let others’ opinions or your own laziness cause you to miss out on Jesus today.