WE are filled with joy because the Lord has done great things for us and will again help us (Psalm 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6). Jesus freed the blind from darkness, and the man could see and followed Jesus (Mark 10:46-52).
Sowing in tears, reaping in joy
The memory of God’s past interventions on behalf of His people now give them hope and confidence that God will again help them. He cared for them before as seen in the great blessing of the exiles’ return to Zion, when those vanished unbelievably found themselves on the way back to the land of their origin. They were then in total amazement, filled with laughter and overflowing with joy at their incredible good fortune. And the other nations could not but take note of God’s saving power, awestruck at the wonderful things He has done for His people. The people themselves knew that their God has preferential love for the poor and the oppressed, the homeless and the refugees.
So, now in their present predicament the people of God pray for deliverance. They know their situation to be impossible and only God can help them. It would be like having flood in the southern desert, a very arid place where having torrents of water is just not possible. The contradiction and the implausibility of what is asked for is tantamount to a reversal of fortune like “sowing in tears and reaping in joy” and setting forth with only the promise of harvest and returning home with abundant fruits, replacing their tragedy with good fortune. It is their prayer; it is what they hope for. They are confident because God has always been gracious to them.
Have pity on me
A blind beggar sitting by the roadside outside Jericho heard from the crowds that it was Jesus of Nazareth passing by with His followers. The man, Bartimaeus, was not just any beggar lining the road leading out of the city, at least afterward, because he was called by name by the narrator; he must have become later a well-known follower of Jesus. In his situation of enveloping darkness that rendered him helpless to do anything else for a living, Bartimaeus had been reduced to begging from people walking by. His hope was awakened upon learning that Jesus was in his vicinity.
He immediately sought to connect with Jesus, crying out loud his name. He could not contact Jesus by his eye-sight, but he still had his voice with which to reach out. And blindly he cried for help, flinging out the name “Jesus, son of David”; the name of Jesus came out of his lips propelled by his desperate need but also by some faith that the man could be the promised and long-awaited one from the line of David to fulfill the people’s expectations and common dreams. Bartimaeus literally stood out from the masses as he begged Jesus for pity and mercy. From his particular condition and personal “perspective” he hoped Jesus would extend to him some relief and compassion.
I want to see
Bartimaeus had his imagination working for him that Jesus somehow represent to persons like him divine mercy when everything else has failed. And hope awakened in what, otherwise, would be a hopeless condition could not accept caving in to others’ suggestion and interpretation that one is so deep in the pit of darkness there can be no light at all to expect. But Bartimaeus would not be silenced from confidently calling out the name of Jesus by people who were rebuking him and thought his concerns could not possibly deserve the attention of the son of David.
Presuming Bartimaeus to be wrong in his misplaced confidence, the people telling him to quiet down and cool it were proven wrong. Jesus called back to have Bartimaeus brought to Him. And it was almost funny that now the people were telling Bartimaeus to have courage and go to Jesus who was calling for him. Asked by Jesus what he wanted that He should do for him, Bartimaeus outright and without hesitation begged of Him that he wanted to see. And he immediately received his sight, and he saw Jesus. And Bartimaeus saw more; he saw in Jesus his calling.
Alálaong bagá, Bartimaeus believed and hoped that Jesus was the answer to his dream of wholeness, the giver of light in his life of darkness. And he was proven correct in his trust and confidence. When other people did not think so, he persisted and won the tremendous gift of having someone he could call “Master”, someone to follow in life. Bartimaeus upon hearing that Jesus was calling for him sprang up and threw aside his cloak, leaving behind whatever he might have collected already from others’ donations, and went completely for Jesus and followed Him, from a life of segregating darkness, on the way to the fullness of union with God in community with others through faith in Jesus.
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