Bartimaeus

A few months ago, I preached from Matthew 10:46-52 … On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus draws near a blind man. Bartimaeus calls out, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” and Jesus restores Bartimaeus’ sight. The plaintive plea … “Jesus, have mercy on me!” … remains with me, echoing from the depths. Theodore Jennings* writes: “Bartimaeus’ faith is not right belief nor a pious resignation to inscrutable providence. It is … the refusal to be silenced … the refusal to wait for a better time, the refusal to wait for an appointment. It is the rude insistence that the calamity be attended to now.”

*Theodore W. Jennings … author of The Insurrection of the Crucified: The Gospel of Mark as Theological Manifesto … quoted from Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, Lectionary Commentary Year B, Westminster John Knox Press