Mark 10:48-50 “Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.”
Imagine being Bartemeaus on this particular day in his life. The possibility of healing, of freedom is passing by. It is close enough to reach out and touch if only he could be heard above the crowds. He lifts his voice only to be rebuked by the merciless crowds of people who have gathered around Jesus, each with their own agendas for reaching Christ! Here he is, powerless in the natural realm and yet the marriage of faith and desperation that is coming together in his life causes him to cry out! When rebuked he cries out all the more, and his cry is one thing; a cry for mercy!
This prayer is a prayer that moves the heart of God; “have mercy on me!” This prayer is a prayer that penetrates the presence of God. This one cry that could have been so easily overlooked in the midst of such a crowd and such chaos somehow rises up above the confusion of the circumstances and pierces the ear of Christ and His attention is drawn. What a picture of the power of faith! It rises up above all that we are going through to penetrate into the throne room of God where every answer is born!
I love the response of Christ as His attention is drawn towards the roadside and the cries of this blind man. Not only does Jesus make room for this desperately broken soul. He has the very ones who had been seeking to silence him become the ones who are sent to get Bartemaeus. There seems to be a subtle correction present in this action as Jesus demonstrates to the very ones who sought to push the blind man away that this man is welcome and loved by the Father and the Son!
It is apparent from the words of those who come to him that the emotions of the blind man must have been reaching their breaking point. He has cried out. He has been resisted. He has persevered even in the midst of this and raised his voice even louder but these final cries must have been the cries of a heart desperate and in pain. His demeanor was such that when the crowds turned to offer to him the invitation of Christ their words begin with cheer up. How strange that those who sought to silence him are now his comforters. Perhaps there is a lesson for us concerning the attitude of God’s people towards those we perceive as social outcasts and the broken of society. Perhaps those that we have rejected in the attitude of our hearts are the very ones that God is seeking to turn our hearts towards.
As Bartemaeus is called to come to Christ it is with great energy and zeal that he rises to stand before Jesus. There is no casual reluctance in his response to this invitation to come. Bartemaeus leaps to his feet, throwing aside the cloak that he has used to shelter himself from the cold of both the environment and seemingly the hearts of the people. In many ways Bartemaeus seems to be a picture of the harvest. Perhaps the most broken turn out to be the most passionate when they have been welcomed by the grace of God!
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