Scripture Scribbles: October 24, 2021

the Gospel

Mark 10 : 46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,

Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,

sat by the roadside begging.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

he began to cry out and say,

"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he kept calling out all the more,

"Son of David, have pity on me."

Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

So they called the blind man, saying to him,

"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."

He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"

The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."

Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."

Immediately he received his sight

and followed him on the way.

the devotion

Jesus is calling you.

I pause and stare at this short sentence for a good while before being able to move.

Jesus is calling me - just like the blind man in today’s Gospel reading, just like Aaron in the second reading - to be glorified in my weakness, through Him, so I may live united with Him in eternity. How often am I so blinded by my lack of trust or fears or (insert sin here), I just stay by the roadside and allow him to pass me by - my heart bursting, yearning to call out to Him, silenced by past rebukes.

Instead of being silenced, Bartimeaus calls out even louder so Jesus hears him. In his blindness, which was due to a generationally grave sin of his time, he was not discouraged by the voices deterring Him from having faith in Jesus’ mercy. “Have pity on me!” he cries out! “I want to see!” Others told him to “take courage.” Those were the words he needed to leap from the side of the road and run to Jesus.

Sometimes we need those voices in the crowd to give us courage to leap up and run to Jesus’ call with confidence and faith, instead of allowing ourselves to be silenced by the voices berating us for desiring to be closer to Him and to see Him more clearly at work in our lives. As I’ve deepened my faith, I have found a group of Catholic women who give me this courage on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Who in your life gives you courage to get up and answer Jesus’ call? What is it that you want Jesus to do for you so your weakness may be glorified through Him?

Today’s devotion was written by Diana Giard.