"Take Heart. Get up. He is calling you."

In our neighborhood group this Spring, we've been looking at the Gospel of Mark and I have been continuously surprised, delighted and perplexed by Jesus. That may sound odd, but as I've been reading I've been struck by His presence, His mysteriousness, His gentleness.  Jesus speaks clearly and cryptically, with great certainty and great compassion.

This past week we were looking at a moment when Jesus heals a blind man, Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is described as completely without sight, "sitting by the roadside," bored and destitute. But, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was passing by cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Bartimaeus is blind, but he can see what so many could not. He rightfully identifies Jesus as the Son of David, as the Messiah, and has faith that he can heal and forgive him. Though the people around him mocked him and even "rebuked him, telling him 'be silent,'" the Scriptures say Bartimaeus could not stop himself and "cried out all the more."

And Jesus then does something amazing. He hears him. He stops. He calls for him. Bartimaeus' friends/mockers are stunned as they tell him, "Get up. Take heart. He is calling for you." Oh to be called by Jesus!

The Lord calls for us. When we are dead in our sins, when we are blinded by our own ignorance or our culture, he calls to us first. He knows our names and deals with us gently. He heals our infirmities. We are those helpless, hapless, blind people sitting outside the gates, but Jesus knows us, hears our sighs and bids us come to Him.

And Bartimaeus does. "And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus."
Jesus heals Bartimaeus, he restores his sight, and Bartimaeus follows Jesus from that day on.

Oh Lord, may that be our response! Each day as Jesus persistently and gently calls my name, I pray that I would indeed leap up, throw off the things that hinder me and go to the One in whom all life, peace and joy reside, following Him wherever He should lead.