Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggarnamed Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus,Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”And Jesus said to him, “Go;your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
What is your first thought after reading this story from the book of Mark?
Possibly it's the amount of compassion that Jesus showed on Bartimaeus. Maybe for some of you it's the beggars faith, and maybe like me it's the way the crowd treated the poor blind man; shushing him like he wasn't worth anything ... the crowd was anything but compassionate towards Bartimaeus.
I have lived in the Philippines for 4 months 3 weeks and 3 days. Out of this time I have walked past this one man at least 10 times. This man is crippled and sits on the stairs of a sky walk daily . He begs for money, holding a cup out to the people walking by.
About a week ago I walked past this man paying him not a whole lot of attention.
Then the thought dawned on me. He probably can't get a job because he is disabled. He was most likely abandoned as a child because of his disability. He probably doesn't eat more than two meals a day. He probably doesn't know anything else. Then I thought "wow, Caidy, you are just like the crowd in the Bartimaeus story".
How many of us are like the crowd? Yes, we all wish we were like Jesus, but don't lie to yourself.
My challenge for you all is compassion. Try, just for this week, to have more compassion on the people you encounter on a daily basis.
