Meditate on the word of God with me:
Mark 10:46-52
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here."
And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."
So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."
Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
When we read healing stories in the gospels, we often observe that faith on someone’s part is necessary for healing to take place. Which is true. Yet this account at least describes some other actions that led to healing.
First, there is the recognition that we have a problem. Bartimaeus understood that he had a problem. Blindness.
Bartimaeus also understood that there was something other, something different about Jesus. This is where faith operates: God has the power to do that which we as human cannot. Yes, we are amazing imagers of God. Yes, we can think amazing thoughts, and we can do amazing deeds. Yet not everything lies within our power. Faith in the steadfast love and in the healing power of God is necessary.
Yet there is another need. Bartimaeus had to act. No one else was willing to plead the case of Bartimaeus. No one else was willing to carry Bartimaeus over to meet Jesus. It was the responsibility of no one else to name the obvious need for healing: blindness. Thank God, that Bartimaeus did what he needed to do.
One of the most surprising statistics I ever encountered in my professional career had to do with the success rate of counseling and therapy. It didn’t really matter what kind of facility in which the sessions were conducted. There wasn’t a lot of difference in success between varied methods of therapy. The personal attributes of the counselor had a surprisingly limited effect. The number one determinant of the success of any coaching or counseling process was the answer to this question: does the client want to get well?
For many of our boys, these same problems hinder their complete healing. We may be able to help them somewhat, but until they recognize that they have a problem, until they believe that it will take something more than their own power to fix it, until they do something in response to these realities, and until they decide that they want to be well, any real change or healing is stymied.
The trick is to tell the truth in a hopeful way and avoid unhelpful truths. What does the unhelpful truth look like? “Bartimaeus, you are blind and you can’t do anything about it.” We also need to make it clear that we are presenting what appears to be true from our perspective.
What does the hopeful truth, well presented, look like? “Yes, Bartimaeus, it appears to me that you are blind, but Jesus has the power and the desire to heal you.”
May we always work to keep hope and truth connected in our lives and in the lives of those whom we love.
Grace and peace,
Ron
