ROBBIE, YOU CAN’T DO THAT! YOU AREN’T GOOD ENOUGH! YOU AREN’T QUALIFIED! YOU AREN’T READY! YOU MESSED UP!
I’ve heard those voices before. I’ve heard people say them to me. I have also heard my own voice in my head repeat those to myself late at night. The late night is the toughest for me because my thoughts tend to get loud when everything else is quiet.
I know I’m not the only one….right? How do we drawn out the “No’s” in our life? How do we cope with the physical and internal nay-sayers?
The answer is so simple but forgotten: By seeking Jesus.
Bartimaeus grew up blind, living on a corner downtown. We will call him Bart for short. He didn’t have a lot of cash or friends. Actually he was probably a beggar and considered unworthy through the customs of the land since he was blind. He heard “No” a lot through the years. Negativity was all around him. He was sitting alongside the path of the Messiah that faithful day (literally). Jesus was big news and miracles where happening everywhere He went. There was a crowd that formed like a parade on the streets following Jesus. You would have thought Ryan Seacrest was there at Times Square New Years Eve with the amount of people flooding the streets. It was packed everywhere with people needing their own miracles or to witness one, and the disciples had their hands full trying to do crowd control. Bart could hear people’s excitement. The energy was contagious. He was probably being pushed around amongst the crowd stampeding to see the Messiah. But…he wanted to see Jesus too…maybe just maybe…Jesus could heal him. But where is he, and he wondered how could he get near Jesus.
He decided to cry out to Jesus. Maybe if he screamed, his voice would some how get to Jesus’ ears. It was a long shot but he had to try….
“Son of David”.
HUSH BART yelled the couple behind him.
“Son of David…please”.
BART SHUT UP, HE IS BUSY yelled the guy beside him.
“Please have mercy”.
BART HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU.
“Please”.
SOMEBODY GET HIM QUIET. The crowd started yelling back at him in anger.
Just then he’s gets pushed and falls backward onto the people behind him….but with tears he cries out one more time as loud as his brokenness would allow.
“Son of David, please have mercy”.
Then he was shoved from his back towards the bystanders in front of him. He fell down face first in the mud, defeated.
Suddenly Jesus stops moving. He looks around for that voice that cried out for mercy among the thousands. The crowd closes in a bit and the disciples are confused why they stopped. Scanning the crowd Jesus sees Bart toppled over, behind several rows of people. They were pushing him to and fro like a broken rag doll. Jesus tells the disciples to bring him over. The disciples look at each other and agreed they would bring him over somehow.
The crowd makes a very small opening and awkwardly the disciples sift through it and go to the one everyone was pointing at. Bart heard their whispers “why Bart…not him he’s a simple beggar…of all the people…but he’s blind…”. Bart is helped up with a disciple advising him today is his lucky day.
With help, moments later, Bart is finally standing in front of Jesus. The crowd is silenced both in amazement and disgust. Jesus asks what he needed mercy for and Bart points to his eyes with his hands trembling. “Rabbi, I want to see” with tears falling down. Jesus smiled at him.
Bart’s story is found in Mark 10 (I added a bit imagining the scene being played out). Bart let hope rise within his spirit that day. That hope drowned out everything else. He heard the crowd mocking, felt them pushing him backwards, and probably heard his own voice begging for him to get quiet, and to give up. But he didn’t. He ignored the voices and focused on the one voice that truly mattered. He didn’t stop fighting the voices that said no. He focused on Jesus.
God I hear voices all the time at work with all the negativity. I hear doctors telling me my kids life expectancies. I hear my car making not so funny noises as I drive home some days. I hear the “thanks but no thanks” statements in emails. I hear the inner voice while I’m preparing a lesson for our youth group saying that they will be bored. I hear that I’m not doing enough to share Jesus and I have failed at night. I’m wondering if this blog makes sense. Am I sharing to much? I hear doubt and worry. God these voices are so loud. The voices are my crowd. I am Bart. May you help me shout out louder with everything in me to say “Son of David, have mercy” when these negative voices cry out.
Then it happens. Jesus hears my voice and stops everything He is doing and calls me over to listen to His voice. His voice tells me it’s ok. His voice tells me the truth. Healing sweeps over my spirit. All the voices are silenced but His truth.
If you have the crowd yelling in your ears and spirit today, be like Bart and cry out to Jesus. It may take a couple of cries to build your faith, but Jesus will stop, and He will call you over to Him. In fact, Jesus is anxiously waiting for it.
By the way, Bart got healed that day! That same healing to open his eyes (physically, spirituality, and emotionally) still applies two thousand years later, today.
Cry out louder than the naysayers around and inside you today! Son of David, have mercy.
