This account of the healing of Bartimaeus concludes a central section in Mark’s gospel that began in chapter 8 with the healing of a nameless blind man in Bethsaida. When these literary bookends appear in scripture, they can act as an invitation, of sorts, to deeper study; for example, how blindness may be a unifying theme.
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Deirdre Good is presently Theologian in Residence at Trinity Wall Street. She was Professor of New Testament at General Seminary for 28 years. She grew up in Kenya and has written books on Matthew’s portrait of Jesus (Jesus the Meek King 1999), on Mary traditions in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Mariam, the Magdalen and the Mother 2005), on households and families at the time of Jesus (Jesus’ Family Values 2006) and with Bruce Chilton (Reading the New Testament: A Fortress Introduction 2010).
When I was a little boy my family lost a pet. He was a small terrier-mix named Porgy. My parents had adopted Porgy and his adopted sister Bess one Christmas, and my six siblings and I were very excited. Bess, however, was a shepherd mix – bigger and more rambunctious – and when she came close to knocking down my grandmother who lived next door and visited pretty much daily, we sadly had to place her elsewhere, which was done with great solemnity.
“Who is wise and understanding among you?” asks James. And how are answers to this question lived out in the church, we wonder.
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
In 2004 I was working as Coordinator of the HIV Services Department in UMDNJ’s Federally Qualified Health Center in New Brunswick New Jersey. The staff consisted, in addition to myself, of two physicians, three Registered Nurses, three Clinical Case Managers and a handful of support staff. And it’s interesting that I started this job at a time when Ryan White funding – the funding that puts dollars directly into the hands of those who need it in local communities – it was a time when The Ryan White CARE Act was undergoing a great deal of change, due in large part to advancements in pharmaceutical therapies and a federal administration that de-prioritized health care for the neediest.
“We are what we eat!” Some of us have the luxury of choice in what, and how much, we eat. We have so much choice about food in our society that we rarely think about scarcity, and most of us have no concept of what it means to go to bed hungry. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that 40 million Americans struggle daily to get enough to eat. Half of those are children, and many are elderly. Yet in the US alone we throw away about 263 million pounds of food EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Wisdom is, decidedly, not knowledge. Knowledge may be power in worldly terms, but it’s not wisdom. And today’s gospel lesson highlights that truth in Jesus’ inimitable style. You see, we’re in the midst of one of those discussions that appear with some frequency in John’s gospel – think of Nicodemus and the question of being re-born, or the Woman at the Well and the notion of living water, or any number of encounters with the disciples…
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.