“‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’” (Mark 10:47, 49)

Ask someone how they are doing, and they will likely tell you how busy they are.  We seem to be always busy – demanding jobs and active families with children involved in numerous activities often result in our rushing from one place to another.  

The Gospel of Mark reports that as Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” (Mark 10:46-52) Above the din of the crowd Jesus hears this man call out to him and stops to hear his plea.

Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Bartimaeus says, “Master, I want to see.”  Jesus says, “Go your way, your faith has saved you.”  Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:51-52)

Are we willing to stop what we are doing to respond to someone in need?  Sometimes I have stopped; sometimes I have passed by. 

One evening while driving to a meeting, I came upon a man who had just been hit by a pick-up truck as he was crossing the road with a grocery cart.  The man was on the street in front of the truck and the grocery cart was under the truck.  As one of the first on the scene, I immediately pulled into an adjacent parking lot and ran to him.  I knelt to see how he was.  As the sound of sirens approached, he asked me if he was going to die.  Without thinking, I said, “No, you are not going to die,” I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying with him as a crowd gathered around.  The rescue squad arrived and pushed me aside.  They put him on a board and took him to a nearby hospital.  I inquired of the hospital, but since I didn’t know his name, was never able to learn whether he lived or died.

In later reflecting on the moment, I wondered whether I should have responded that he was not going to die since I did not know the nature of his injuries.  But then I came to understand that I was God’s delegate that evening, the first person on the scene to encourage and pray with him.   I had to accept Jesus’ promise that he and the Father’s presence were in me for me to say what I said.    

There is a blessing in stopping. Are we willing to listen above the din of the crowd and resist the pace of the moment to stop – and respond to the need of another on behalf of the Lord?  

“Is that your boy?” asked the salty 82-year-old owner of the marina as we backed the boat into the slip, with my son, Steve, and son-in-law, Greg handling the lines.  “Yes,” I answered, “He’s my son,” and then pointing to Greg, “and he’s my son-in-law.”

We were on a three day boat trip down the Potomac River, across the Chesapeake Bay to Tangier Island, then up the St. Mary’s River and finally back to Occoquan, south of Washington, D. C.  It was early October and God had blessed us with absolutely beautiful weather – warm sunshine days and cool nights – picturesque sunrises and artistic sunsets.  We had lunch at various crab houses along the way and anchored out each evening with one of the boys cooking dinner on the boat.  We were all easy to be with.

Tangier Island is like stepping into a time warp, discovered by Captain John Smith in 1608, a population of 569 who still speak with a trace of Elizabethan accent; all connected either directly or indirectly with the crabbing industry.  No cars, only golf carts and walking paths populated with houses and front yards filled with gravestones of preceding generations; lots of docks, marshes and crab boats. 

It may sound like a small thing, but for the owner of the marina to see enough resemblance to ask the question, “Is that your boy?” made me feel kind of proud.  Forty-three years separate my son, Stephen and me.  He was 30 and vigorous at the time.  I have white hair and am not quite so vigorous.

In today’s society, families tend to get so disbursed that we can easily lose our sense of family and identity from generation to generation.  We go our separate ways, life full of work, children, activities, and busyness; seldom doing things together, living far apart, seeing each other only on an occasional holiday.  In prior generations, like Tangier Island, families tended to live together more, or at least in closer proximity, sons worked with their fathers and were a continuation of the father in both work and life.

Tradition tells us that Jesus initially took on the work of his earthly father, Joseph, working as a carpenter before he began his public life. In his public life he took on the work of his heavenly Father, becoming his presence in human form in the family business of salvation.  “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:51-52)

This is the natural order established by God – man, woman, family cooperating with God’s creative act to fill the earth and to work and take care of the garden of his creation, extending God’s plan and leading each generation to God, so that God may one day be “all in all.” (1Cor. 15:28) 

Let us pray that God may be as proud of us, his extension in this world, as I am of my son, Stephen, son-in-law, Greg, and all my children, their spouses and families, who are an extension of our family and heritage.

“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.”  (John 14:12)

These are Jesus’ words to the disciples the night before his arrest.  He goes on to say, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Jesus wants to act on the faith of our requests to him in order to bring glory to the Father.  Jesus wants us to have faith in him, to live by his words, and pray in his name. 

I have a friend, Sheri, who is a physical therapist in Arizona.  She had a co-worker, Ashley, who was scheduled for an MRI to check on a piece of brain tumor that could not be removed from a prior surgery.  Every time Ashley would have an MRI to check on the status of the tumor, she would get very anxious.  On this occasion it turns out that Sheri was able to see Ashley right before she left for her appointment.  Sheri sensed that the Lord wanted her to pray with Ashley that this time the MRI would show no presence of the tumor.  While Sheri had reservations about whether she should follow what she deemed a prompting of the Holy Spirit, she nevertheless placed her hand on Ashley’s forehead and prayed in the name of Jesus that the tumor would be gone. 

Sheri reports, “The next time we saw each other, I was walking down the hallway past Ashley’s office when she yelled, ‘Sheri, THE TUMOR IS GONE!’  Not a trace of it was on the MRI, even though it had been present on every MRI for several years.” 

We see in Sheri’s story someone who not only believes in Jesus, but also has the confidence in him to step out and boldly offer to pray with her friend that God would heal her and take away all trace of the remaining piece of brain tumor. 

Whether Sheri realized it or not, by her faith in praying for Shelley in the name of Jesus, she was also bringing glory to the Father.

The Gospels share many promises of Jesus like this one.  How much confidence do you have in Jesus’ promises?