Have Mercy!

I recently visited my sixteen-month-old grandson in South Carolina. One of the many things I love about little ones is the way they know when they need something, and how they do not hesitate to let the grownups know. Little Harrison hollered out, of course, when he needed us to act.

I am approaching the Sunday scriptures this week with the notion that given our need and frailty, we must cry out to God for the help that only God can give. Our gospel reading is from Mark 10:46-52, the familiar story of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, the blind beggar. I knew his Aramaic name means son of Timaeus, but as an aside, I was intrigued, to learn that it also means “son of honor.”  This man, dishonored by many because he was disabled, was shown the honor of the presence and healing of Jesus. I have only a poem that came to me about this story. With it, I hope to learn for myself to speak up, to cry out to God for the help I need. Here are the free-verse stanzas:

THE CRY REWARDED

What was it like to beg, Bartimaeus?
What was it like to beg blind?
Exposed to passersby you can’t see
Hoping for mercy but acquainted we suspect
with abuse from bullies. Heartless!
Shameless enough to kick a man when down
Is it blackness you see, blind Bartimaeus?
Is it blurriness instead: this wall that keeps you
from knowing your surroundings?
There you sit at your roadside spot
outside old Jericho

You hear it’s the Nazarene, Jesus, coming out of the
city, famous for its ancient walls long crumbled
up the road toward Holy City on the holy hill
It is now or never, so you shout
for this Son of David—you bellow a cry for mercy
They tell you to hush
but you cry all the louder
to bust through the wall of sightlessness
hiding this teacher from you
He hears, beckons you over; he asks what you want
“To see, my teacher, let me see again!”

We almost hear the rumbling
The walls of lost vision crack
Light peeks in to revive your dormant retinae
Light bounces off the healer to you
unveiling him
The barrier now crumbling and rolling away
Jump up, Bartimaeus!
Join and procession to Jerusalem
follow him, this one who heard you
follow this one you now see.