Do You Ever Feel Like Making a Scene? Maybe You Should!

Do you ever feel like making a scene?

I’m not much of a scene maker myself. I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable. That’s neither a trait to be applauded or booed, it’s just my particular bent.

There are times, however, when I need attention. Times when I’m feeling particularly vulnerable and I crave reassurance that I am visible to God. Times when I long for mercy.

Like Bartimeus. There are days when I inhabit the blind beggar Bartimeus.

At the end of Mark chapter ten there is a very short story about a man who sat by the road begging, a man who insisted on calling out to Jesus for mercy. The crowd around him tried to silence him, quiet him, shut him up, calm him down, keep him from creating a scene, from embarrassing himself, from embarrassing them. He didn’t care.

Why should he care about a scene? He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He was a blind beggar destined to sit by the side of the road. He knew what he was and he knew what he needed – or rather who he needed. He needed Jesus.

Do you get it yet?

This historical story is about a real man and a real crowd but it’s also about every one of us.

At some point, we need to understand that we are all blind beggars in need of mercy and when we realize that, we need to see that we cannot save ourselves. And when we realize that, we need to realize that only Jesus has what we need and then we can’t let anyone stop us from calling out for His mercy.

The crowd is still there. They are noisier and pushier than ever. They try to push us down, to keep us blind and begging, to shut us up, to stand between us and Jesus but we can’t let that happen. We must follow the example of Bartimeus – when the crowd tried to silence him, he cried out all the more!

Even after we have come to Jesus, there are times when we long for His attention, a touch from Him, for healing, for mercy, for Him – when you are there refuse to be silenced, don’t be set down, cry out to Jesus and He will stop and turn and notice you and call you to Him and heal you and bathe you in His mercy.

We used to sing a song back in the sixties “Blind man sat by the road and he cried . . .”

I am that blind man.

Thank God.

You are that blind man, too.

Cry out! Don’t remain silent. Cry out! Jesus hears. Jesus heals. Jesus saves. Every day.