Mercy, Please

Mark 10:46-47 Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”


I think Batimaues speaks for all of us in this gospel account. I'm not sure we acknowledge our need for Jesus mercy very often, but Bartimaues had an obvious kind of blindness, while our blindness may not be so glaringly obvious. I have frequently recounted how at my first surrender to the love of Jesus as I accepted his forgiveness, it was as if I could see clearly for the first time in my life. I can sing with passion from "Amazing Grace", I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." For me everything looked different when I began to try to see the world around m through God's eyes. 


Periodically I return to a constant repetition of the Jesus prayer as a means of  staying centered in Christ. A Russian peasant seeking to pray without ceasing, as the scriptures say, started repeating over and over the Jesus Prayer, "Jesus Son of God have mercy on me a sinner." I will say the first half every time I inhale and the last half every time I exhale. I can pray that prayer while living out the rest of my life talking to others and functioning in quite normal ways. After some days or weeks I lose the discipline but the rewards persist for some time as I use other styles of prayer to nurture my spirit.


Are you blind to your need for mercy?