Contemplative Bible Reading

Mark 10:46-48 (New Living Translation)

46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

How did the blind man know that Jesus was descended from David? How did the blind man know that the magical healer was named Jesus?

We aren’t told everything in the scriptures. They are not a video recording of everything that happened. No one strapped a GoPro camera to an apostle.

Still, how did the blind man know these things about Jesus? “Someone told him,” is a simple explanation. If someone could explain this to a beggar, how is it that the religious leaders of the day didn’t know these things? Now everything unravels and makes no sense.

Nonsense. I guess that is one way to describe the Gospel story. There are parts of the (hi)story that make no sense to rational thinkers.

Faith. Believe in something we can’t explain.