When you hear the words, “take heart”, what do you think?
Answer that question and tuck it away for a bit.
We come to this story of a blind man, who even before his sight is restored, might really “see” that Jesus is the Messiah.
It is a somewhat short episode.
Before we delve into it, I have been thinking about Mark and his Gospel. How he has not troubled himself with being overly chronological. The structure of what he has written contains two broad strokes.
The first part of his Gospel is to present Jesus to us. He confronts us with Jesus, just as the people of his day were. We’ve been invited to see that most people don’t comprehend who Jesus really is except the desperate and the demons.
The second part, which begins with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, takes us into the journey of what it means to follow Jesus.
We’ve witnesses the disciples struggle to cast out a demon. We’ve heard challenging teachings Jesus has given on divorce and wealth. We’ve noted the disciples all too human desire of wanting to have a place of privilege alongside Jesus. We’ve groaned at the deafness of the disciples as Jesus has tried to tell them (more than once) the kind of death he will endure.
We too we experience struggles, challenges, desires, and deafness to him.
Mark has shown us the path of a disciple. You have to get wrong notions out of your head. You have to be a person of prayer. You have to die to self. In the end, you need to love Jesus above all else.
I want to pause here and make a strong point. We must distinguish between becoming a disciple and the subsequent path.
When we follow Jesus, when we say, as Peter, you are the Christ, we set ourselves on the path of discipleship.
Yet we must remember that Jesus chose us, we must hold tight to his promise that He will be with us always.
Here is the strong point. As we walk this path, as we stumble, and even fall, God’s hold on us does not loosen.
All this brings us to hearing, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Certainly, this title tee’s up the triumphal entry that we will read of next, the “son” of King David entering the City of David to take his throne.
However, within this story of a single blind man being healed is something for all—for all who are called.
Listen again to the words of this text “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”
The words “take heart”, for me, remind me to have courage.
Have you taken heart in Jesus call?