The 20th Sunday after Pentecost, Oct. 26, 2003 (Proper 25B)
Isaiah 59:(1-4)9-19; Psalm 13; Hebrews 5:12-6:1,9-12; Mark 10:46-52
The Jesus Prayer comes to us from the Eastern Orthodox tradition of our Christian family. It is a prayer of persistence inspired by Bartimaeus who cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). The words eventually were expanded to “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Sometimes other words such as “the living” are added before “God.” Sometimes it is shortened by dropping all but “Jesus, have mercy.” Whatever form it takes, it is used as a mantra with “mercy” as the core plea of the prayer. Bartimaeus, although blind, saw clearly his need for mercy. We have here a paradox. The blind man, not yet a follower of Jesus, even before being healed sees that he needs mercy while the disciples never quite understand.
Bartimaeus’ cry for mercy is also in contrast to those in the Isaiah reading who are so blind they cannot see justice. “We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the vigorous as though we were dead” (Isaiah 59:10). Such beautiful imagery of a sorry plight. This groping is going on because of a lack of insight that we need to change our ways and call on God for mercy. Then we would be able to see justice because we will be practicing it. But first comes repentance and then the mercy that allows us to carry on. Bartimaeus understood this. It was this faith of his that Jesus praises and that also inspired the Jesus Prayer to echo Bartimaeus as it cries for mercy.
Another lesson the Jesus Prayer gets from Bartimaeus is perseverance in prayer. Bartimaeus will not stop calling out to Jesus for mercy even though the people around him were vehement in their efforts to silence him. “Many sternly ordered him to be quiet” (Mark 10:48). We might see in the very makeup of our society an atmosphere or environment that urges us also to curtail our persistence in prayer. We are lured away from prayer by the sheer volume of distractions, lured away from crying out for mercy. However, the Jesus Prayer used as a mantra is repeated over and over, perhaps hundreds of times in a single day, even while we are about other activities, while we are about our busy lives. This practice allows prayer to be a substratum of our lives, never silenced by the crowd.
The Letter to the Hebrews says that we are like those who need a teacher to instruct us again in the basics (Heb. 5:12). Thank you, Bartimaeus, for being that teacher. Thank you, Jesus Prayer, for carrying on the lessons of Bartimaeus.
Look It Up
For more on the Jesus Prayer read in The Practice of Prayer by Margaret Guenther, Volume 4 of The New Church’s Teaching Series, pages 69-72.
Think About It
If we are to pray all day long as is encouraged by the Jesus Prayer, then certainly this must be done in a way that is not consciously thinking of God all the time. We could not function if that were so. There must be an undercurrent, a subconscious listening.
Next Sunday
Sunday after All Saints’ Day, Nov. 2, 2003
(Readings for All Saints’ Day)
Ecclus. 44:1-10, 13-14; Psalm 149; Rev. 7:2-4, 9-17; Matt. 5:1-12
