Bartimaeus could see now
and no band of tough talking minders
was going to silence him.
He’d been pushed out of the way
far too many times.
He could see through the eyes
of this Jesus,
through the eyes of the stories
that had rekindled his hope,
and drawn now to this man of healing
who listens and hears the pain of the sick and deprived;
who looks and sees and turns not aside
from the deformed, the depraved, the rotting away.
He could see through the judgements and blame
to his own buried treasure of worth
and that he matters in the eyes of this man.
He’ll hear me !
He’ll see me !
He’ll heal me for sure !
(Noel Davis, A poem from Campfire of the Heart).
Blind Bartimaeus was sitting begging by the roadside as Jesus walked by. He shouted out through the tumult, trying to get Jesus’ attention. People tried to silence him but Bartimaeus shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped, listened, saw Bartimaeus and healed him: “Go; your faith has made you well”. (Mark 10:46-52)
Lent 2021 brings a new set of challenges in the uncharted landscapes and crises of a COVID-changed world. We are reminded, yet again, that times of crisis and challenge are also times of opportunity. We are forced to let go of old certainties, and to hear again what we might have missed before, to look and to see with new eyes. Although his story is not among the readings for Lent, Bartimaeus’ desperate plea, and his sure hope of Jesus’ response, as captured in Noel Davis’ poem, invites deep reflection. Lent says, ‘Listen! Look and look again!’ See the Jesus of the Gospels! See our own need for healing, and the needs of a wounded world! When we look around us this Lent, can we “see through the eyes of this Jesus” ? Can we plead with Jesus to see and hear our own deep need for healing, whether of body or spirit? Can we be certain that, in whatever way is best, “He’ll heal me for sure!” ?
The poem offers simple words to pray through this season of Lent, for ourselves, for those in our circles of life and love, and for our world:
Jesus Hear me! See me! Heal me! You will heal me for sure!
Jesus Hear us! See us! Heal us! You will heal us for sure
Lyn Breen, Adult Faith Education Sandhurst
Poem ‘He’ll Heal Me For Sure’ by Noel Davis in Campfire of the Heart, Thornleigh NSW: Shekinah Creative Ministry Co op, 1994.
