Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.
“Looking Ahead” is our series of reflections on the Sunday readings, written by Father Perry.
By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
In today’s scriptures, this is as good as it gets —
“The Lord has saved his people,
the remnant of Israel.
Look! I will bring them back
from the land of the north.
I will gather them from the ends of the earth.
With weeping they shall come,
but with compassion I will guide them.”
These are the prophetic utterances of Jeremiah who speaks of God’s great love and care of this people Israel. God declares himself as their Father. There seems to be no limits to his love, his guidance, his healing, his restoring care. This is our great God as he relates to his people. God even delights in referring to the many who are satisfied with his love, as he announces —
“They shall return as an immense throng.”
Not only does the word reveal a loving God who treats his people with such kindness and goodness, he shows the same love for the individual person through Jesus as he listens, responds to, and brings healing to yet another individual.
Jesus, surrounded by a sizable crowd, hears the voice of one person, Bartimaeus, who was crying out when he heard that Jesus was passing by. This blind man had heard of his healing power. Not anyone nor anything could silence his cries. Jesus heard him, called him over, and asked what he wanted. Jesus sent him away, healed and restored and with an even stronger faith.
Whether it is God listening to his people or Jesus listening to an individual person, the same message is proclaimed loudly and clearly today.
The psalmist pulls it all together in the refrain we sing and pray today —
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”
But some feel quite the opposite. They feel that God does not hear their voice or their cry. They are convinced that God has abandoned them and has not responded to their needs. They have, essentially, given up on prayer and seeking because it seems their prayers are never answered. Today’s word is no consolation but, rather, a painful reminder of their sorrowful and despairing lack of hope, and their growing faithlessness.
I wonder how many years Bartimaeus may have felt the same. I wonder if he ever felt abandoned, punished, forsaken by God. I wonder if it isn’t simply a part of the human condition to sometimes feel this way. But, perhaps like Bartimaeus, there comes the day when in spite of all of the noise around us and the usual busyness of life, we can still hear that voice of Jesus or recognize the presence of God.
Perhaps it is when we are lost in our blindness, have surrendered to voiceless cries, gotten stuck in paralyzing moments, and can’t hear because of our deafness or feel because of our hardness of hearts, that God is most near and listening most deeply to us.
May we have the fortitude and clarity of Bartimaeus to cry out again and again until we know we are heard, until we feel the Lord asking for what we want, and until our spirit is connected with the Lord of life!
Quote of the week |
“Dear Past, thank you for all the lessons. Dear Future, I am ready.” — Anonymous.
