BARGAINING CHIP (41 OF 52)
Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
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Bargaining Chip (41 of 52)
Christopher B. Harbin
Lectionary, Year B
Mark 10:46-52
How often have we heard that nothing is free? You can't get something for nothing. There is no free lunch. We must work hard and earn everything we have. Those are messages we hear so often they tend to bleed over into all areas of our lives. They impact the ways we relate to one another. They impact how we evaluate one another's motives. They impact our notions regarding God, forgiveness, grace, and love. We readily accept the idea that we need a bargaining chip to gain God's favor. What will it take for us to accept grace that gives of itself freely with no strings attached?
Jesus' disciples had been arguing about standing, position, and prominence. They had struggled against Jesus' teaching that wealth, power, and status did not carry over into the values of God's reign. They had failed to understand that God's way was a polar opposite to how society wielded power, force, and control. They could not grasp that God desired to bless without condition, without cost, and ignoring all those issues of our becoming worthy or proving ourselves. Then Jesus came upon Bartimaeus sitting by the roadside on the route to Jericho.
Bartimaeus had no bargaining chip. He was rather much like the little children brought to Jesus by their parents who sought Jesus' blessing. The only real difference was that Bartimaeus could speak. In fact, it was his speaking that claimed Jesus' attention in the first place. He was sitting by the road to beg, as his blindness did not allow him to actively participate in society and its economic structures. He was not able to contribute to life around himself. Apparently, his blindness had come about by some accident or illness like conjunctivitis, for he did at least own a cloak he used to protect himself from the elements.
This was a man who had lost any standing he had held in society. Life was passing him by. He was relegated to hearing the crowd i ...
Christopher B. Harbin
Lectionary, Year B
Mark 10:46-52
How often have we heard that nothing is free? You can't get something for nothing. There is no free lunch. We must work hard and earn everything we have. Those are messages we hear so often they tend to bleed over into all areas of our lives. They impact the ways we relate to one another. They impact how we evaluate one another's motives. They impact our notions regarding God, forgiveness, grace, and love. We readily accept the idea that we need a bargaining chip to gain God's favor. What will it take for us to accept grace that gives of itself freely with no strings attached?
Jesus' disciples had been arguing about standing, position, and prominence. They had struggled against Jesus' teaching that wealth, power, and status did not carry over into the values of God's reign. They had failed to understand that God's way was a polar opposite to how society wielded power, force, and control. They could not grasp that God desired to bless without condition, without cost, and ignoring all those issues of our becoming worthy or proving ourselves. Then Jesus came upon Bartimaeus sitting by the roadside on the route to Jericho.
Bartimaeus had no bargaining chip. He was rather much like the little children brought to Jesus by their parents who sought Jesus' blessing. The only real difference was that Bartimaeus could speak. In fact, it was his speaking that claimed Jesus' attention in the first place. He was sitting by the road to beg, as his blindness did not allow him to actively participate in society and its economic structures. He was not able to contribute to life around himself. Apparently, his blindness had come about by some accident or illness like conjunctivitis, for he did at least own a cloak he used to protect himself from the elements.
This was a man who had lost any standing he had held in society. Life was passing him by. He was relegated to hearing the crowd i ...
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