Mark 10.17, 51 17 As
Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.
“Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
51 “What do
you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want
to see.”
In Mark 10, Jesus dealt with: with two blind men – one was
actually blind, the other just couldn’t see.
In my reading today, I saw two things: Money is one of the weirdest things in
all of life; and Jesus gives sight
to the blind, if they want it.
In the story, a rich man comes to Jesus to seal the deal for
his place in Heaven: “Good teacher,” he
asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He had money for all that
money could buy, but he couldn’t figure out how to secure his place in Heaven.
Many times, people come to God expecting one thing only
to find out their expectation reveals a massive lack of understanding of God,
and themselves. This rich man was like
this. He thought he could broker a deal with Jesus to secure his standing in
heaven. What he didn’t realize was his wealth blinded his view of heaven and
impeded his entrance there. He needed sight, not money.
The other man needed money as well, but what he really
needed was sight. Begging in those days was a terrible life; and being a blind
beggar was even worse – you couldn’t see who was stealing what you begged, or
where a coin went that was tossed at you.
As I go through my days, I encounter many people who
struggle with sight. Rarely do I run into the ones who have lost physical
sight; most are just blind to God and what He is trying to do in them, for
them, and through them. Most of the time
blindness really boils down to looking at the wrong things; or looking at right
things wrongly. The rich man in Mark 10 looked at right things wrongly.
Now, to be fair, he did go to Jesus to find help, but his
vision of help was so off-base that he couldn’t see the answer to his problem.
He only knew what he had, and to him, that was enough. But there was a small
conscience inside him that bugged him about spiritual things and he couldn’t
reconcile his conscience with truth. When Jesus confronted him about his
worldview he went away sad because he just couldn’t see what his real problem
was. Don’t call Jesus, Good Teacher
if you’re not going to apply what He teaches…
Not sure what happened to the blind beggar. Maybe he went
on to be successful financially in life. Or maybe he went to his grave knowing
that the Lord of Glory gave him what he really needed: sight. One thing is for
sure, when Jesus offered help, he took it. The other guy? Not so much
Father, help me in
my days of struggling in my pursuit of Heaven, and the pursuit of money. May I
have serenity to accept the things I cannot change; peace to change the things
I can; and Your vision, wisdom, and provision, to be content. Thank You for
Your love for me and for all those trying to enter Your Kingdom - Amen
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