ENCOUNTERS STILL AWAIT

DAY 297 OF 365 IN 2021

Mark 10:38 Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Scripture does not provide a finite number for the crowds that followed Jesus in the Gospel today but if any inferences can be gleaned from previous recorded encounters, we could certainly have expected that number to be significant. I am really not surprised that when he was told to quiten down, scripture records ‘he even shouted the more’.

For Bartimaeus to get his voice over a crowd that size, he would have had to be shouting at the top of his lungs.
There was no room for ‘gentility’ or ‘blind humility’, for there was something at stake- there was an encounter that had to definitely be made and he was not going to let the rebuke from the crowd prevent that from happening.

I found this particular audience rather interesting – one moment they are shutting him and and in the next, they are the one extending the invitation of Jesus to him. One thing is certain, when you step into God’s limelight and field of view, even the stiffest opposition can become the strongest of supports.

Therefore, do not let the initial resistance of the crowd keep you from pressing on towards Jesus. There has really never been a promise that the journey would be easy, but grace and mercy, will guarantee us the encounters we need.

#sly