A few days ago I was reading in Mark 10:46-52 about the blind man who was calling out to Jesus. There are several things that caught my attention about this small passage of scripture.

First, people try to get the guy to be quiet and stop calling out to Jesus. Why? By this time, many had either seen or heard about the miracles of Jesus firsthand. Why are they trying to prevent this guy from that healing?

Secondly, the guy-Bartimaeus refused to be quiet or give up.  Scripture says “but he was crying out all the more”. In my mind that means he is screaming at Jesus, refusing to passed by or ignored. Which made me think about why I give up so easily?  How often do we pray once and figure “well, I asked”. Are will willing to “cry out all the more”, even if those around us are telling us to stop?

Lastly and maybe the most interesting part for me comes when Jesus calls Bartimaeus over and ask what he wants. Many questions come to mind. He was blind, wasn’t it obvious that he would want to see? If I found myself in a similar situation where Jesus is asking “what do you want me do for you?” what would I say?  Would I be able to answer as quickly as this guy? Granted, I am not physically blind, but this story got me to thinking about this whole idea of sight, both physical and spiritual.

Sight brings with it several traits or characteristics: awareness, action and obedience. When you can see you can no longer stumble around in darkness, unaware of what is happening around you. In the simplest form that means when I am going about my day, I can see people and things along the way. Not only can I see them, but I choose to either  be aware of them or simply walk on by and ignore them. For example, if I am working at home, I can see that pile of laundry that needs folding. Now, just because I’m aware of the pile of unfolded laundry, it doesn’t necessarily mean I have to do anything about it, but it does require a choice on my part. Do I address the need or chose to ignore it and walk on by? Either way my choice involves an action of some sort. The last characteristic of sight is that it requires obedience. The pile of unfolded laundry may not be ideal for this part of the analogy, so let’s say I ask one of my children to fold the laundry, they then have another choice; to either obey and fold the laundry or to disobey and leave it unfolded.

Laundry is a simple example for physical sight, that hopefully points out the more complex  issue of spiritual sight. Let me try to explain. Bartimaeus response to Jesus was “I want to see!” When we ask Jesus for sight, the ability to truly see, we will begin to become aware of, or see needs that maybe we did not before. And just like with the pile of laundry, we are faced with a choice to either stop and address the need or continue along with our day, ignoring what God placed in our path and asked us to address. After all He did give us the ability to see the need. So we have to choose to either obey or disobey?

The question becomes-Do I really want to see, or am I content to stumble around in darkness, laziness, and unawareness. The ability to see the needs of God’s people comes directly from Him, as does the desire to be obedient. But there is an internal struggle we face; the ability to see comes with a price tag. At times that price tag can be really small. Taking an extra ten minutes to talk and pray with a hurting friend or co-worker. But at times, it can also be very large. What if that hurting friend needs more than an encouraging word and quick prayer. What if they need you walk with them through a long and difficult journey? People around us all have needs, sometimes our choice to walk with them will not only wreck our schedule and our hearts as well. There is no doubt in my mind that blindness is the easier choice, but is it the right choice?

I’ll be honest and say that there have been times when I have prayed “God, give me eyes to see”. But, there have also been times when I really wish I couldn’t see or wasn’t aware. Because I made the choice to be disobedient and walk on by. Unwilling to invest the time, energy and love in my hurting friend. I’m not proud of that fact, but it is the truth.

The story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10 comes to mind. Each person that walked passed the injured man was able see him and each of them made a choice. Only one chose awareness, action and obedience. What will you choose?