Mark 10

Anti-Toxin

Posted on by Betsy

We are rounding the corner when holidays challenge us to try to spend time with our families. There is an expectation of togetherness that dominates our schedules between Halloween and New Year’s Day. For families that are experiencing dysfunction, these next few months can be extremely disruptive.

Does your family put the “fun” in dysfunctional or is there a deep and toxic undercurrent that threatens your peace? I spoke to a mother who has been battling with a very toxic relative who refuses to listen to her and has rejected all of her words and counsel. When that relative suddenly announced that they were coming for Thanksgiving, the mother responded that this would not work this year. I applaud her conviction in standing up for herself. Let me say this out loud for those in the back: it is okay to walk away from toxic relationships. You can still love people from afar, but to put appropriate boundaries around your heart, your mind, and your sanity is sometimes the only way to negotiate relationships that threaten to undo you.

Not only is it okay to walk away from toxic relationships, but it is also biblical.

In the tenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus was training his disciples to go out and announce that the Messiah had come. He instructed them to knock on the door and offer a blessing of peace. If the blessing was rebuked, Jesus told them to “let your peace return to you” and walk away.

Matthew 10 (New International Version)

13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.

Think about your most challenging relationships. If the relationship is deserving, let your peace rest on it. If your words, advice, and loving counsel are rejected over and over again, step away from that relationship and dust off your feet.

This is not to say that we are suddenly relieved of our duty to love others as Christ loves them. This does not discount unconditional love. But loving with healthy boundaries and space is appropriate. Jesus said so.

Are you dreading the holidays? Do you wish you didn’t have to deal with someone this season?

Dust off your feet, stand up for yourself, and walk toward your own peace of mind.

When Peace, Like a River by Kathy Schumacher

On Your Feet

Posted on by Betsy

When I was about four years old, I had an accident that almost cost me my sight. My mother was cleaning the wall oven in our kitchen with an Easy-Off product that was very caustic. She was applying it to the open door of the oven with the brush-in-the-lid applicator when I quietly came around the corner and startled her. The brush flicked a gob of oven cleaner straight into my eye, burning my eyeball in an instant.

Mom was amazingly good at thinking on her feet, and grabbed the glass of water I had in my hand and flushed my eye. She then ran me to the tub and flushed out the eye even more, amidst my howls and screams. I think I may have been in more danger of drowning than losing my sight at that point. Then she wrapped me in a towel and ran five blocks with me to our local GP. My father had taken our only car to work that day, and the doctor’s practice was located in an addition to his house.

He filled my eyes with some kind of dye to assess the damage. This is my only memory of the event … the rest of it is only known to me through hearing the story told. I have a clear memory of sitting on his examination table in the dark with my eyes closed. Naturally I had kept them shut as much as possible during the entire ordeal, with my right eye feeling as though it was on fire. They had to cajole me into opening them, and when I finally did, the darkened room was a lovely shade of blue, due to the dye. The doctor was using an ophthalmoscope, moving it back and forth to assess the damage. As I looked at my mother’s anxious face, haloed in blue, I said to her, ”Mommy! You are so pretty in blue!” Thus they knew that my sight had survived the ordeal. I got my lollipop and we walked home.

Sight, in all of its many forms, is a precious thing.

Today’s passage tells the story of a blind man who is healed by Jesus, Son of David:

Mark 10 (New International Version)

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

This an interesting detail that Mark thoughtfully included. This entire community knew the man. He sat in the same place every day, begging for enough coins to sustain him. And yet the minute he has a chance to be healed, they shushed him.

Sometimes society likes to keep its status quo by silencing those who sit at the bottom of the class structure . The hungry, the poor, the disabled, the homeless, the immigrant, the mentally ill … aren’t we guilty of looking the other way and just wishing they wouldn’t bother us?

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

This is exactly what we are meant to do as well. Call over the ones who are hurting. Call over the ones who need help. Call over the ones who need JESUS.

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

Again, Mark blesses us with detail. Don’t you love it when they say to the blind man, ”Cheer up!”? What a happy moment. They know what is coming. They know the next part of the story. They know what their savior can do.

Do you?

And don’t miss the detail of the man throwing his cloak aside. It is very probable that this is this man’s only possession. Think about that! Would you be willing to give up every thing you owned to have an encounter Jesus? The rich young ruler couldn’t. (Mark 10:17-31)

51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Perhaps the greatest teaching in this passage is found in the newly-sighted man’s response. The minute he finally saw Jesus, he followed him.

Can you see Jesus actively working in your life? Do you need to be healed? Would you give up everything to follow him?

As we ponder these things today, may God grant us wisdom and insight into everything he is doing in our lives.

Open your eyes! Jesus is calling.

Miracles Around Us by Bev Mineo

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