The Attentive Christ
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:35–19:10
Meditation
As Jesus approaches Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus sits by the roadside. He’s at his usual spot, at his usual time. He’s always known the darkness and he’s adapted. His routine and the regular comings and goings of his town have given him a sixth sense. He knows the sounds. And smells. He senses the energy and flow of the people as they bustle by. He knows the rhythm. The pace.
But today the beat is different.
Something new is happening. Someone new is coming to his town and somehow he’s got to figure out what’s going on.
“When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’
He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’
Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ”
Just because he’s blind doesn’t mean he can’t see.
Before the crowd beholds the Messiah, Bartimaeus perceives that this Jesus is the “Son of David.” He knows that he is the Son of God. He envisions this man to be the “Servant of the Lord” that Isaiah prophesied about, the one who was a “light to the Gentiles” the one who would “open eyes that are blind”, and “release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:6-7)
He “sees” … and shouts all the more!
Above the roar of the crowd, Jesus hears the beggar’s supplication. He hears his cry and his creed. He stops and orders the man to be brought to him. Jesus gives him his full attention and asks,
“ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied.
Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.’ ”
The essence of his prayer is …
“Lord, let my eyes see what my heart believes.”
His prayer is answered. The Messiah he saw only by faith, he now sees in the flesh.
There’s another man on the road. Zacchaeus.
He’s short in stature, short in morals, short on friends, but he’s big on ambition. He’s become the little big man of Jericho. As the region’s chief tax collector, he’s taxed his way to the top. But all of his money can’t buy him a front row seat as Jesus passes by.
Using the ingenuity that comes from being a small man in a big man’s world, he runs ahead of the crowd, climbs a sycamore tree, and waits for Jesus to pass by. He’s determined to see Jesus. He will have the best view. Best of all, he won’t have to deal with the big man’s crowd; he’ll be above it, not underneath it.
“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ ”
But Jesus wants to see Zacchaeus more than Zacchaeus wants to see him. Jesus stops, looks up, sees the little man with the big chip on his shoulder perched in the sycamore tree. He tells him to come down immediately and says,
“I must stay at your house today.”
It’s the Attentive Christ who picks little Zacchaeus out of the crowd. He chooses the chief tax collector, the short one, and the one known to the crowds as “sinner”.
The crowd swells with resentment. The people mutter. They grumble. They shake their heads because they know that this little man is a big cheat. But something big has just happened to this little man.
The chip is no longer on his shoulder. Salvation has come to his house.
“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ ”
As the world whirls, no one listens, no one looks, and no one cares about Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus. They’re lost in the crowd. But the Attentive Christ stops, takes note, and is aware of the “lost one” in the midst of the many.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Prayer
Father,
Wherever your Son walked, a crowd followed. He was constantly surrounded by a mass of people. Though he was always in the middle of the multitudes, somehow he never lost sight of the importance of the individual.
As he walked through Jericho, two men wanted to see him but neither could.
Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, was sightless. Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector was short and out of sight. But Jesus saw them both. He stopped. He heard the cry of the blind beggar over the shouts of the crowd and he saw the short man perched in a tall sycamore tree.
He was attentive. He noticed the need that others ignored. He heard the cries that others blocked out. He saw what others missed.
During this day, when the world passes me by, I need to be assured that the Attentive Christ notices me. Remind me that he stops, picks me out of the crowd, and gives me his full attention.
When he asks,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
… may I, in faith, declare the desire that beats fast within my heart.
And when he says,
“I must stay at your house today”
… may I welcome him knowing that Salvation will be the guest of honor. Amen.
Reflection
How has the world passed you by? How has it ignored your cry for help?
If the Attentive Christ were to ask, “What do you want me to do for you?” what would be your answer?
What are you willing to do to see/to be seen by Jesus?
How has the Attentive Christ picked you out of the crowd?
All Scripture references in the meditation are marked by italics and are taken from the Gospel reading for the day (Luke 18:35–19:10). Those verses quoted outside of the chosen reading for the day are noted in parenthesis. All Scripture quoted on this site is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
