They’ve been waiting in the plane for awhile now. Some of them nervous as this is their first flight. Others strap themselves in as if this is routine. They’ve been to this dance several times.
It’s finally time.
The engine starts to rumble and the captain’s voice echoes through the plan. He announces to the anxious passengers that they are ready for take off in a couple. The plane picks up speed. The g-force has passengers pushed back in their seats. The 747 is just about ready to hit the air…
Then with a startle, the passengers are thrown forward. The 747 comes to a screeching halt.
You are slightly perturbed and have a bit of a sore neck, but you reckon that it must have been a malfunction or something of the sort. You trust the pilots judgment in stopping the plane and are grateful that they’ve likely made a decision which preserved your life. Then you ask a flight attendant why the plane came to an abrupt stop. She dutifully informs you that the Captain decided to stop because he noticed out of the corner of his eye a beggar who looked like he needed something.
The passengers are outraged. “Why would you risk giving us whiplash, stop the whole plane, delay our flight, and go through all of this, just for some smelly homeless guy?”
Now you might not have used quite those words but be honest. You’d have been a bit put out that the Captain has impacted your schedule so significantly just for a beggar. This is certainly what the disciples would have felt as Jesus stops along the road to Jerusalem and heals a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.
Jesus is clearly on a mission. As Luke 9:51 says, “He set his face to go to Jerusalem”. This is the jet plane speeding down the runway to its destination. He grinds the whole thing to a halt because of this blind beggar. We could understand if he’d have stopped for an important person. If the President stopped the plane we might be slightly perturbed but we would understand, he’s pulled rank, it’s his prerogative. But not a beggar.
And yet the text is clear:
“And Jesus stopped…”
This should stop us in our tracks. Our redemption is in this verse. The same heart which caused the son of Man to stop for a blind beggar is the same heart which stoops to redeem you and I. A heart which stops is a heart which stoops.
We are Bartimaeus.
Desperate.
Destitute.
Hopeless.
And Jesus stopped…
Feast on that today.
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