Jesus, son of David, have pity on me. – Mark 10:47
In the early days of the faith, Christianity was called “The Way.” In our Gospel passage for Sunday (Mark 10:46- 52), Blind Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the way” after his healing. He became a disciple! Bartimaeus recognized his need for a savior. He knew he couldn’t save or heal himself. He cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” What a good model he is for us fellow followers of Jesus. We are called to reflect on the parts of our lives where we need to cry out for God’s mercy in order to experience forgiveness and healing.
Notice that he invokes Jesus’s royal title: Son of David. Bartimaeus recognized Jesus’s authority as the rightful king of Israel. In essence he’s saying, “Jesus, you are powerful, and I am weak. Please help me.” what places of your life do you feel weak and powerless? Those are precisely the places where Jesus can demonstrate His powerful mercy. Write them down. Name them. Then surrender them to Jesus.
When I surrender my worries or fears to Jesus, I try to let go of the need to control the situation. However, I recognize that I will usually have a role to play. So I will ask Him to give me a “job.” Maybe He wants me to pray, take some action, wait for something, or some combination of these.Then I’ll keep doing my job and coming back to Him in prayer for direction. This almost always brings me peace even in the midst of uncertainty or painful waiting. At least I have a job, even if it’s just to wait and pray. Here’s a wonderful prayer called the Surrender Novena for you to pray with!
Jesus, I surrender my worries and fears to your powerful, loving, gentle hands. Jesus, I trust, in you.