Mark 10:46-52
El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos): Christ Healing the
Blind
ca. 1570 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
No Scarcity
I see just why they tried to hush him up,
To make Blind Bart pipe down, and make no noise;
A guy like that is apt to take away
Attention one might otherwise enjoy.
But Bart, who did not see the way I do,
Knew Jesus was the answer to his prayers;
That is, he knew he had the right to love -
Which no impediment can e’er impair.
And so, he bravely called out, “Help me, too!”
And, sight regained, then joined with leaps and bounds
The movement pledged to show, that with good things,
There’s always plenty more to go around.
Scott L. Barton
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large
crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was
sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began
to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly
ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have
mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the
blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing
off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do
you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see
again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he
regained his sight and followed him on the way.
+ + +
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
William Blake: Job and His Daughters (1800, Butts set)
Job’s Non-Hollywood Ending
First, Job is told to say his prayers
for his annoying friends;
It must be prayer's required for
the Lord to make amends.
Next, sympathy and gifts turn out
to be Job's grieving need;
Since kindness, not explaining,
all our hurting spirits feeds.
And now we know Job's daughters' names!
And they were given land!
Who knew that such catastrophe,
such progress could command?
These things we need to see, to keep
the blindness from our eyes,
About old Job's disaster which
resulted in surprise;
Not just that all was well again,
but life was fully new;
Thus, grace which always looks ahead
is what will see us through.
Scott L. Barton
Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all
things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides
counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I
will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of
the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in
dust and ashes.”
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed
for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then
there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him
before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and
comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of
them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter
days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six
thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had
seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah,
and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful
as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their
brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his
children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and
full of days.
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