30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 25), Year B

​Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
~Mark 10:46
 
In the center of the story in Mark for this week, right after Bartimaeus raises his voice to call out for mercy, Mark tells us that Jesus stands still. It is a striking image, especially amidst the frenzy of the scene, Jesus stopping. Standing still. Listening. Bartimaeus calling out. The crowd shouting him down, seemingly everything and everyone against him. And then, Jesus calls him to the still, quiet center and lifts his voice for all to hear.
 
Our last of four encounters with the book of Job is striking for its similarities. Job, after finally receiving a response from God, lifts his voice and is restored. But what does he say? It is not as clear as we might hope. We need the voice of suffering to be raised for truth to be present, even if it undoes us a little bit in order to remake us all.
 
Such is the cycle of faith. Death leads to rebirth. Confusion leads to understanding. Unsettledness leads to new forms of life-giving order.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Job 42:1–6, 10–17 † Psalm 34:1-22 † Hebrews 7:23-28 † Mark 10:46-52
 
 
About the Art: Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973. The Blind Man's Meal (detail), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54229 [retrieved October 14, 2024]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairity/2232804348/
 
Misery, old age, privation, and destitution permeate the canvases of Picasso's Blue Period (1902-4). By enveloping these dire subjects in a palette of blues, the artist moved the wretchedness to a picturesque and even sentimental sphere, one whose mood corresponds to contemporary angst-filled Spanish literature.
 
The Blind Man's Meal is one of the bluest of the Blue Period paintings. By highlighting the blind man's ear and emphasizing his slender hands, Picasso poignantly expressed that touch and sound are the man's only means of perceiving the world around him.

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