Thursday, 5/28/15
This Gospel reminds me of Michael Shona and of how much he
disliked Jericho and the Jews. The house where Michael grew up in Jerusalem had
plum trees in the yard, and for centuries his family had been known as the Plum
Trees Family. Back in the thirties, and again after the war, Michael ran a Ford
Agency in Jerusalem, a job that took him touring with customers who wanted to
see Jericho, but Michael hated Jericho for all its horse flies.
When I read this story of blind Bartimaeus spending his days
in the thick dust of that road with all the horse flies, my memory of what
Michael said makes what I read about Bartimaeus seem all the more miserable.
Michael Shona’s reason for hating Jews was that when they
took over Jerusalem in 1946 they deprived him of his home, his plum trees, and of
the fine livelihood he had with the Ford people. His hatred of the Jews was
continuously on his mind the last thirty-five years of his life. His sister
Mary, however, over here found generous employment with a Jewish family she
came to love.
I imagine that Bartimaeus, there in the dust, batting off
the horse flies, had heard about Jesus the wonderworker; and when he heard that
Jesus was passing through, Bartimaeus didn’t hesitate. He threw off his robe,
then, blind though he was, he thrust his way through the crown, shouting, “Son
of David, have pity on me.”
When Jesus asked him what he wanted, he said, “I want to
see.”
Jesus gave him his sight, then saying, “Go your way.” But
Bartimaeus didn’t go his way, instead he followed Jesus up the road.
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