This blog provides a meditation on the Revised Common Lectionary along with a headline from world news:

EGYPTIAN PROTEST VICTORY 

2 Timothy 4:1-8

4In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

I have fought the good fight..

What’s going on here? A second generation follower of St. Paul is using his authority and the memory of his ministry to instruct the church leaders of his day. Scholars have noted how he calls them to sound doctrine rather than to the adventure of faith and how he contrasts the itching ears of church members with the truthfulness of the leadership. These are, they say, the marks of a more established church community, maintaining itself as an institution. Well, yes. The church is amongst other things, an institution which will die if it is not maintained. Good, sober, organisers like this writer are exactly what’s required. Adventurers and heretics are needed as well, of course, but loyalty to the great ones of the past is an underrated virtue today. Perhaps at times in the future, people in Egypt will look back for inspiration to those who “kept the faith” in Tahrir Square this week.  I like the way this writer modestly includes himself in Paul’s valedictory words, “not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his coming.”

Mark 10:46-52

46 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. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’   49Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then 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.’ 52Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Blind man stood on the road an’cried

Blind man stood on the road an’ cried

Cryin’ “O Lord, show me the way”

Blind man stood on the road an’cried

The great spiritual turns the blind man into a parable of humanity: we are blind, crying out to be shown the way. There’s a bit of this in Mark’s story, but we should also note that this blind man has a very active faith. He cries out to Jesus as “Son of David”, that is, as the messiah he believes him to be. He won’t be shut up by those who rebuke him. When he receives Jesus’ call, he jumps up, ready for action, blind as he is. He asks Jesus for the gift of sight, and when he has received it, he follows Jesus on the way to the cross. Physically blind, the man could see what the crowd and even the disciples could not, that Jesus on his way to rejection is the true messiah. He is a permanent rebuke to comfy liberals and flag-waving Jesus-loves-my –country-best rednecks alike