Gene’s Daily Scriptural Postings.

Reflective Bible Study.

Including the Excluded: Mark 10:46-52

Focus Passage: Mark 10:46-52 (GNT)For this journal entry, let’s turn our focus towards the crowd in our passage, and see what we can learn about ourselves from how the crowd acts and reacts to what happens. In this passage, the crowd is only referenced three times: The first reference simply tells us a large crowd was with Jesus (v. 46), but the second and third reference (v. 48 & 49) gives us a valuable insight into human nature. “Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet.” (v. 48a) The first reference to the crowd comes as Bartimaeus begins shouting for Jesus. The crowd’s reaction is one of annoyance and exclusion. It is really silly to look on this scenario in hindsight because the crowd had the perfect opportunity to witness a miracle, but they are too busy focusing on the moment and on listening to Jesus (who may have been in the middle of teaching one of His famous parables) and not on the opportunity that Bartimaeus presented. The crowd first wanted to ignore/silence the blind man, rather than include him in the event. “So they called the blind man. ‘Cheer up!’ they said. ‘Get up, he is calling you.’” (v. 49b) Only after Jesus takes notice of Bartimaeus does the crowd change their attitude. Now the crowd is one of eager anticipation and inclusion. They are about to witness a miracle. So what does this mean for each of us? Too often in our lives, we (and I’m the first to include myself here) ignore things that don’t seem to fit nicely into our plans/goals. We try to ignore or silence issues that we don’t want to deal with, and instead push our focus on things that either are a waste of time, or are not the highest priority. I too often choose to play games on the computer, tablet, or phone rather than on spending time with my wife, or time writing and/or otherwise developing Reflective Bible Study. Where we face real challenges is when the games/distractions don’t solve the real issues. Our “Bartimaeus” is not going away. It is better to acknowledge him and take advantage of the opportunity rather than ignore it. It is like saying “I’ll do this today, so I don’t have to worry about it tomorrow,” instead of procrastinating – knowing that it causes worry/stress/etc. The other big idea within this theme is this: We have the power, when we actively choose to pay attention to the fringes in society, to include those the world excludes, and bring help to them when they would otherwise be ignored. Helping the ignored is what Jesus loved to do, and we can be like Jesus when we intentionally help those that the world pays no attention to. This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today! Read this article on the web on it's official page: Including the Excluded: Mark 10:46-52