This morning I spent almost 4 hours sat here at my computer beavering away at my blog. I had had a run of spam comments that had not been caught by the spam catcher on blogger. I decided that in order to move forward I would remove the ability to comment on all but the most recent posts. Now blogger allows you to set to moderation based on age of post but not close comments completely based on age of posts so i had to do it individually, post by post by post. It wasn't a difficult process, just time consuming, I ate breakfast here and I ate lunch here!
In the process I came across a number of posts that I wrote in the past that are worth revisiting. A good friend mentioned my writing yesterday and so I will start with one of the oldest pieces I wrote. This was originally posted on my blog July 2007 but was written a few years before that.
Mark 10, Jesus heals a Blind Man
I wrote this quite a few years ago. I had been reading the particular passage of scripture and thinking about seeing it from particular people's point of view and this is what came out.
Mark 10:46 - 52
Here I am, sitting here, just like I do every day, in my allotted place, waiting, hoping, hoping that someone will take pity on me and put something in my bowl.
It sounds like there's a lot more people about than normal, and it's getting louder. Then I start to feel people brushing past me, crowding, rushing.
"What is it?"
"What's going on?" I ask.
But no-one answers, they're all too busy, in a hurry to see, to see … well, whatever it is.
Then I overhear, manage to pick out one voice from among the hundreds that are crowding my ears for attention.
"Jesus, of Nazareth, Rabbi."
Oh! The rabbi that has healed …. I have heard so many stories. But me, would he heal me? I'm not so good, would he do that for me? I suppose I'll never forgive myself unless I find out.
"Jesus of Nazareth have mercy on me!"
No-one hears, so I shout louder "Jesus, son of David, I NEED YOU!"
This time I am heard, but by the crowd. They tell me to be quiet and stop making a fuss.
"What would he want with a dirty, smelly beggar?" they say.
But I won't listen to them. The healer is here. This could be my only chance. I shout and I carry on shouting.
Then someone grabs my arm. Ouch!
"Hey there's no need to be rough," I yell " I just want to speak to the rabbi."
"You don't get it mate, that's where we're taking you."
"Yeah, he's calling for YOU, asking for you to be brought to him."
"Don't be scared, come on, there's no time to waste."
And then, there I am, standing in a clear space in the middle of the crowd, and I can feel someone standing in front of me. I just know it is HIM! What do I do? What do I say? So many thoughts running through my head.
But before I have a chance to make sense of anything, he speaks to me.
"What do you want from me?"
What do I want! Can't he see, doesn't he know? Well, of course he does, so why is he asking? Oh who cares!
"Rabbi, I want to see."
There, I've said it, no going back now, no matter what happens I've tried, at least I've asked. It seems like an eternity before he speaks again, but it's probably only moments.
"You are healed. Your faith has healed you."
Dare I? Dare I open my eye lids? But he has spoken so I must.
WOW! So much, Oh my goodness! Look at that! And that! What? Oh …… Wow …. Where's Jesus? I must say thank you.
"Jesus, Stop, Wait!"
But what does he need to wait for me for, now I can see.
So I join the crowd and I follow him. Where to, I don't know, but he has changed my life forever, I just have to find out what it's all about!
Then I had to put the numbers on somehow. Hmmm, my handwriting isn't neat enough to try that? Peel offs? Or stickers? So I took a trip to the craft store, and guess what I found, sheets of number stickers in LILAC! To match the box, OH YES!
