For Sunday, the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 25B

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading

From Mark 10:46-52

“Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!””

Reflection

One of the most famous themes in the gospel we call Mark is Jesus telling people to not speak. Throughout the whole book, he constantly tells people to be quiet; tell know one about what they have seen. He says this to strangers, followers, and even disciples.

This idea is so recognizable and pervasive that scholars refer to it as “The Messianic Secret”. What he is keeping hidden and why is far less clear.

How different this moment is! A man is shouting. And not just shouting random things, he is shouting for Jesus to do what he has been keeping secret.

It should also be clear to us by now how this is going to play out.

• His followers do what they think is right.
• (What Jesus has told them to do before.)
• Jesus will tell them why they are wrong.

It’s a funny pattern when we lay it out like that. But it is what we’ve seen all through chapters 8-10 of Mark. It makes Jesus seem like a bad teacher. But I don’t think that’s fair.

More commonly, the disciples go on assumptions – taken as much from culture as Jesus’s teachings. While this moment certainly seems to run counter to the Messianic Secret, it seems more telling that perhaps they thought that being silent was the teaching. As if this were a permanent order…and not a temporary condition.

Here, at Jericho, where their ancient ancestors shouted the walls down, Jesus is inviting this man who himself is shouting by inviting the disciples to shout right back.

Both Jericho stories are about change. God-initiated change.

And the irony is that, while we’re so worried about consistency, rules, and what God is “really” doing here, we might miss the far more profound example in front of our eyes. Of a man seeking repentance, turning toward God, calling out for mercy, and receiving it. And then he follows Jesus.

This is a beautiful example of Jesus’s Way of Love.