Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and His disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Mark 10:46-49
“For a poor person, everything is terrible–illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.”
Blind Woman from Tiraspol, Moldova, in 1997, in Voices of the Poor: Can Anyone Hear Us? by Deepa Narayan (Oxford: OUP, 2000) 65.
Special thanks to my Filipino friend and brother, Anjji Gabriel, who reminded me about this quote. It resonates powerfully with me in real-time after preaching the message God put on my heart (listen to it here with Russian translation), and as today is the last day of my first visit to Moldova.
For the poor of the world who feel like garbage, each of us who is not poor gets to remind them, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Jesus sees their plight and His people care about them. We must, through our loving actions, show that God’s grace and kindness are for everyone. This is generosity.
Today I speak at Divitia Gratiae Christian University and Moldova Bible Seminary in Chișinău. Pray for me to uplift and inspire them to nurture Christian generosity to change their situation. Please also pray for negative Covid tests to enable us to cross the border back into Ukraine later today. Thank you.