Creating a disruption (Mark 10:46-52)
There is a tearing at the social fabric when Bartimaeus cries to Jesus.
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As a former military brat, I shudder a bit whenever I encounter Bartimaeus’s total defiance of the rules and expectations of his world. He could get in trouble, I immediately think. I grew up in a household with many rules and expectations, all with the intended purpose of creating predictability and order—at least the appearance of it. And so, when Bartimaeus disrupts the rules and expectations around the behavior of beggars—not once but twice—I am both amazed and worried for him.
