When They Tell Us To Shut Up

I believe that all of us hear voices in our hearts and minds.  “Hold on a minute,” you’re thinking.  “Are you saying we’ve all got mental illness?”  Not what I mean, although I do know that for some people who battle mental illness that the voices seem very real, very loud and are sometimes very scary. 

I’m talking about voices from our past and present.  The voice of a parent that was full of condemnation.  The voice of a teacher that was full of ridicule and scorn.  The voices of people that we thought were friends, constantly tearing us apart and telling us we don’t matter.  You know the voices in your heart and mind.  I know the voices in mine.  They’re loud.  Sometimes deafening.  They create chaos and cause us to doubt the voice of Jesus and his goodness. 

In one of today’s readings in For the Love of God, we find ourselves in Luke 18.  In v.v. 35-43, we find the story of a blind man that was healed by Jesus.  The story begins by telling us that he was sitting by the roadside begging.  In our modern world we have a difficult time understanding what life was like for this man.  In Jesus’ day, people with debilitating physical problems really had little value or worth to others.  If they were fortunate, they might have a family member or friend that would take them to a public area to beg for handouts.  This was probably what life was like for this man.  Day after day.  Week after week.  Month after month.  Year after year.  In pretty quick fashion, he probably learned that there weren’t many people that cared much about him or his needs.

But on this day, in this encounter with Jesus, everything changed for him.  We don’t know what he knew about Jesus, but we can make a good guess that he had at least heard about what Jesus was doing.  Perhaps he had even been a part of a crowd that Jesus had spoken to previously.  At any rate, when he knew that Jesus was passing by in v.38, “He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’”  This man had a great desire to be healed and transformed by Jesus.

In v.39, some people who were leading the way for Jesus, perhaps even the disciples of Jesus, told him to shut up.  There it was again.  The voice that told him he didn’t matter.  The voice that told him this was his life.  The voice that told him to get in line and know your place.  Just like the voice that many of us hear in our own hearts and minds. 

When they tell us to shut up, we usually listen don’t we?  When a voice from our past reminds us of our failures, we usually stop crying out for Jesus.  When a voice from our past reminds us that we’ll always be a failure, we usually stop crying out for Jesus.  When a voice from our present reminds us that we don’t matter to anybody, we usually stop crying out for Jesus.  We hear those voices and believe them.

Not this man.  “. . . he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” 

Jesus stopped because he heard the man’s cries for help.  More than that, Jesus demanded that the blind man be brought to him.  And he said, “What do you want me to do for you?”  The man wanted to see, and he said so.  Jesus healed him because of his faith. 

In that moment, his life was changed forever.  He heard the voice of love.  He heard the voice of healing.  He heard the voice of life.  Speaking to him.  Affirming his value as a child of God, created in the image of God.  Over the din of the crowd that told him to shut up. 

And he found a life he had never had before because Jesus had given it to him.  When they told him to shut up, he kept on shouting for Jesus.  And if we really want to have the kind of life that Jesus offers to us, we have to do the same.