Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” Mark 10:49

In our story on Bartimaeus, when Jesus acknowledges and calls him out, the crowd joins in the call. They say to him “Take Heart”. Be of good cheer, be of good comfort are other biblical translations of the phrase “take heart”. 

The crowds were shutting up Bartimaeus. His needs were not important to them.  He was blind and I suppose for them, that was his lot in life. There was no possibility of change, of being able to see again.  We too behave this way in the face of injustice, violence, oppression, things we believe to be a part of the status quo on which we are not willing to rock any boats. 

The Jews believed that we are being punished by God when bad things happen to us.  Many still believe that today. But life happens. God gives us free choice to change the trajectory we are on.

It is only when Jesus calls Bartimaeus that the crowd recognizes that maybe, just maybe a change can occur and they jump on the bandwagon of Bartimaeus healing and lend moral support. .  I can hear them recounting the story and saying they knew if Jesus heard him, he would be healed.  Yet they had shut him up.    The story of Bartimaeus illustrates a profound truth about human nature and the transformative power of recognition and compassion. When Jesus acknowledges him, the crowd shifts from indifference to support, revealing their potential for empathy. This shows  how our perceptions can limit others and ourselves, trapping us in a cycle of blindness to possibilities.

Something similar happened in the story of The Good Samaritan. People saw the injured man but passed him by.  We do not want to get involved in things that will distract us from our own business, nor in things where there is no real benefit to us.  However, once there is something to be gained we join in.  We give moral support since in this instance physical support was not necessary  Saying take heart lends the support that Bartimaeus needs.  It gives a sense of “we are with you in this.”  Take heart says rest easy. There is no need to be anxious, things are going to work out. 

Many of us go through life being blind to the possibilities which life offers until it stares us full in the face.  Sometimes not even then do we take notice. We believe that what we see around us is all of life’s existence.  It is why some persons do not achieve their full potential.  Like the crowd they cannot see beyond the present and there is no reason to take heart.

Take heart says to us, open your eyes and see. Not just the physical eye, but the spiritual eye, the emotional eye. Give yourself permission to see possibilities that you never saw before.  Allow yourself to awaken within you, things that will help you be a better person, but which you may have put to rest. Taking heart is an invitation to see the creativity and inner strength that lies within you.

Take Heart says hope exists. We have a Jamaican proverb that says “wey no dead nuh dash it wey.” There is always reason to take heart.  There is always the hope of better. There is always the potential for greater things, but in order to see it, and  to achieve it, we must take heart.  We must have courage to change our stance from a position of shutting up or keeping someone in their place, to a stance of recognition that within each of us lies the potential of greatness.  Greatness may not be the same for all of us but it certainly describes the possibility of goodness that resides in each of us – our God-given potential.

Taking heart is a choice we are making for better lives all around.  Taking heart is choosing to comfort and be comforted in life. It is choosing to acknowledge and support those in need, as we ourselves navigate  life’s challenges. 

We are not only changing their lives, we are enriching our own, fostering a world filled with hope and potential uplifting each other.  

It is a way of living compassion as Jesus did.  Always being optimistic always looking at the potential in others, not so much the blindness or the hindrances that beset us.   May we feel God present as we take heart. “May the strength of God pilot us; the power of God preserve us; the wisdom of God instruct us; and the hand of God protect us. May the way of God direct us; the shield of God defend us and the host of God guard us against the snares of evil and the temptations of the world.” Where God is, all is well, all will be well. All manner of things will be well.