In prayer, be as annoying as you like

A thought struck me as I was reading today's gospel reading about the healing of Bartimaeus. "Does one need to be annoying at times in order to gain Jesus' attention?" Here is a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, who is sitting by the side of the road, where he probably often sat begging each day. A large crowd is gathering because this holy man, Jesus from Nazareth, is passing through their town, Jericho. Bartimaeus has probably heard about this man and his ability to heal. So he shouts out, "Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me." The astounding thing about his loud plea is that it shows that Bartimaeus considers Jesus to be the Messiah. This is a bold claim. Many in the crowd tried to shut him up. Were they embarrassed and felt that he was letting down the reputation of the town? Did they object to the bold claim that he was making in calling Jesus "son of David"? Whatever, Bartimaeus just shouted louder. Then the miracle happens. Jesus stopped and ask the crowd to bring Bartimaeus over to him. The crowd then changed its tune. "Get up. He is calling you." The miracle starts with the crowd. Instead of leaving Bartimaeus sitting in the gutter, they now urge him to stand up. Next they say, "He is calling you. Go to him." You're the man Bartimaeus. Throwing off his cloak - Bartimaeus is about to become a new man. Then, the astounding thing is that Jesus doesn't make any assumptions about what Bartimaeus wants of Jesus. "Have pity on me." What does he mean? So Jesus asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" The answer, "Help me to see again." Here is the next miracle. Jesus says, "You don't really need me. Trust in the power of your own faith." Bartimaeus' sight returned. He had been healed of whatever it was that caused him to go blind in the first place. And Bartimaeus became a confirmed disciple of Jesus. Sometimes we have to be annoying in order to face the depth of our own faith, in order to challenge those who are more worried about how others see them rather than those who are left sitting in the gutter, in order to take responsibility for our own healing, in order to become true followers of Jesus.