Reflection
Re-formed in God’s vision of love
Take heart; get up, he is calling you (Mark 10:49).
In the story as it’s told in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples have arrived in Jericho. As they enter the
P
city they run into Bartimaeus, a blind man who is call- ing out to Jesus. Some try to silence him, but Jesus calls
for him. Take heart; get up, he is calling you.
In Luther’s day, a calling was reserv ed for monks and priests, not for ordinary Christians. The best way to be a Chris- tian was to enter the monastery, where virtuoso practitioners of the
faith created a little heaven on earth. The lure of such a life was so strong that once a man wrote to Bernard
of Clairvaux, a well-known abbot, seeking advice: He desperately wanted to join the monastery, but his mother was ill and he didn’t know what God was asking of him. The abbot wrote back with stern words. If the man didn’t leave his mother behind, they would both be damned. Yikes. At the center of Luther’s writings was a very different idea about who is
called. To this man, who wished to serve God but didn’t want to abandon his mother, Luther would have said: Take heart. God is calling you, wher- ever you are.
Author bio: Snyder is adjunct instructor of theology and spirituality at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, and a doctoral candidate at Boston University.
ISTOCK/PINOPIC October 2015 23
God of mercy, The legacy of the Reformation is a heavy burden to bear. We know the church and the world are desperately in need of change. It’s difficult to imagine we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. It’s difficult to hear your voice over all the others that would drown us out. And when you ask, “What do you want me to do for you?” we don’t always know what to say.
Somehow, if it’s even possible, re-form us with the faith of a blind man so that we might be formed in your vision of love. Amen.
erhaps it’s serendipitous that at the end of October the lectionary gives us such a clear witness to Martin Luther’s Reformation.
By Tim Snyder
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