The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: Mark 10:46-52 / Psalm 52

“He began to cry out and say ,’Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Mark 10:47

Kyrie Eleison

Both misery and mercy were evident at the outskirts of Jericho. Out of the depths of misery, a blind beggar calls to the Son of David for mercy. This man’s blindness prompts him to rely on the often unreliable mercy of others. When he cries out to Jesus, the crowd tries to silence him. There is no mercy in the crowd. Our Lord is different from the crowd, for the Lord is the root and source of mercy. He has ears for the supplication of the blind beggar. No one who cries to the Lord of mercy is turned away empty, for embodied in the Lord Jesus is God’s everlasting will to deliver us from the misery brought about by our sin.
The answer of God’s mercy to the misery of the blind man is the gift of sight. The answer of God’s mercy to the misery of our spiritual blindness is the crucifixion of the Son of David. His wounds are the openings of God’s mercy for sinners. On the cross, our mercy is wedded to the mercy of God, and out of that blessed union we are given the gift of redemption. Kyrie Eleison – Lord Have Mercy!
O Son of David, open our eyes to the wonder of Your mercy, which delivers us from sin’s misery. Amen.

February 23, 1989