When Quitting Is Easier

A blind man named Bartimaeus heard Jesus passing
by and yelled, "Jesus, have pity on me!" "Shut up!" people said, but he yelled more. Finally, Jesus said, "What do you want me to do for you?" "I want to see," said Bartimaeus. "Your faith has saved you," Jesus told him. Suddenly,
he could see! So he got up and followed Jesus.

Quitting is easy. If you try karate or clarinet and don't like it, you'll probably start begging to quit after a couple of lessons. 

When your parents tell you to stick with it, you groan and complain when lesson time rolls around. They say you'd be sorry if you quit, but you think you'd be relieved if you didn't have to go!

This week's Gospel (Mark 10:46-52) is about a guy doing the opposite: Bartimaeus wants Jesus to cure his blindness, and he refuses to quit asking for Jesus' help. People get annoyed and tell Bartimaeus to shut up and stop bothering Jesus when He's trying to teach, but Bartimaeus doesn't listen. He just won't quit.

Quitting is easy because it makes life less complicated. If you stop taking karate, you don't have to worry about practicing, fitting lessons around homework or getting bruises from sparring.

Why would your parents want you to keep taking lessons? 

Maybe they already paid for lessons, but they also want you to learn about sticking with things when they get tough. You said you wanted to know karate; you have to work for it.

Don't you think Bartimaeus wanted to quit? It would have been easier to stay blind than to keep bugging Jesus (a famous and busy person) and get yelled at by lots of Jesus' followers.

But Bartimaeus knew what he had to lose: If he quit, he'd probably never have another chance to be cured. And his persistence paid off: Jesus rewarded his faith with healing, and he could see.

Why not wait to see what rewards are in store for you, instead of quitting?

(10/22/09)