In reading Mark's familiar account of Jesus' encounter with blind Bart' while visiting Jericho I noticed a strange portion of the story. Jesus hears the blind beggar man calling out to Him for mercy, which in itself is an interesting thing. But Mark records Jesus' less than compassionate response like this. Jesus stood still and called for him to come. How inconsiderate was that? Telling a blind man to come here is like challenging Christopher Reeve to a game of charades. The 'Christian' thing to do (according to the way we think) would have been to go to the blind man and heal his sight and THEN give him marching orders. I'm convinced that Jesus is hardly the pious sad sack that we have created in our art, pulpits, and plays. Jesus was/is good but he was hardly nice. His challenge to Bart was come follow me with no promise of healing, provision, or mercy. Simply a voice saying come. The beggar casts aside his garment and fumbles to Jesus with no record of assistance. The call still goes out to us who are blind today. Heal me first is our cry. Follow Me first is His. I guess the question is whether we want Him or simply want His supernatural ability to focus on our need. God is surely good, but He's not nice. Nice guys don't get crucified. Nice isn't what we need though. Often mercy comes in the form of a bitter medicine. Whatever we think we want I have to trust that what He desires to give, namely His voice, is really all I need in the first place.