#DailyDevotion Kyrie, Lord Have Mercy Is A Biblical Prayer
Mark 10:46–48
46Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and His disciples and many people were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 47When he heard it was Jesus from Nazareth, he began to call, “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me!”48Many were urging him to be quiet. But he called all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”
There are a number of people in the bible, particularly in the New Testament whose names we are given. You ever wonder about that? There are also individuals whose names are not given. I wonder about them too. Here we have blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. The name is somewhat redundant, perhaps it was his nickname. You see, bar is Aramaic for “son of.” His name is actually “son of Timaeus” yet Mark when identifying him tells us, the son of Timaeus. Mark is a Jew, but he is writing in Greek to people who don’t speak Aramaic. In any case, when the Gospel writers name someone I tend to think he names them because they are well known, personally to the Church. These are people who become disciples of Jesus. Other infamous people are also named and I think that is to lock Jesus’ story in historical time. This isn’t about some mythical person who didn’t exist. It shows he did exist, in time.
Well thanks to Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, we have a prayer in the liturgy of the Church. There is one other person who contributed to it, who prays the same prayer, but she isn’t named. If you hymnal uses Latin titles for part of the liturgy that prayer, that section is called Kyrie, in English, Lord have mercy. This is derived from Bartimaeus’ cry out to Jesus when he hears Jesus passing by, “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me!”
Now Bartimaeus was a blind beggar. He apparently didn’t care for begging. We don’t know if he was born this way or became this way later in life. He apparently didn’t care for his condition. He wanted to see. I think we can even say he didn’t want to beg for a living. But he didn’t mind one last cry of humility begging for Jesus the Son of David to heal him. Everyone tried to quiet him, shushing him. He would have nothing of it. He cried all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”
Now we should humbly but confidently cry out to Jesus as well. We have in the liturgy changed the cry slightly since Jesus has been revealed not only as the Son of David but also the Son of God at his ascension. We cry out, “LORD have mercy. Christ have mercy. LORD have mercy.” It is a Trinitarian prayer based on Bartimaeus’ cry for mercy. The first LORD is the Father. The second is addressed to Christ, who is also LORD. The third is to the Holy Spirit. We cry out to God to have mercy on us in Christ’s name. We may use the longer form string of particular petitions to which we in the congregation only say, “Lord have mercy.” Some may try to shut us up as well saying we don’t need any rote/ritual prayers. We should pray/sing this all the louder with Bartimaeus. For the name of the LORD is mercy. We should expect mercy from him. We have been given this prayer so we may follow suit with the same faith Bartimaeus cried out.
Heavenly Father, give us faith in Jesus to cry out in mercy to you in our times of need so we may receive from your merciful hands all that is needful to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.