May 22, 2025 Don’t Pass Me By
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Don’t Pass Me By
35 As Jesus came to Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting beside the road begging.
36 When the man heard the crowd passing by, he asked what was happening.
37 They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.”
38 The blind man shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy.”
39 Those leading the procession scolded him, telling him to be quiet,
but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy.”
40 Jesus stopped and called for the man to be brought to him.
When he was present Jesus asked,
41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, I want to see.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”
43 At once he was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus, praising God.
When all the people saw it, they praised God too.
Luke 18:35-43, CEB
After a meeting and as I drove home on the freeway in the right, slower traffic lane, a car to my left suddenly sped up and cut across two lanes in front of me to take the exit. Braking to slow my speed and avoid collision, I yelled, “Are you blind?!” I knew the driver wasn’t blind, but his self-serving focus on where he wanted to go did blind him to seeing or caring about anyone else on the road.
When I read today’s passage, I thought about that driver who passed me by like I wasn’t there and did not matter. Some days we might be the ones crying out while others speed by. But many days we may be the ones passing by another without seeing or even hearing their cry as we blindly zip across the lanes of our activities.
I thought about the 1000+ homeless men and women who Our Calling sees each day for a bite of food and relief from living on the streets. I thought about the 20,000 youth who age out of foster care each year and are at risk for homelessness because they have no relative or friend to offer a place to stay or navigate their next steps into the community. I thought about the displaced Ukrainians my missionary friend met on her ministry trip to the Czech Republic, people who left everything to escape the war and who now live with an uncertain future in a refugee camp and who no one wants.
And I thought of Fanny Crosby’s hymn, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. She wrote the hymn following a visit to a prison in 1868. After she spoke and led the singing of some of her songs, an inmate cried out, “Good Lord, do not pass me by!” Crosby, blind herself from six-years-old, remembered today’s scripture story and was inspired to write:
Pass me not, O Gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Jesus alone is the life-giving source of grace and mercy. Even in moments of deepest sorrows or most shattering brokenness, we can trust the Gentle Savior will never pass us by when we call to him. He hears our pleas. He sees us. And he comes to us.
And as Christians, following in Christ’s footsteps, neither should we blindly pass another by. Nor ever allow crowds of people, culture, or tradition to stifle their cries. We can’t, nor are we expected, to do everything for everyone. But we can tune into the pleas of those Christ puts on our heart or in our path. We can see them, and we can offer them what we can when we can.
Reflect: How are you calling for Jesus; what do you want him to do for you today? Who are others you know who may feel disregarded or dismissed as unimportant or unworthy? What is one step you can take today to stop and see them?
Pray: O Gentle Savior, full of mercy and grace, hear my humble cry and that of those still blind to your love and joy. You alone are our hope, our comfort, and our peace. Heal our wounded spirits. And while on others you are calling, Lord Jesus, do not pass us by. Amen.
By His Grace,
Gloria Ashby
Lay Leader