Download a digital copy (1.5 MB) - Open Door Community

176 ˜ A Work of Hospitality, 1982–2002
sulted Why are we not raising the roof about the destruction of our children
and the world they will inherit
Jesus said, “Suffer the children to come unto me, for of such are the reign
of heaven.” We will participate in the reign of God only when we can begin to
think of all the children as ours.
Becoming Blind Beggars, by Murphy Davis
A u g u s t 1 9 8 9
They came to Jericho, and as Jesus was leaving with his disciples
and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son
of Timaeus was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus! Son of David! Have
mercy on me!”
Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet.
But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on
me!”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man. “Cheer up!” they said. “Get
up, he is calling you.”
So he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you” Jesus asked him.
“Teacher,” the blind man answered, “I want to see again.”
“Go,” Jesus told him, “your faith has made you well.”
At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.
—Mark 10:46–52
I’d like to tell you about a man named Roosevelt Green—a convicted murderer
and my good friend—who died in Georgia’s electric chair on January 9,
1985. Roosevelt was one of the Blind Bartimaeuses in my life, and when he was
killed by his captors, he was probably one of the most self-aware, politically astute
human beings I have ever known.
At ten minutes after midnight on that cold winter’s night, he walked calmly
into the execution chamber and made the following statement: “The night I was
arrested and taken into the Monroe County Jail, one of the jailers said to me,
‘Boy, the lives of two niggers still ain’t enough to make up for one white life.’