Rev 1:1-4; 2:1-5 / Luke 18:35-43
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream will eventually win. In fact it will always win.
The stream wins, not through strength, but through persistence. And where the stream wins through persistence, we often fail through lack of it.
We may start off on a project or a direction with zest and fervour, but we are more like a bucket of water than a stream. When we run out of water, so goes our zest and fervour.
In the 1st reading, the church in Ephesus were told that they started off with zeal and with fervour.
They had worked hard, they resisted the wicked, tested the impostors and they were patient in their suffering.
But the complaint that the Lord is making about them is that they have less love now than they used to have.
The church in Ephesus may not have persisted in their love for the Lord. But the blind man in the gospel showed what persistence was all about.
When he cried out for Jesus to have pity on him, the people scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder for Jesus until he caught His attention.
There is no need to shout to the Lord to get His attention. We just have to be like the water in the stream that flows persistently and faithfully until we reach the ocean of God's love.