Mark 10:46-52
Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
46Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
49Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." 50Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."
52"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
A big part of Jesus ministry is in healing...Here He meets Bartimaeus, the Son of Timaeus...Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside begging...Someone told him that Jesus of Nazareth was walking by...Bartimaeus began to shout to Jesus...He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."...Many rebuked Bartimaeus for yelling, "Son of David, have mercy on me."...Jesus stopped on the roadside and said call him...So His followers called Bartimaeus to Jesus...Blind Bartimaeus, threw his cloak aside, and quickly jumped to his feet to meet Jesus, the Son of David...Jesus ask blind Bartimaeus what did he want Him to do for him...The blind man, said "Rabbi I want to see."...Jesus said, "Go your faith has healed you."...Immediately Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus along the road...
Bartimaeus wants to see...He asks Jesus for mercy...No doubt Bartimaeus had heard of Jesus great healing powers...We, no doubt, like the blind man, will meet Jesus on the path of life...Life can give us problems and pain...Although Bartimaeus had a problem, specifically blindness, Jesus is there...Bartimaeus' blindness caused him to be poor...Blindness, back in Jesus' time, could call for begging, so a blind one would have money for daily bread and shelter...When we search for Him and finally find Him, we must throw our cloaks and earthy things off and run to Him...We must free ourselves of things that hinder our closeness to Him...
Jesus is the Son of our Father...Our Father is our Creator...God is Almighty...He can handle any problem, when we have faith...Sometimes we forget the power of Jesus...Sometimes we forget the power of faith...It is not enough just to remember and realize the power of Jesus and the power of faith...When we do realize this, we must continue to follow Him...We must thank and praise Him...We must trust Him, not only in the answers we like (from Him), but also trust in all His answers...We must have faith in Him before He can heal our problems of pain...
Jesus helps in our problems...He doesn't care if we are poor and begging...He understands...He helps...But we must be ready, like the blind man, to have faith and accept Jesus, the Son of David, as our Savior...Our faith, like Bartimaeus' faith, produces a need...A need for the Father and Son...This is a part of our search for Him...There is a connection between our faith and our need, and our internal desire to find Him... If we have no faith, we have no need for Him...In Jesus' two great sermons, the Sermon on the Mount and His Sermon on the plain, He touches on faith and need...Jesus tells us that blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...He also tells us that blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven...We are happiest when we have faith and need Jesus...We may not realize this (at the time of our need) but we know Jesus is Truth, the Way, and the Life...Since, we know He is Truth, and He tells us that we are blessed and happy when we are poor, hungry, weep, and mourn, then we need to reflect on this in our times of need...When we need Him, we search for Him...This search is part of our faith...We do not know if Bartimaeus understood this connection (of need and faith), but we know he had faith...His faith is what healed him...
We, like Bartimaeus, need faith and hope...When He calls us we must obey and go to Him...Then, we are to throw off our earthly possessions...When He heals us we are to follow Him...Then we must thank Him and praise Him for what He has done...We must never forget, He does have the great mercy, as Bartimaeus found out...