Next, we see the healing of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10. Leaving
Jericho, once again with His disciples and a great multitude, this blind
beggar, learning that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was approaching, began to
cry out to Him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47). Others tried to quiet him, to “shush” him,
but to no avail as he continued to cry out loudly all the more. (you ‘feel’ his desperation, do you not?) “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Now, it would not be until sometime later that
Peter, one of the ‘intimate three’ of Jesus’ discipleship band, would receive
from the Father the revelation that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the
living God” (Matthew 16:16), and yet here we read that another ‘outcast’ knows
that Jesus was the Messiah! The ‘Son of
David’ was a Messianic Title from the prophecies of Isaiah; note Jesus revealed
Himself as such (the ‘root and the offspring of David’) in Revelation 22:16!
When Jesus called Bartimaeus to Himself,
Bartimaeus addressed Jesus as “Rabboni” (not just “Rabbi,” that is
“Master”) – the Lord of Lords (a Chaldean Title, learned by the Jews from the
Persians while in exile in Babylon). As
was the case with the woman with the uncontrolled bleeding crisis in Mark 5, Jesus
once again is moved by this man’s faith, and His compassion for Bartimaeus is
revealed as, once again, He allows a ‘desperate one,’ an ‘outcast,’ to interrupt
His plans and to receive His blessing.
As the last line of the chorus in Casting Crown’s latest song, “Jesus,
Friend of Sinners,” exhorts us: May the
Lord God break our hearts for what breaks His great heart! Amen.
Our next post: Raising for the dead the
son of the widow from Nain.
~~~~~~~```
Some Food for Thought:
It’s not what you do for your children,
but what you taught them to do for themselves,
that will make them successful human beings. ~ Ann Landers
God wants Warriors, not worriers!
‘”The surest way to reveal
one’s character is not through adversity but by giving
them power.”
-
Abraham Lincoln
