8 - Bartimaeus and his comforts
Mark 10:
46. Then they came to Jericho. And as He went out of Jericho with His
disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the road begging.
47. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out
and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48. Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more,
"Son of David, have mercy on me!"
49. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called
the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you."
50. And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.
51. And Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."
52. Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."
And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
NKJV
In his quest to make contact with Jesus, Bartimaeus had been hindered by
people around telling him to shut up, and he had overcome that by crying
out to Jesus even more fervently.
At last Jesus heard his cry of "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
But Jesus did not come over to Bartimaeus to find out what the matter was.
Instead Jesus stood right where He was and commanded Bartimaeus to be called to Him.
Had Bartimaeus been in a "sorry-for-himself" frame of mind, He may have
reasoned within himself that Jesus could see he was a blind man and so Jesus
should come over and show sympathy for Bartimaeus' blind condition.
But Jesus was in fact requiring Bartimaeus to get up out of the "comforts"
of his blind condition, if he really wanted to come out of that lifestyle.
In Bartimaeus' condition, people had one of two reactions to him: either
they disregarded him as a nuisance beggar; or they felt sorry for him, which
enabled him to get money out of them. The latter was the "comfort" Jesus
required Bartimaeus to get up and leave behind.
Many times when we call out to Jesus to bring us out of a dead-end situation
in life, the first thing He does is that He requires us to get up and walk
away from the "comforts" of our situation.
Bartimaeus was willing to do that.
Are you?
Prayer:
Father, thank You for hearing me when I cried to You to take me out of
the dead-end situation in which I found myself.
Now help me to be able to walk away from the comforts of that situation,
like Bartimaeus did, so that You can truly set me free,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.
A new reading in this series is available every day!
See you tomorrow, God willing, and be blessed in all you do today!
Sol Wise.
InChurch?? | Faith | Love | Jacob | Rich | Grace
