Mark
10:51-52: “51And
Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.52:
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And
immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way”.
Overview
Once upon a time, Jesus and
His disciples were passing the way of a begging blind man called Bartemaeus.
Apparently, this blind man has heard about Jesus but has not got the
opportunity to talk to Him. Therefore as soon as he heard of Jesus passing his
way, he abandoned his begging business and started calling after Jesus instead
of taking opportunity of the crowd to do business- alms begging. The crowd, thinking they should see Jesus rather than
blind bartemaeus, who will only ask
for money and nothing else, prevented him from getting closer. As much
as the crowd prevented him from shouting, bible says he shouted the more. But
Jesus heard the cry of the blind beggar and instructed him to come (note:
no matter where you are, Jesus hears your
voice). Bible says he cast down his garments and came to Jesus. Jesus asked
him what he wanted Him to do for him and the blind man answered “Lord that I might receive my sight”.
And Jesus said unto him, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received
his sight, and followed Jesus in the way”.
Your
Blindness
As Christians, we are sometimes
blind and this blindness has limited our growth in the Lord- we claim to have known the lord so many
years ago but have allowed blindness to limit our spiritual and physical
blessings in the Lord. We have become contented and live as people without
hope. Yet we claim we have a God of impossibilities; a God who can make a way
where there is no way. We have made ourselves worthless with the blindness of unemployment,
bitterness, childlessness, failures, sickness of various kinds (some we have
accepted as hereditary and final), and our inability to seek freedom from God,
has affected our relationship with Him and have become content with the
suffering. In just a short time that bartemaeus met Jesus, he received his
sight and freedom. Brethren we have freedom in Christ and therefore challenges
we are going through for our belief in Christ are temporal. Some of us have put
our trust in man and are under spiritual bondage. We trust more in things of
the flesh, the world and ourselves than the word of God.
Jesus
Maybe you have heard of this
Jesus for a long time but still struggling with life problems and it’s limiting
your God-given potential. But have you trusted Jesus as the healer or solution
to your problem, as blind Bartemaeus did? Bartemaeus had been looking out for healing
for a long time as he sat by the highway as a blind beggar (but he knew exactly who will heal Him).
He knew who will give him the real solution to his problem- i.e. blindness. He remained blind
because he had not met Jesus. Is your trust in Jesus or man? You have been
following Jesus for a long time but don’t know He is the solution to your
problem. Jesus can do it one on one.
Know
your need
Bartemaeus, seeing the crowd
could have taken the opportunity and begged for money. But, sitting by the
roadside all these years, he knew what he actually wanted- his sight. Sometimes we don’t receive from the Lord because
we don’t know what we want all these years. We have been praying the wrong
prayer and asking for temporal things that we can only hang on for a short
period. Do you know what you want, like Bartemaeus? James 1:5-8; Matt. 6:33
says “Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you”- What
are you chasing after? Don’t trust in
idols and sticks for they will only steal, kill, destroy and keep you in
bondage. They will make you go begging or doing the wrong things that will not
give you freedom or what you exactly want.
Key lessons from Bartemaeus
1. PERSISTENCE: Bartimaeus
displayed persistence despite the efforts of others to silence him; He
exemplifies the truth of what Jesus taught about persistence (Mt 7:7-8). We
have to be persistent in our prayers?
- Lk 18:1-8
2. FAITH: Bartimaeus
was healed because of his faith, similar to the woman healed of the flow of
blood (Mk 5:34). Do we have the faith to receive what is God's will for us? (1Jn
5:14)
3. GRATITUDE
(THANKFULNESS): Bartimaeus followed Jesus and glorified God.
Like the Samaritan leper, he expressed gratitude (Lk 17:12-19). Do we express
gratitude for the many blessings God gives us? (1Th 5:18). What can you do in
return for the numerous blessings of God? Thankfulness!
Conclusion
Bartimaeus was prevented by
the crowd to get to Jesus but he never stopped crying out. Are you giving up
already after Just 1month, 1 year, 5 years, 10years since you first prayed about
the need? A thousand years is like a day
unto the Lord and a day is like a thousand to the Lord (2Pet. 3:8). Don’t let
what you see or hear around you make you give up. Continue to trust in the Lord and HE will do
it for you. The Lord hears what you have been asking all these years in the
crowd and has a simple solution for your “complex”
problem. He will speak but based on your faith in Him- because He does not
share His glory with any one.
Finally
May
the healing of blind Bartimaeus always remind us to:
a. Persist in our requests to God
b. Develop the faith necessary to receive
such requests
c.
Never fail to express gratitude when God answers our prayers
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