They came to
Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd,
Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. When
he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, “Son of David,
Jesus, have mercy on me!” Many people told him to keep quiet, but he was crying
out all the more, “Have mercy on me, Son of David!” Jesus stopped and said,
“Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get
up; He’s calling for you.” He threw off his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
Then Jesus answered him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” “Rabbouni,” the blind man told Him, “I
want to see!” “Go your way,” Jesus told him. “Your faith has healed you.”
Immediately he could see and began to follow Him on the road.[1]
This passage of
Scripture is an awesome example of the many of us in The Church today. In this passage Bartimaeus who is blind knew
that Jesus was the Messiah that the prophets of the Old Testament spoke about
because he used two terms that help us understand this: “Jesus” and “Son of
David.” We know from Matthew 1 that
Jesus is the Messiah and that Jesus means, “to save His people from their
sins.” In addition, Bartimaeus used the
term “Son of David” which we know the prophets spoke that the Messiah
would come from the lineage of David. He
believed that Jesus was the Messiah and asked for mercy. Jesus stopped, some translations say “stood
still,” and asked for them to call the man to Him. When Bartimaeus approached Jesus something
great happens that we must not miss; when asked by Jesus, “What do you want Me
to do for you?” Bartimaeus address Jesus as “Rabbouni.” This term in Greek is translated as “My Teacher”. Do you see what happened here? Bartimaeus addresses Jesus as his
Master, Savior, Teacher; he has now become a disciple of Jesus Christ! He has not even been healed physically, but
has become a follower of Christ and we see this more clearly when Jesus told
him to “go your way”; the Word of God says that He began to follow Jesus on the
road. Is Jesus more that someone we know
about from our forefathers and Scriptures; is He our Lord and Master, our
Rabbouni! A great message from the
Gospel of Mark for us to meditate on!
[1] The Holy Bible:
Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Mk 10:46–11:1). Nashville:
Holman Bible Publishers.
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