19/02/10

Go thy way Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus; thy faith hath made thee whole

Mark 10:52 - And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight, and followed him in the way.

The healing of the blind man Bartimaeus is a multi-dimensional teaching for us. It is not just and testimony to encourage our faith but also reconfirms a promise for us.

The name Bartimaeus means 'unclean'. His parents kept his name Batimaeus because he may have been born blind and may have had other problems too. The testimony of Bartimaeus includes a proper introduction of him. His father's name is also identified. In most of the other people who were healed I do not remember their father's name being taken. The name Timaeus means 'highly priced'.

This healing is very important for us; all the children of God. We all are Bartimaeus born unclean and blind. When God sees us He does not see our other problems but mainly sees our blindness. We all called blind because we do not have knowledge of God. But by our believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we by faith become the children of Abraham the 'highly priced'.

Thus our restoration of spiritual blindness has also to be the same way as Bartimaeus' healing. Bartimaeus did not run around or standup or jump and shout. He sat where he was and kept on shouting, the people around him told him to keep quite. This may have not happened once or twice but I am sure many times the people around him may have told him to shut up. It was the assurance which Bartimaeus had that the Lord will answer which kept him going.

We too like Bartimaeus do not need to do anything great to attract the attention of the Lord in our lives. We need to just keep on calling out to Him. Even when people or incidents will discourage us we need to keep continue our calling the Lord.

But when the Lord did call out for Bartimaeus, the very same people who told him to shut up were now encouraging him. This is the same which happens to us. When we persistently keep our faith in God the very people around us who are / were discouraging us become our faith supporters.

There is one thing that showed the real faith of Bartimaeus and this was not him shouting or keeping on the shouting. The real faith of Bartimaeus was his throwing of his cloak when he went to meet Jesus.

During those days the unclean were needed to wear raged cloaks and shout unclean were ever they went. When Bartimaeus heard Jesus had called for him, he was sure he would not need the cloak and discarded it; it was this faith which made Jesus say to him 'your faith has made you whole'.

If you are not born again in Jesus Christ but have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, keep on calling unto Him and He will surely answer. People and events around you may discourage you but do not give up.

When you do hear Jesus call out for you, just discard all the curses, sicknesses and worries which were on you, for you will not need them anymore. Jesus has set you free.


[ Prayer Starter ]
O Lord of mercy and grace, we thank You for the abundant mercy You have shown us and are showing to those among us. You hear our call and heal us. Lord we thank You also for making us the children of Abraham so that we can receive our salvation and blessings which were promised to his generations through Israel his son. We ask You Lord that we be made vessels to encourage others who do not know You, that they may see You in us and call unto You. That we like Bartimaeus follow You after we come to knowing You...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]

Mark 10:46-52
46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
51 And 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.

2 Chronicles 20:7
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend [love] for ever?

Romans 9:6-8
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Galatians 3:7-9
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)