great ordinary happenings

Last Monday’s topic of our prayer meeting, even though I’ve heard it many times already, had a new angle being tackled by the preacher, resulting in a fresh revelation, which for me is still enlightening, that’s why I’d like to share it with you. The Gospel was taken from Mark 10:46-52, and may I give it here:

46 They came to Jericho, and as Jesus was leaving with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting by the road.
47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David! Have mercy on me!”
48 Many of the people scolded him, and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up!” they said.  “Get up, He is calling you.”
50 So he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. “Teacher,” the blind man answered, “I want to see again.”
52 “Go,” Jesus told him, “your faith has made you well.” At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.

This is still healing, the Mark version of a Matthew Gospel in a previous post. (An example of the first point of healing, the blind man was healed because he himself believed Jesus could heal him, and asked for the healing.)

Before the preacher took up the Gospel, he explained that a person cannot only be blind physically, but that his mind can be blind (2 Corinthians 4:4), as also his heart (Don’t we often hear “Love is blind”? Ops! But this is a worldly view, erase). Spiritually, when due to sin, we don’t see the light of God, we are being blinded.

For the above Gospel, as expounded, here are the new highlights for me, as supported by Bible verses:

1.) Jericho was a cursed place (Joshua 6:36, and fulfilled in 1Kings 16:34), yet this did not deter Jesus from performing a miracle because of the persistent faith of Bartimaeus

2.) Jesus was leaving the place with His disciples, yet this did not discourage the blind man, he shouted all the more, that’s how he showed his persistent faith – I call it faith in action. He acted on his faith, and did not just remain where he was, doing nothing, but did everything to attract the attention of Jesus before He could leave.

(to be continued)

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