“Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked. ‘My rabbi,’ the blind man said, ‘I want to see!’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Go, for your faith has healed you.’ Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.” (Mark 10:50-52 NLT)
Three things jump to the forefront of my heart and mind as I ponder this conversation between Jesus and the blind man. First, what do you not have in this season of your life that you’d really like to have, but have never asked Jesus to give you? Perhaps you have a serious physical issue, a financial need, a family or relational crisis, an issue at work. Whatever it is, do you not realize that it’s at the center of Christ’s heart and mind when He thinks of you?
Yet, even as I write these words it occurs to me that there are often deeper, more pertinent needs that exist that are being overshadowed by the obvious or apparent. The blind man’s most prominent need was, at least from all outward appearances, his blindness, but the reality was, it was only symptomatic of his deeper, spiritual need to know and love Jesus. That’s our most prominent need as well.
Regardless of what demands our attention, unless and until Jesus is Lord of our life, our circumstances will always overshadow our real need.
That’s what leads to the second observation from this passage: notice Jesus’ words to Bartimaeus: ‘Go, for your faith has healed you.’ Obviously, Jesus healed Him, but Bart’s faith unlocked the avenue to his healing. It’s apparent to me, in my life and in many others, trusting Jesus isn’t the issue, our faith is what stands between us and healing.
Bartimaeus was healed because he knew in his heart, mind, soul, and body that if he could only get to Jesus, he’d be healed. That illustrates faith at a much deeper level than most of us possess, even after walking with Jesus for many years. Yes, of course, Jesus has the power to heal us, but are we willing to risk everything to prove our faith?
This crazy blind man disrupted the sensibilities of every respectable Jew when he began to scream the Name above every name. He realized Jesus was not only his last hope, He was his only hope. As I implied in yesterday’s post, we not only have various sicknesses and diseases, they have us. So much so that while we may strongly believe in the power of Jesus to heal us, our real faith is in the doctor(s) we see and the medicine(s) they prescribe.
And I realize that I’m treading on thin ice here, so, please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I believe the Lord has given us doctors, nurses, and other medical staff to help and serve us; as well as medicine that can help us in “miraculous” ways. But in much the same way as Bartimaeus’ faith was the trigger that resulted in the Lord healing him, we have to believe whatever course of treatment the Lord has opened to us is leading to a healing result.
That leads to the third piece of this process. It’s interesting that Jesus said to Bart “Go…” while in many previous conversations He said “Come to Me.” Yet, my sense is it never occurred to Bart to go anywhere but to be as close to Jesus as he could possibly be. Could that be why we know Bart’s name? Because he became a “fixture” in the family of God at that point? Everyone knew the name Bartimaeus.
I believe there’s more here, let’s look at it more closely in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 