Mark 10:46-52(KJV) 46And 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. 47And 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. 48And 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. 49And 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. 50And he,
casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 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. 52And
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.
According to this text, Jesus had spent some time in
Jericho. Jericho was built by Herod the
Great as the place of his winter palace.
Jericho, as I imagine it, in light of Herod’s winter palace, was a kind
of resort area. After having spent some
time there, Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large gathering of
people following behind. In leaving
Jericho, Jesus was about to past a Blind man named Bartimaeus, who was sitting
on the side of the road begging.
The scripture says that Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus
that was about to pass by, so Bartimaeus cried out, “Son of David, have Mercy!
Can you imagine, this sudden piercing cry that was heard over a
talkative, noisy, crowd that had accompanied Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!
The crowd responded by trying to get Bartimaeus to be quiet, but
Bartimaeus insisted, “Son of David, have
mercy on me!
Most of us have found ourselves in situations that we needed
someone, or a power greater than us, to help us. God has been proven time after time as being our
present help in the time of trouble.
David expressed this kind of trust in God when he wrote in Psalms 121,
“I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.”
We should never allow anyone from stopping us in calling on
the name of Jesus! Like Blind Bartimaeus,
when others tried to stop you from calling on Jesus, just insist on calling the
name of Jesus anyway! If Bartimaeus had
listened to the crowd, Jesus would have possibly passed him by. However,
Bartimaeus called on Jesus when others urged him to be quiet. In my hour of need, like Bartimaeus, I will
call on the name of the Lord! I’m not
ashamed to call on the name of Jesus! I
don’t want Jesus to pass me by, as one song writer wrote, “Please Lord, don’t
passed me by.” Join me in calling on the
name of the Lord! In this journey of
life, all of us need mercy!
Committed to Serve,
Dr. A.L. Purham, Sr., Pastor
Freedom Baptist Church of Duncan, SC
#Freedom
#Church
