Prayer of Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46 – 52)
Background History of Jericho
This is the story of a blind man called Bartimaeus who was able to see after Jesus Christ healed him. He followed Jesus once he got the healing. So basically this story tells us to follow the path of Jesus.
Let me tell the background of this incident. This incident was happening in a place called Jericho. This city was near Jordan (Num 22:1). Meaning of Jericho is place of fragrance. It is also called as city of Palm trees (Deut 34: 3). Rebuilding of this place was cursed by Joshua (Josh 6: 26). This was home of Zacchaeus as well (Luke 19: 1- 10).
Archaeological experts say it is the oldest city in the world. Clearly such monumental construction reflects social organization and central authority. As per Biblical experts this was the last place Jesus visited before he went to the final stages.
Blind man
So when Jesus was passing Jericho along with his disciples there was a big crowd. In the crowd a blind man called Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting by the roadside. He can’t see and his job is begging. When he heard that Jesus, son of Nazareth is passing by he began to shout. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.”
My dear brothers and sisters please have a careful look at the Bartimaeus character. He was blind and a beggar. But his ears were open. He was listening to the sound of Jesus. Also he has heard a lot about Jesus from other people. So his eyes were closed but he had a clear hearing. And with that hearing he knew Jesus and had strong faith in him. He had a strong belief that Jesus will hear if he shout a lot. Many tried to pull him back but he was going forward and shouted to Jesus at his maximum strength. That’s how we should be. Sometimes we pray for certain issues and if that did not happen then we leave it after three or four times of prayer. That is not the way we should pray. We should pray even though the world pulls us back. We should strongly have a hope that we can achieve our prayer request by praying to God till the last moment. That was the success story of Bartimaeus.
Also Bartimaeus was asking for mercy from God. Look at the deep sorrow inside that person. He was so much worried with the state of being blind and beggar. If he can’t see he can’t do any work. Only option is to beg. He had the passion of getting healed and do work instead of begging. That’s how we should be. We should have a deep passion of spiritual growth. We should cry and beg to Jesus that his mercy will fill us up. This will lead us to have a growth in spirit and work for God and achieve our goal of eternity without any shortcuts. So if we have Jesus passing near to us and this is the mercy time of God we should utilise it. Better call upon him and get spiritual growth.
As we read in Mark 10: 48 there are lot of things that pulls us back from reaching Jesus. Bartimaeus was calling out for Jesus many times but Jesus did not hear him. So the people told him to keep quiet. But with his strong belief he visualised with his heart that he will get healing from Jesus. So at the last part of the verse we can see that he shouted all the more. This means we have to pray to Jesus to the deep of our heart to get our prayer requests solved. Yes. We have to pray to God with tears rolling down from our deep heart. That means we should have broken heart. The world may tell us that Jesus do not care about us. That is wrong. He came to the world for me and for every single person. He has strong love towards us. He shed his blood to gain us. So if we cry from our deep heart he will listen to us. He will show his mercy on us.
As per Mark 10: 49, Jesus stopped on the shout of Bartimaeus. Yes…even if there are millions of people around us and millions of things happens around us, if we call Jesus with a true broken heart he will stop for us. He can’t go away. He will stop and call us towards him. That is the promise he had given to us. He told to the same people who stopped him to call Bartimaeus and bring towards him. What do we understand? Yes… Jesus will raise us in midst of our enemies. We may have lot of objections in our work place, at home or in our community. But if we are true and deeply broken Jesus will make all those hurdles in favour for us. We can make a difference with our behaviour. This is the good chance to tell the Gospel of Jesus. We can win people through this. Have a think.
So what did Bartimaeus do when he heard that Jesus is calling him? In Mark 10: 49 tells that he throw his blanket away, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What is the meaning of blanket in Christian life? To me knowledge I can tell three things.
I will explain in simple terms. We may be born in a specific traditional background. I was born in a Syrian Jacobite family where we have various traditions of praying to Saints, worshipping Mary, Joseph and other important people in the Bible. I used to give offerings of Gold to the church to get blessed. Also I had many of superstitious beliefs. As per Apostle Paul when he knew Jesus he left everything behind and followed him. When I started following Jesus I threw all those blankets away from me. So I started praying to God and read Bible. That made me to reach Jesus very closely.
It is winter in Australia from July to September. We use heaters at home and it will be very warm. But as soon as we switch of the heater it will be cold again. Also we wear thick woollen jackets to have warmth. But once we remove it we go back to the same cold state. But if we have the summer it is warm without using any of the above mentioned precautions. It’s the same we have to get rid of the temporary warmth of worldly life and enter in the permanent warmth.
Once we decide to follow Jesus we have lot of bondages which pulls us back. Due to the heaviness of those burdens we can’t even move. Burdens could be our family, our education, our social status, our job, our house and many other things. But
We have to think them as heavy blanket and put them aside. Then only we can reach Jesus Christ.
Unless we get out of those three issues we cannot reach Jesus Christ. That is why when Bartimaeus threw his thick blanket the heavy burden on his shoulder is gone and he could easily move towards to reach Jesus and get healed. Also we have to be very enthusiastic when we go to Jesus Christ. We should Jump on our feet and go happily.
Once we put all our blankets behind then we can reach Jesus very easily. So once we have a broken heart and burdens removed Jesus will ask us what he can do for us. Mark 10: 51. That is the time Jesus comes to us and listens to us. We are now free of any thick blankets and Jesus can see us clearly with purified and broken heart. Don’t we suspect the question Jesus asked Bartimaeus? Why did Jesus act like a dumb person with Bartimaeus? Yes... He will unless we open our mouth and ask Jesus he will not answer our prayers. We have to be a nagging person, like a child keeps asking its father we have to cry and get ourselves cleansed.
Then the blind man told Jesus that he wanted to see. Jesus healed him and told him to Go and be happy. Also Jesus told him that his faith healed him. Yes my dear Friends …..We should have faith like a mustard seed then Jesus will give us anything we need. That is the promise of his blood. So make sure we do remember that.
Jesus told the blind man to go after he got healed. But as per Mark 10: 52 the blind man did not go anywhere. He received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Do we do the same?
Once we get our prayers answered we just go back to our normal life. Bartimaeus should have gone to his family and friends after he got back his sight. But he did not do that. He was thankful to his master and followed his way. He was a living testimony for Jesus. He went behind him town by town to tell his Gospel. This is how we should be. Once we get all the requests done we should not leave Jesus. We should have a thankful heart and humble mind. We should follow the paths of Jesus.
So to conclude the message, following are the key points.
God Bless You.
