SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 9/28/2012 9:13:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Poor
Become Rich
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
10:46-52
Message
of the verses: “46 Then they came to
Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a
blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. 47
When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48 Many were sternly telling
him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, "Son of David, have
mercy on me!" 49 And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." So
they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage, stand up! He is
calling for you." 50 Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to
Jesus. 51 And answering him, Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for
you?" And the blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, I want to regain my
sight!" 52 And Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you
well." Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the
road.”
Sometimes when we read through the
Gospels we see things in the different Gospels that seem to be contradictive,
and this section seems to fit into that category. Luke 18:35 says, “As Jesus was approaching
Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.” Our text from today in Mark 10:46 states, “Then
they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a
large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting
by the road.” Dr. Wiersbe points out
“There were actually two cities named Jericho:
the old city in ruins, and the new city a mile away where Herod the
Great and his successors built a lavish winter palace.” When we read this story from Matthew’s gospel
account we read that there were two blind beggars that Jesus healed. “29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large
crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that
Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of
David!" 31 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all
the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 32 And Jesus
stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for
you?" 33 They said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened."
34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained
their sight and followed Him (Matthew 20:29-34).” Perhaps John MacArthur’s idea about why Mark
and Luke only talk about Bartimaeus was because he became the more prominent
one of the two and was greatly involved in the early Church. He may have been one of the 120 people, who
meet in the upper room waiting for the Holy Spirit to be given to them, and
that is why his name is given and the other’s name is withheld.
Let’s talk a bit about Jericho from
where it is mentioned in the Scriptures.
As I searched for this word in my Online Bible program I find that
Jericho is mentioned 59 times in the Bible.
It is mentioned in ten different verses in the book of Numbers, in three
verses in Deuteronomy, in 26 verses in the book of Joshua, one verse in 2Samuel
and 1Kings, in six verses in 2Kings, in two verses in 1Chronicles and one 2Chronicles,
in Ezra once and Nehemiah two times, in Jeremiah two times, and then we move to
the NT where it is in Matthew and Mark once, and Luke three times and the last
mention is in Hebrews where it is mentioned once speaking of the walls falling
down.
When God destroyed Jericho after the
children of Israel marched around it we read in “Joshua 6:26 Then Joshua made them take an oath at
that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and
builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its
foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its
gates.’” Then we read in “1Ki 16:34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho;
he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its
gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the
LORD, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.”
In searching the internet about
Jericho I found this brief, but interesting article on Jericho and it is found
at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jericho.html.
Jericho is below Jerusalem and the
Jews coming to the Passover and other feasts would go through Jericho because
they walked around Samaria because they thought they would be deviled if they
went through Samaria. In our next
section from the book of Psalms that will begin tomorrow (God willing) we will
begin to study the psalms of ascent and these psalms were spoken by the
children of Israel as they made their way up to Jerusalem. Perhaps Jesus and His disciples and the
others who traveled with Him began to recite Psalms 120-134.
As we look at the text in Mark we
see that Bartimaeus called Jesus by two different names. He called Jesus “Son of David” which is a
messianic title and so he must have known who Jesus was from a study of the
Scriptures. He also calls him Rabboni
which means Master and is only use one other time by Mary in John 20:16 in all
the Scriptures. It seems to me that this
man was not only looking to have his physical eyes opened, but he also had
probably had his spiritual eyes opened earlier, and if not earlier for sure
when Jesus healed his physical eyes for we see that he began to follow Jesus.
We see the same question that Jesus
asked to James, John, and Salome in Mark 10:36, and that question was “What do
you want Me to do for you.” This
question seems a bit strange to ask a blind man but Dr. Wiersbe states that
“Jesus wanted to give the man opportunity to express himself and give evidence
of his own faith. What did he really
believe Jesus could do for him?”
Jesus knew what awaited Him as he
traveled up to Jerusalem, and we talked a bit about that in yesterday’s SD, but
Jesus who was doing the Father’s will stopped overnight in Jericho at the house
of Zaccheus, a dreaded tax collector and called him to a saving faith and then
on the way out of Jericho he stopped to heal two blind beggars of both their
physical needs along with their spiritual needs. The Jews of that day probably thought less of
the tax collectors than they did the blind, but not much for they felt that
people who were blind were cursed by God.
We see this in the disciples question of Jesus in the ninth chapter of
John, “’Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born
blind?’” This would be the last miracle
that Jesus would do before rising from the dead, although He had two more
appointments in order to call a thief and a Roman Soldier to salvation while on
the cross.
In the remaining chapters of Mark we
will see Jesus during the last week of His life on earth as we will see the
suffering Servant crucified for those He came to save and then be raised from
the dead as proof of His payment for their sins.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I see
great compassion in this section as it is even stated in one of the gospel
accounts. Compassion is a part of love
and Jesus is love. As I begin to
memorize the 13th chapter of 1Corinthians, the “Love Chapter,” I am
trying to see how this chapter fits into the life of Jesus as I read through
the Gospels and then have a desire to have the Holy Spirit work these qualities
into my life.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust that God will make a more compassionate person of me.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:1-7
1 If I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of
prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so
as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed
the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits
me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, and
is not jealous; love does not brag, and is not arrogant, 5 does not act
unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into
account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices
with the truth, 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
9/28/2012
10:52:04 AM
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