Mark 10:46-52 recounts the healing of Blind Bartimaeus.
This leads me to wonder, 'Why did Jesus bother healing anyone while He was here? He certainly had a mission to fulfill -- living the life of a spotless lamb, sympathizing with our weaknesses as human beings and then dying as a sacrifice to buy our forgiveness and reconciliation with God -- but He could've accomplished this without stopping to heal sick people. Why did He do it?
I presume it was because He cared. The Bible says He had "compassion" for people. I like that. I love that. To me it's like another reason to want to worship Him. He's so wonderful and caring. If I could be more like Him ... wow!
...When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
People must have been talking about the guy walking away from the city, "It's Jesus of Nazareth." I get the impression that they weren't introducing Him as the Son of David. I think that Bart came up with this on his own or he somehow had learned this about Jesus. It wasn't "Jesus, Son of Joseph." It was a reference to His messianic heritage. I wonder if Jesus received that label with honor.
It's sad and ironic that "many rebuked him and told him to be quiet," and it's funny that this didn't deter the man. "...he shouted all the more." Way to go, Bart! He was determined to receive healing. Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." Folks told Bart, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." I wonder if this means that Bart's cries had great sorrow and deep emotion in them. Why would they tell him to "cheer up" if he wasn't obviously full of sadness and despair?
I love that the army of David was full of men in debt, in despair, and depressed. It actually says: "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader." This was David's army. Jesus and King David were both great leaders. Flat out great. Men of any religion, race or class would surely be honored to follow these men if given the chance. Hopefully, they are studied in upper division courses on management and leadership at places like universities and military academies.
So Jesus asked Bart, "What do you want Me to do for you?" He called him "Rabbi" and answered, "I want to see." Jesus didn't touch him, didn't spit on the ground, make mud and apply it to his eyelids, He didn't even cast out a demon. He simply said, "Go, your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
I bet Bart was one grateful dude.
Speaking of the word "dude," I once picked up a student as a favor of a friend and gave him a ride to church. I had a list of things to do with me in the car, and one of them was "pick up dude." I think it was Louie Louiso (I could be confusing him with another guy), who later told me that this particular Sunday was like a "Black Sunday" for him, because when he got in the car he saw my to-do list and he knew that he was the "dude," but he didn't know what that word meant. He assumed the worst and thought it was an American word for an undesirable person. When he finally learned that it was an innocuous label for "male person," he was relieved. Poor guy. I never knew that he had a bad day due to a translation problem.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at December 11, 2008 01:19 PM