The Blind See Through Faith
Jesus told him, “Go. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and began following Jesus on the road. (Mark 10:52)
Imagine being blind, not able to see anything at all and not being able to do any work. Your family and friends help you to the side of the road so that you can beg for some food or some money to be able to support yourself. You have no idea when or where you will receive your next meal. And you are considered an outcast in society.
But one day while you are begging, you hear that Jesus of Nazareth is coming down the road. You’ve heard a little about this Jesus of Nazareth, mostly that he can do miracles and that he might be the promised Messiah. Since it definitley won’t hurt anything, you begin to cry out to Jesus. You cry for mercy, since you know that you shouldn’t be in the presence of God, but you also know that he is the only one who can help.
That’s how it was for Blind Bartimaeus. He knew that Jesus could heal his blindness. And becasue of his faith, Jesus did heal his blindness.
Spiritually, we were all in the same boat as Bartimaeus. We were blind, not able to see God or come to him. But we did not want to come to him or see him either. We were content to grope around in our spiritual blindness.
Then we heard the gospel. We heard someone tell us that there was more than just the nothingness that we saw. Whether it was through our baptism as babies or through the witness of someone else, we heard that we had sinned against a holy God, and that he sent his Son into the world to take away our sin. And through that message the Holy Spirit worked faith in us to see the God of grace and love. What a wonderful gift that God has given to us, to see him as our loving Father in heaven, who makes us holy in his sight. Now we are able to bring that spiritual sight to those who are still groping around in the dark, blind to the light that God gives. Amen.
The song for today is “Open the Eyes Of My Heart” By Michael W. Smith