your faith has healed you.

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Today’s message is from Mark 10:52, “your faith has healed you.” We’ll take a look at a life of Bartimaeus, who was a blind man in Jericho. We would like to learn from his faith and we want to be thankful for Jesus, being a true follower of Jesus. Please read Mark 10:46-52. First, let’s consider the context and meaning of this event. Jesus and his disciples are on the way to Jerusalem (verse 32). Jesus tells his disciples that he will be on the cross and will be raised three days later (33, 34). Do you remember these things I shared with you before? In Mark 10:45, it says “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Ransom means the payment you pay to free slaves. It is clear that Jesus pays the price of the Atonement, the ransom to release the human beings who are slaves of sin to become God’s, that’s what Jesus did on the cross. I guess through these words of Jesus, the disciples began to feel that a great challenge were coming in Jerusalem. Then, from Chapter 11, a week of Jesus’ Passion began. Passion week is the week Jesus died on the cross. Before the Passion Week, Jesus not only healed Bartimaeus, but also his faith gives us Christians encouragement and challenge.

Bartimaeus was a blind man and a beggar. He had been sitting on the street every day, and spend many years seeking help from many people. Since he was a blind person, he hadn’t been able to work normally. As many people passed through, he heard the miracle of Jesus and the words spoken by Jesus. He started having this faith that Jesus might be the Messiah who was born as the son of David. When he realized that Jesus was passing by, he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”(verse 47)
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” His faith was focused on only Jesus, who was born as the son of David, and on the Savior who can heal him. Jesus, who can heal many, must be the one the Old Testament points to and the Messiah the Jews have been waiting for. I feel that he was able to have faith like because he was a blind man. Jesus answered mercifully to this blind man who asked for mercy, and said “call him.” Please look carefully to Bartimaeus’ response. In verse 50, “Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “ Jesus asked him. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus wanted to hear his request directly from him, and see clearly if he was trusting Jesus. Sometimes we are also required to speak directly to God to tell Him our request honestly. Through saying that out loud, that also gives us a clarity of what we want to ask Him and our faith and trust will be revealed. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see. (verse 51) “ and then today’s scripture “your faith has healed you.” Was spoken by Jesus. As we look back what we read today, his faith was seen through his response. Matthew 20:29-34 says the same thing, but you can see that there were two blind men there. And also we can see that Jesus was sorry for them and touched their eyes. Mark reveled that these Two blind men, especially Bartimaeus threw his cloak aside and he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “Throwing his cloak aside and he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus”, this response reveals Bartimaeus’ faith to Jesus. After this, he experienced the healing of Jesus and became the new disciple of Jesus, and he followed Jesus everywhere. The testimony of this blind man must be so powerful and encouraging. I guess his testimony was something like “Jesus healed my eyes and opened them. I saw with my own eyes that this Jesus was crucified on the cross, and rose again. Jesus is the one and only savior who died on the cross to forgive my sin and your sin, and He rose again. “
 
In addition to this blind man, Luke added the confession of Zacchaeus in Jericho. If you are interested, please open Luke Chapter 19. Jesus entered Jericho and passed by the town. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but he couldn’t see him because he was short and there were crowd. So he climbed the fig tree and tried to see Jesus at first sight. Jesus, who had just come under the tree, looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5 ) This word changed his life and he accepted Jesus as his savior. The savior accepted him as who he was, and that was enough for him. Zacchaeus said to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (Luke 19:8) Zacchaesus, who met the savor also responded with amazing faith.
How about you guys? If you were in Jericho like these two and met Jesus who was on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified, how do you want to show your gratitude to Him? For Zacchaesus, he showed his gratitude by sharing half of his possessions, and for Bartimaeus, he did it by being a disciple of Jesus and followed Him. Just like these two, let’s live a life responding well to God’s amazing grace.