The FaithOfJesus2 Daily Devotional

Focus:

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( FaithOfJesus thread begun by rRandyP )

Today's Verse:

kjv@Luke:18:35-43

kjv@Luke:18:35 @ And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:

kjv@Luke:18:36 @ And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

kjv@Luke:18:37 @ And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

kjv@Luke:18:38 @ And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

kjv@Luke:18:39 @ And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

kjv@Luke:18:40 @ And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,

kjv@Luke:18:41 @ Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

kjv@Luke:18:42 @ And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

kjv@Luke:18:43 @ And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

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Today's notes:

Context:

• Before - Luke:18:31-34 Jesus Again Predicts His Death
  
• After - Luke:19:1-10 Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
  

(see: kjv@Matthew:20:29-34 kjv@Mark:10:46-52)

Study Resources:

G1653 mercy/compassion

G2008 rebuke/censure

G2309 wilt thou/desire to be

G308 recover/receive sight

Notes:

Matthew has it as two blind men, Mark identifies one man as Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, Luke has it here as one man. Likely again this means that the readers of Mark's time and proximity would most familiar with this Bartimaues and not so much the other man. Think of it in terms of your son (one of many fans doing the same) going up to an athlete to get an autograph, you don't say all the fans went and got autographs, you say my son Bart got an autograph, the listener cares a little less about the technical accuracy than the traceable familiarity. Luke may know of this man, but his gentile audience may not, so he keeps it as a certain (identifiable to some) blind man. Matthew, having been there and recounting the details to other Hebrews that may have been there would of course bring the second blind man in (or however many there were involved). The emphasis one places on there being one or two and what the name of the most well known one is is a matter who is telling it to whom and what importance the additional information is felt to be to the overall testimony.

In context now, Jesus has declared that He now is going to the capital city to do what He needs to to get this done. A multitude is following Him aware that He is set His path towards Jerusalem, but quite cloudy as to what it is He has to do there. I imagine that there are some/many there following that had said "fine... it is about time... what good is all this walking about Galilee when the son of David needs to be installed to the throne and these pesky Romans pushed back out of our land right now". They would be most anxious to rush Jesus uninterrupted to the Temple gates. What chance does a blind beggar and his blind buddy have halting such an urgent procession long enough to be healed and seeing? If left to the others? No chance I suppose. No, only rebuke we are told.

It wasn't all that long ago that "they" were bringing people by the thousands to Jesus to be healed. Now they are holding them away. What has changed? What is different in their minds? We can ask ourselves a similar thing. What is it that we most want the Lord to hurry and get done for us that because of our focus is pushing others away from what they have perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity to receive? Do we even know what it is that the Lord is going to be doing when He gets us there?

For some time now the context has been driving home a message of kingdom and judgment and inheritance and persistence and second comings. Perhaps this is our present rush, much like the multitude in this passage, to have peace back, to have our nation restored, to not be plagued by all these many annoyances. And in so doing, in being so caught up in the rush along with the many others we over look the one thing that we are commanded along the way: to love others as we love ourselves, to let others in, to bring others along, to ease their suffering as well. Jesus doesn't forget; He stopped, He came back for the man (men), He did something meaningful to them. They followed.

Key Messages:

Declaring Certainty

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Further Resources:

Comment Board:Luke:18:35-43
index:FAITHOFJESUSDEVOTION - Devotional Index
strkjv@Luke:18:35-43 rwp@Luke:18:35-43 mhcc@Luke:18:35-43
FaithOfJesus2 - Devotion Index

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