Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Jesus’ interaction with Bartimaeus in Mark 10:42-52 is a compelling personal encounter. I love that Jesus had this blind man come to Him (verses 49-50): Bartimaeus was sightless, but he could walk! Jesus did not patronize this man but treated him with respect. The result was physical healing and, even more importantly, spiritual wholeness, based upon Jesus’ words (“Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole” – verse 52b) and evidenced by the rapid response of Bartimaeus, who “followed Jesus in the way” (verse 52d). The choice that Bartimaeus made here is to align his “way” with the “way” of Jesus. This intersection of ways is the experience of each Christian. For Bartimaeus, this was the only time that he could have met Jesus, Who was on His way to the Cross in Jerusalem and would never pass through Jericho again. No one knows when the last opportunity to receive Jesus as Savior will occur. Thus, each person must seize the opportunity and seize the day: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2c-d).