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.)
Before we move on from Mark 10:46-52, let us consider the differences in the parallel passage in Matthew 20:29-34. Differences are not contradictions. For example, my Sunday sermon is different from the summary that is posted online. The spoken message is longer (usually considerably longer), but the two do not contradict each other. Matthew speaks of “two blind men” (verse 30); Mark does not say that there was only one. Rather, he simply focuses on Bartimaeus. In fact, the detail that he was “the son of Timaeus” points to the historicity of this account. Matthew places the healing “as they departed Jericho” (verse 29), whereas Mark says it was as “they came to Jericho” (verse 46). This seeming discrepancy turns out to be a compelling reason to believe Scripture. We now know that two Jerichos existed – the old city and the new one. The main road went through both, and the area in between the cities was an obvious place for beggars to set up. Thus, Mark was referencing the old city, while Matthew was speaking of the new city. Again, differences are not contradictions. The Word of God is fully trustworthy.