Words Of Christ Devotions

[nChrist]

July 24

Healing Ten Lepers

Luk_17:11-19

We may take this from two points of view:  the lepers', and Jesus.

The lepers

They begin by calling him Master—and then they beg.  They met him at the edge of the village, intercepting him where he could not avoid them.  Standing the proper distance, they do not bargain, nor do they plead their case as ones unfairly punished.  They beg the Master's mercy.

Note that without exception they show their faith.  Jesus tests that faith by telling them to go and show themselves to the priests.  All ten go.  Note that they were healed "as they went."  This is faith in action, for faith is best demonstrated by obedience.

Only the Samaritan comes back to praise God and thank his healer.  Why?  The root of the matter is probably this:  a leper is an outcast;  a Samaritan leper among Jewish lepers is an outcast among outcasts.  He who is forgiven much, loves much.  Perhaps that applies to healing as well.

Jesus

It's a long and weary day, the journey is long and the road is hot.  Jesus meets these men at the end of that journey.  His weariness does not prevent his love from taking action.

Note how rich our Lord is in supply!  Are there ten lepers?  Then ten shall be healed.  And note how poor we are in return;  only one comes back with praise.
Above all, note that he prefers to work through our faith.

It is a compact little study.  But it raises some questions for us:

Do you beg, or bargain, with your Master?

Do you demonstrate your faith by your obedience?

Does your love match what you have been forgiven?

Are your good works dependent upon your good mood?

Are your good works given generously, or grudgingly?

What do all these say about your faith?

Test yourself;  then your Lord will not need to.

____________________

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[nChrist]

July 25

Signs to be Observed

Luk_17:20-21

May I ask you to cast your mind back to the beginning of the 20th century?  Pity the poor physicist.  He is just beginning to explore the world of the atom — a world he cannot see with the aid of any known microscope.  Indeed, his inability to measure things at this level will give rise to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.  Roughly put, if you know exactly what a particle is doing, you have no idea where it is.  And if you know exactly where it is, you have no idea what it is doing.  Teenagers are a lot like that, too.

So how, then, did the scientists discover so much about this world beneath our visibility?  The technology is complex, but the method is simple.  The could not directly observe the workings of the atom, but they could observe the results.  From the results they could draw conclusions.

A similar problem confronts the Christian today.  "The kingdom of God is within you" - where it cannot be seen, heard or felt.  No amount of careful observation will tell you who is genuinely a Christian and who is not—there is no telltale mark, no sudden decrease in blood pressure, no symptoms at all.  The metal detector at the airport registers nothing new.

But the results are there, for the kingdom of God is given to those who will produce its fruit (Matthew 21:43).  So if you wish to know if you are in the kingdom of God, should you not observe the results in your life?

Are you "poor in spirit?"  To these belongs the kingdom.  Or are you proud in spirit?

Are you persecuted for righteousness?  To these belongs the kingdom.  Or are you content with "getting away with it?"

Are you humble, like a little child?  To these belongs the kingdom.  Or are you happy with an adult rating?

Are you one who is generous with his wealth, or are you still trying to push the camel through the eye of the needle?

Do the things of God grow in your life, like the mustard seed, or are you content with a "silk plant" religion?

Does embarrassment over sin hold you back?  Remember that the tax collectors pushed their way into the kingdom.

Most especially, are you one of the obedient souls who does the will of God?  Of such is the kingdom.

Test the results;  see what is within you.

____________________

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[nChrist]

July 26

Days of Noah

Luk_17:22-30

Many years ago we came upon an automobile accident.  We were the first on the scene;  the car had jumped off the freeway and landed on its side on a road parallel to the freeway.  The children and the mother had managed to free themselves, but it was clear that just a few moments before they had been traveling down the freeway with no thought that this might happen.  The father was still in the car;  there was no hurry about removing him.

Details blur with the years, but how could I forget the look on the faces of the children?   Their entire world, their complete security, everything that protected them—was gone.  It was the very picture of hopelessness.

In a small way these children are symbols of the world as it will be when our Lord returns.   While some speak of knowing the time of his return, or of knowing all the signs that must be fulfilled before his return, these are things which are but learned opinion.  Our Lord gives us one certain thing:  it will be unexpected.  People will say, "It's been a long time—just exactly where and when is this Jesus coming back?"  And after a laugh they will return to work, to play, to the cares of the day.  The striking element is that it will be so ordinary.

Then, with a sudden moment, our Lord will appear.  For those who do not know Him, the mask of hopelessness we saw on those children's faces will become their appearance.  For at his return it will be too late.  When I saw those faces, I wanted so much to be able to turn back the clock just a few minutes and make a slight correction.  Such power is not given to mortal man.  Nor will it be on that day.

But let the Christian rejoice in this;  for his return will be a great joy for us.  The triumph is certain;  the matter is done;  we simply do not know the day and hour.

The only question

So the question comes: what will be your reaction on that day?  It is certain to come;  you have the word of God on the point.  He has been quite explicit;  there will be no "just a minute."  It could come before you finish reading this.  Will it be an eternity of joy, or of hopelessness?  The answer to that depends upon your answer to "who is Jesus Christ?"  If he is Savior, Lord and God to you, then rejoice.  If not, go to him this very moment and make it so.  You do not know how much time you have left.

____________________

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[nChrist]

July 27

Training

Luk_17:31-37

A curious description is given here.   It seems that when the Lord returns, and heaven and earth are renewed, there will be some who will stop along the way—to their great peril—and attempt to retrieve their possessions!  Surely, we might think, no one would be so foolish as that.  But our Lord assures us that this is so.

An incident might shed some light on this.  My parents went through the Sylmar earthquake of 1971, suffering a great deal of property damage (though only minor injuries).  It took me several hours to make my way through the twisted wreckage of roads to their home.  As I pulled up in front, my mother came out to greet me with these words:  "Grandma's pitcher is ruined!"  Of all the rubble in the house—and there was plenty—she was concerned about her grandmother's crystal water pitcher.

That earthquake did not make Grandma's pitcher important to my mother.  It simply revealed that it was important to my mother.  So many of us think that we need not worry about the small sins of life;  after all, when the crisis comes, we will rise to the occasion.  It is not so.  The small sins indicate what we really are;  the crisis will reveal it.

The army knows that.  In basic training the elementary skills of a soldier are repeated over and over, so that the soldier will do them instinctively in combat.  You can tell a soldier what to do—but to turn him into a real soldier, you must drill it into him.

Our Lord knows that too.  So it is that he trains us in being Christian soldiers, teaching us to watch and pray, to remain honest and true in small things and large, and to imitate his love in all our doings.  But most important on that day will be our love for Him; if it is real, we will run to him, leaving all behind.  His coming will reveal us for what we are.

The disciples—quite naturally—are curious.  When will all this occur?  Should we start packing now?  Christ's answer is typical of his nature.  The times and circumstances of these things  are not fit matters for humans to know.  But he will not leave his children without guidance and comfort.  The cryptic comment—where the body is, the vultures gather—is fitting to his style.  It tells you everything you need to know and nothing you want to know.

How is this?  Surely the dead body represents sin, for by sin death came to Adam.  By this and other passages we may conclude that the time of the end will be a time of great wickedness.  The vultures will gather;  will we be ready?

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[nChrist]

July 28

The Unjust Judge

Luk_18:1-8

The widow, in this time, was the symbol of one who was poor, oppressed and without help.  If you've ever had to fight a massive bureaucracy with no assistance—and watch others go in with their expensive lawyers and lobbyists—you have an idea of how this woman was treated.

The judge is a contrast to God.  He doesn't care for her;  no cry of justice opens his ears—but even he gets tired of hearing her.  So he will grant justice in return for her persistence.

The picture would be familiar to Christ's listeners.  They were a conquered people under Roman rule, and such a judge was all too common.  But Christ pauses, and takes their breath away:  if the evil judge will do that, what about God?

The judge is evil, but God is pure righteousness.  Will he not be all the more eager to see justice done?

The petitioner to the judge is a widow—the judge doesn't care a bit for her.  But God is beseeched by his saints, his children whom he loves so dearly.  Will he not be ready to give them justice?

The widow is but one, with her own petition.  The church is many (yet one) and the petition is in chorus.  Can he not hear?

How, then, is it that God has not yet adopted the simple expedient of slaying the wicked without notice?  Surely that would be more efficient?

When  God is slow to give us our heart's desires, the desire grows stronger.  So it is he hones in us a desire for justice and righteousness—not only as applied to us, but as we apply it to others.  Is He slow to avenge?  Consider:

He has granted all a season of repentance.  Many of us were as wicked as the judge.  Suppose he had not waited!

But when the measure of iniquity is full, God will act.  He has delayed his justice so that the wicked might have time to repent.  Hell will not be allowed to annul heaven by indefinite delay.

But like little children, we are impatient.  Why will he not strike down those who are evil?  Do we consider that we, too, were evil until he brought us into the church?  The day shall come, do not fear.  Only keep the faith until then;  so that when our Lord returns he will not need to search to find the faithful.

____________________

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[nChrist]

July 29

Lord, Be Merciful

Luk_18:9-14


Two men with the same purpose:  to pray.  Did you notice that?  The Pharisee did not go up intending to glorify himself, nor the tax collector to humiliate himself.  They both went up to pray.

The Pharisee, it would seem, had all the advantages:

He had the advantage of training.  Hundreds of years of great wisdom, by the most learned of rabbis, would go into his prayers.  Is it a question of the right words?  He had them.  Is it a question of making sure you have all points covered?  He knew them.  He was an expert.

He had the advantage of frequency.  He did this often, at scheduled times.  Nothing prevails like practice!  His practice was sure, so he approached this prayer with confidence, the confidence of one greatly experienced.  He was an expert.

He had the advantage of self-discipline. He fasted;  he watched every action;  all his details of life were regulated by the Law of Moses, the highest he knew.  Like the true professional of any occupation, he had disciplined himself to the point needed.  He was an expert.

But there was a problem in his approach to prayer.  He is bargaining with God.  By his training, by his practice, by his self-discipline he has concluded that God owes him.  It is not so.

The tax collector takes the opposite approach.  Perhaps his deficiencies produced desperation, for he came to beg, not to bargain.

He does not state what he has done, rather what he is—a sinner.  It is well to know yourself when talking to the Almighty.

He does not appeal on the basis of his good deeds but rather upon the character of God—for God is merciful.

The Jews tell a similar story to this day.  An emperor asked one of the sages for a compilation of prayers suitable for any occasion.  He was expecting a book with prayers by formula.  He wanted to fill in the blanks, so to speak.  The sage returned the next day and handed him an axe.

Naturally, the emperor was puzzled, and asked for an explanation.  The scribe reminded the emperor that every door in the palace had a lock, and for each lock there was a particular key.  But the axe would get through any door.  The axe in prayer is the pure and contrite heart, which opens the door to heaven.

____________________

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[nChrist]

July 30

On Divorce

Mat_19:1-9

One of the strongest desires in human thought is the urge to prove yourself right.  Especially when you aren't.

Jesus has spoken on this subject before, and his position is likely well known.  So the Pharisees are not engaged in idle curiosity or genuine interest—they're out to trap him.  But it's interesting that this is the subject.  There were two schools of thought.  One held that adultery, and only adultery, was grounds for divorce.  The other held that man's dominion over woman was such that any displeasure was sufficient, as long as the legal forms were followed.  Perhaps you can guess which opinion they held.

Jesus' reply deals less with legal form than with first principles.  This is somewhat like aiming a rifle.  The slightest deflection from the true aim at the beginning can produce a wide miss at the target.  Let us see what God was aiming at:

The married couple are to be "one flesh."  One widow told me that her ache for her late husband was "like having your right arm torn off every day."  That's how God views divorce.

This relationship is above all other human relationships, for it is superior to the parent-child relationship.

This relationship was established by God, by direct action, at the very beginning.  That alone should tell us that the joining was done by God.  How presumptuous of us to split it!

You can imagine the counter argument.  Why did Moses "command" the bill of divorce?  Doesn't that mean it can be done?

There is a difference between "command" and "permit."  Moses could not have taught the people God's perfection in one generation—he also permitted polygamy.
There is also a difference between manner and matter.  If you're going to divorce, do it this way.  But that is not the same as blanket permission for divorce.

The matter is essentially one of cruelty and injustice.  By far the most common case then (and still surprisingly so today) is that of a man who enjoys a wife for many years, taking all he can.  He then finds a younger, prettier woman—and discards his wife like so much rubbish.  He labels his lust as "love," and declares himself justified.  He proves himself right, even when he isn't.

But have a care;  God counts a woman's tears.  He is the God of righteousness and justice—and judgment.

____________________

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[nChrist]

July 31

A Hard Saying

Mat_19:10-12


Let us be clear about the point:  the teaching of Jesus is that divorce is permissible only in the case of adultery.  To that St. Paul adds this:  a Christian whose non-Christian spouse leaves is not bound to remain in marriage.  And from those two statements we may conclude two things:

God's intention is that once married, only adultery or death will split the bond between husband and wife.

There is some sense of exception when one of the partners is not a Christian—but the Christian may not initiate the divorce in that circumstance.

It raises a natural question.  What about (for example) the wife who takes up the regular practice of throwing butcher knives in the vicinity of her husband's head?  Is one obliged by God to remain in the marriage?  (I know of nothing in Scripture which forbids you to duck.)

Just where should the church draw the line?  There are many answers to this.  It is easier for a husband to deal with his own lust than with an evil woman.  Jesus knows that.  His answer is interesting both for what it says, and what it doesn't.

He does say that this is a "hard saying."  Not everyone can handle this problem.  For that reason, some will find it best never to marry, as if they were eunuchs.  In our day the thought of doing without sex for one night seems difficult;  a lifetime, impossible.  But if you seek first the kingdom of God, and sex is in the way, what else can you do?  A hard choice to bear, but an easy one to think through.

He does not launch into a list of exceptions.  That would only start another round of legalism in the church.  It seems that Jesus has left us with the problem and the statement that it is a hard one.  He had no intention of making divorce easy, and so gave no list of exceptions.

At the very least this should cause us to enter marriage only after grave thought and seeking wise counsel.  So few of us do that;  we hurry into marriage and hurry into divorce.  We should be slow to marry;  much slower to divorce.  Remarriage after divorce should be even tardier, both for our Lord's words and our experience.  Marriage is God's doing;  we should be reverent in starting it; remorseful to break it and reluctant to do it again.

____________________

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[nChrist]

August 1

Little Children

Mar_10:13-16

Have you ever asked a baseball player for an autograph?  We all have the feeling that, somehow, something of another's "greatness" will rub off on us if we can make physical contact.  Something of that is seen here in these mothers who brought their children to Jesus.

The drama comes from the disciples.  They try to hold the children back.  The great man is busy, there are huge demands on his time, children this small are unimportant, he can't be bothered with such things.  It is not respectable!

And it isn't respectable.  It's righteous.  The Creator of time itself has time for these little ones;  who more?  He does what polite society thinks unreasonable:  he loves the least.  In their society children were not possessed of  "high marginal incomes," and thus courted by advertisers.  They had nothing, and therefore the world considered them as nothing.

Consider the least of our society today.  Take, for a specific example, a young woman who is addicted to drugs, has a baby, no job and is single.  How does the body of Christ, the church, treat her?

Do we shoo her away lest her terrible example rub off on decent Christian teenagers?

Or do we take her in our arms with the love of Christ?

Such a person resembles a child of that time.  Spiritually, they are often completely uneducated.  Economically, they're at the bottom of the heap.  Their burdens are greater than they can bear, and like children they need a lot of help, encouragement, counsel and even wisdom.

Christ tells us that "of such" is the kingdom of heaven!  Why would God welcome "such" into his kingdom?  Is it not so that his mighty power and great love might be displayed?

Power?  Yes, even the worst of sinners can be redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
Love?  Yes, no matter how undeserving, God looks upon the sinners of this world as his children, and has compassion on them.

Christ does not just "put up with" these children—he welcomes them into his arms.  He blesses them so that we might see that no one is too low to enter the kingdom.  We, the church, need to open our arms to the wayward children of this world, so that we might bring his blessing to them, too.

____________________

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[nChrist]

August 2

The Rich Young Ruler

Mar_10:17-22

Suppose you had the chance to ask Jesus one, and only one, question.  What would it be?  It might depend upon your circumstances;  if you were ill, you might ask for healing, for example.  But what if your circumstances were high and good indeed?

That's what we have here.  The man is rich in the things of this world.  We may conclude from the fact that Christ does not rebuke his presumption but instead loves him that he indeed has kept the commandments.  In short, he is a man who has been blessed by God with all earthly blessings, one who is righteous under the Law of Moses—and still he has a question.  "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

If you want the right answers, you must ask the right questions.  Jesus points him to the Law, but only to bring out the fact that something is yet to be fulfilled.  Jesus is that fulfillment of the Law.  He makes that point to the young man by pointing out that only God is good.  It forces the question:  who is this man Jesus?  If he is indeed God in the flesh, then he is lord over all who worship God.  It is that lordship which is at the center of this tragedy.  Many of us are willing to accept Jesus as a great teacher and moral authority — but that is not his claim.  He claims to be God.  If he is, then he should be your Lord.  If he is not, you should despise him.

The matter becomes even more radical in Jesus reply.  Note that it says that he loved this young man.  And why not?  God loves those who keep his commandments.  Why then did not Jesus simply commend him?  It is precisely because he loved him that he challenged him—on the issue of lordship.  Either the man's money was his master, or God.

Like Nicodemus at night, the ruler was looking for the last small step.  As Nicodemus was told to be born again, this man is also told to renounce his life and turn about radically.  One thing stands between him and eternal life:  his money.  Get rid of it;  then follow your Lord.  The issue is not the money;  the issue is lordship.

How about you?  Is there something in your life which stands between you and your Lord Jesus?  Is there anything which causes you to put Christ "on hold" while you deal with it?  Many things can do this;  a job, your stocks and bonds, your hobby, your spouse (or the one you are pursuing), the new house, the new car, or just the everyday cares of this world—how will I make it until the next paycheck?  One Lord—the question is, which?

____________________

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[nChrist]

August 3

Eye of the Needle

Mar_10:23-31

The disciples have perceived a problem with the case of the rich young ruler.
Perhaps we should take it step by step:

In the Old Testament God frequently mentions that prosperity is the reward of the righteous.  This is so from a human point of view (thrift and hard work are virtues) and also from the actions of God's providence.

It appeared to the disciples that the rich young ruler was an example of such a case:  virtue rewarded by God.  He's a "most likely" to get into heaven.

But Christ tells them how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now the problem becomes personal.  They saw the rich young ruler as more righteous—in God's eyes—than themselves.  Certainly God had given him more in the way of reward.  If he has no hope, then what hope do the poor fishermen have?

Jesus replies with one of those maddeningly enigmatic sayings.  Only after the Resurrection will it be clear that good works—no matter how extensive—are not sufficient.  But the grace of God is sufficient for all.

That brings up another problem for the disciples.  While they may feel themselves inferior to the rich young ruler, they also know they have sacrificed greatly to follow Jesus.   Peter makes two points:

The disciples have left everything they have (which he now knows is not sufficient).

They did this to follow Jesus (which is sufficient).

So then, if the rich young ruler can't make it, and we've given up everything trying to make it, but only grace can bring us into the kingdom of heaven, what's the sense in sacrifice and suffering?  Why not just kick back and relax?

Christ could have pointed out (as St. James did) that faith without works is dead.  But he knows their faith is alive.  So he points instead to reward.  He understands quite clearly that humans need to see the point in doing something.  So he makes it clear that God is both just and generous in reward.

Which means, of course, that when we examine the results upon his return we may be surprised by grace—"How did he get in?"  The last first, the first last.  Sometimes you just never know.

____________________

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[nChrist]

August 4

The Generous Landowner

Mat_20:1-16

Jesus now explains his cryptic "last, first" remark.  He does so by the familiar means of a parable.  In this parable some see the hours of the day to mean the span of a man's life;  others see it as the span of time of the church.  We shall take both meanings to heart.

The marketplace and the vineyard

Consider for a moment the men in the marketplace.  It represents our world:

The men are standing around—they have no purpose.

They stand where the only value is found in a price tag.

They stand there because no one has called them

But the Master comes to them and calls them, as he tells us to bring the Gospel to them.  They go from no purpose to the cause of Christ.  Their value is no longer measured in money, but in the salvation given by the grace of God.

It's not fair!

At the end of the day, the first (who shall see themselves as last, now) complain.  There are several answers to this:

Salvation is not divisible!  You cannot give one man complete salvation and another half, nor another twice as much.

Look at the alternative:  if salvation depended upon how much we did, there would be no hope for those whose days remaining are few.  What hopelessness!

Isn't the real complaint here not why I got so little, but why he got so much?  Is this not envy?

Christ ignores all these—and points simply to the generous love and grace of God.

Hope

In this story there is a great deal of hope:

If the day represents the history of the church, then take comfort in this:  the call of the Gospel will go on until the last day.

And if it represents the span of a man's life, then remember that no one is too old to receive the blessed gift of salvation.

Perhaps both views are correct.  The love and grace of God span all of a man's life, and all of time—and beyond.

____________________

Words Of Christ Devotions

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[nChrist]

August 5

Prophecy of the Resurrection

Luk_18:31-34

It is faintly possible that my dentist is more expensive than most.  He knows how to deal with the dentally terrified.  It is a valuable skill.

He begins by letting me get a death grip on the chair.  He then explains, in a clear and smiling way, all the gruesome details of whatever procedure is about to be performed.  He lists the steps for me.  As he goes through the procedure, he reminds me of the steps and tells me which one he is performing.  At the end, he pries my fingers off my chair and tells me what a good boy I've been this time.  You'd think we could get through teeth cleaning with a little less effort.

Sorrow foreseen is easier to bear, especially with a good end in sight.  Jesus knows that too, and so he takes the twelve aside to explain what's going to happen.

He wants them to understand that no matter how wild events may seem, all is prophesied, all is foreseen.  God is still in control of events.

He tells them alone so that we might know the truth:  the Resurrection was the plan all along.  Thus he gives his enemies the chance to perform their evil, so that God may make a greater good from it.

He tells them all this very clearly.  They don't understand it.  We cannot be certain why, but it very likely is due to that natural human tendency to see only what you want to see.  They saw the coming of a conquering king, not a suffering servant.  Their vision is yet to come.

But their vision is just as sure as Christ's prophecy then, for our Lord tells us of his return.  Many things could have "gone wrong" during the next few weeks, but all happened as God intended.  Christ's enemies were not little robots following a program, but still all arrived as prophesied.

This should be a comfort to us.  As my dentist explains his work to me, step by step, and then performs it, so too God explains his work to us.  We may not understand all the details;  some, indeed, are hidden from us.  My dentist never uses phrases like, "and then there will be a stab of excruciating pain."  But through it all I remain in the chair—because I trust my dentist, and I know it will turn out right.  So too we should remain in Christ, trusting Him, for we know that all things will turn out right at his return.

____________________

Words Of Christ Devotions

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[nChrist]

August 6

Ambition

Mat_20:20-28

You can sometimes learn as much from what Christ does not say as from what he does.  Here is one of those instances.

By any test of man, James and John are certainly guilty of running back door influence.  It is likely enough that their mother travels with the band (we know that several women did), and probably as a widow.  It is not unreasonable to assume that she has cared for one and all of them, and feels herself entitled to ask the favor.  She might see it as "first ask, first get."  The others see it as favoritism.

What of the other ten?  Surely they are guilty of envy.  They see the request as one which asks the best of Christ, and they'd like to be in the running too.

So we might expect Christ to come back in stinging rebuke to these deadly sins.  He does not.  Like a man explaining to a small child why he can't drive the car, our Lord starts by making clear that they have no idea what they're asking for.

How often we do the same!  In our prayers we frequently give earnest advice to God, telling Him who to heal, who to punish, who to expose and who to forgive.  We do this as if it cost us nothing.  But it is not so;  prayer means commitment.

Commitment—and willingness to suffer in it—are the key to this passage.  The higher the authority that God proclaims, the greater the service that authority must perform.  But we don't see it that way.  The supreme example is Christ.  But as Matthew Henry said, the most confident Christians are the least acquainted with the Cross.

Consider our Lord:

Is there any question that he is always Master and Lord?

Is there any question either that he is the Suffering Servant?

He is both, because he is obedient to the Father.  The Father's will commands that Jesus suffer at the Cross for us.  Jesus is obedient to that, and therefore is exalted by God.

The same is true for us, if we live in imitation of him.  We cannot approach this with blind ignorance and think that all will be well;  rather, we must go in with eyes open.  But as we do, remember that as our Lord is the example of suffering, he is also the example of honor.  God the Father honored him in his obedience with the Name above all names.  So too will God honor those who serve in his kingdom in obedience to his will.  If we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him.

____________________

Words Of Christ Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
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(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

August 7

Bartimaeus

Mar_10:46-52

In this sweet little incident there is much for us to see.

The titles of Christ

Bartimaeus refers to Jesus by two titles:

He calls him "Son of David" - meaning not only a descendant of David, but also implying that he is the promised Holy One, the Messiah.

He calls him "Rabbi" - meaning teacher.  One wonders if we have not lost the sense of the word, for we call him friend and often ignore his teaching.

The call of Christ

If Christ does not call out to us, we cannot come.  We, like Bartimaeus, are blind, at least in spirit.  So we must call out for help.  If he does not answer, we are lost.

But if we call out, he will answer!  And when he does, this is comfort indeed.
But note one thing:  the call comes through someone else.  Jesus does not call him;  he tells someone else to call him.  So too we must be the ones who call on his behalf.

The question of Christ

At first it seems foolish:  why would Christ ask him what he wants?  Anyone would know that what a blind man wants is his sight.

But Christ wants us to know what we are asking for—so that we understand the important from the trivial.

In this instance, he asks so that more than just the blind man will see.

The incident ends with a curious fact.  Jesus tells the man to go his way.  Human gratitude and joy constrain Bartimaeus, however, and despite this command he follows the Lord.  Jesus evidently permits it;  his healing comes from his grace, which is provided at God's expense, not our own.  Bartimaeus can do no good work to merit his sight;  but he can express his gratitude and adoration of the one who healed him.  We hear nothing more of him than this:  he followed.  Let us do likewise.

____________________

Words Of Christ Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________