Mark 10:52

OPENED EYES

‘Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.’

Mark 10:52

Bartimæus sat by the wayside, and he made no step of advance towards the Holy City; but when he had obtained mercy and the gift for which he asked he followed Christ, and that brought him to Jerusalem. So now many souls in poverty and blindness halt on the way, far from the heavenly Jerusalem.

I. The Incarnation has brought the Son of God into touch with human life and human needs, that souls, blind and poor, may find through Him light and grace, sight and wealth. As Bartimæus prayed with faith and penitence, so must we, ‘Lord, that I may receive my sight.’

II. Self-knowledge is the source of penitence. It is for us to know our need, and then, praying with faith and true self-knowledge, we obtain what we ask.

III. Christ’s light is given to us that we may see Him and follow Him daily. The early Christians spoke of the Christian life as the way, and walking in it we have fellowship with the Lord.

IV. Spiritual qualities, e.g. faith and prayer, self-knowledge and personal devotion—are necessary for the lives of our souls.

V. As we follow Christ seek each day a duty to be done, a war to be waged, a cross to be borne, and a grace to be made ours.

Rev. John Wakeford.

Illustration

‘Thus we come to follow Jesus in the way; and that way is the way of holiness, the narrow way which leads to life everlasting, the upward way to the Heavenly Jerusalem. That, too, is a path which takes us away from self, and from self-pleasing, and from many pleasures which the world calls innocent. It is not always a smooth way; it climbs up the Hill Difficulty, and anon winds down into the Valley of Humiliation; it is a road where there are many thorns to pierce, and where there are bitter gall and sharp vinegar of self-denial; it is a way which is often wet with tears; it passes through a garden of Gethsemane, a place of agonised prayer; it leads to a cross, a lifelong cross sometimes; it carries us to a grave, but, thanks be to God, to a grave from which the stone is rolled away, and which is bright with the light of a glorious resurrection. And withal it is a way of pleasantness, and a path of peace—of peace such as the world cannot give, and it is a way which ends in heaven.’