Believers should be persistent in their faith.

Introduction

Luke is one of the synoptic gospels, having much material in common with Mathew and Mark. Luke, as a doctor and a gentile, focuses more on the gentiles, and has collected a lot of information from eyewitnesses in order to provide a well-documented account of the life of Jesus Christ. First, Luke wanted to reaffirm theophilus faith as a gentile and a new convert in Christ Jesus, second, Luke shows that Jesus is fully God and fully Man moving among the people in compassion in order to free them from the countless things oppressing them. Those who have been suffering in the hands of the leading priests, disregarded, the outcast, the forgotten got to see and experience the love of Christ. And that leads me to my first point

Body

 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. 36 When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene* was going by. 38 So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

39 “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him. 

But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

God hears persistent faith.(vv 35-40)

Explication

Jesus and his disciples were approaching Jericho which was 15 miles from Jerusalem. The streets were filled with people because they were getting ready to journey to Jerusalem for passover. On the side of the road sits a blind man begging for money, hearing all the commotion around him as Jesus was passing by but the blind man was not disturbed at all because he understood that if this man were the messiah, his helpless life could be transformed for a better tomorrow.

It is good to be curious sometimes because many individuals have benefited from it like Bartimaeus understands that if he wants to have his sight back he must make better use of his hearing and that’s what he did by asking questions of those who have their eyes.

The blind man asked those around him what the commotion was about, when he was told that it was Jesus of Nazareth passing by, as he was so desperate to escape from his world of darkness and he shouted out that Jesus “son of David have mercy on me”.

The term son of David refers to Jesus born in the house of David who will rule as a king forever. There were many occasions where Jesus healed the people and He did not want his identity to be revealed not only because that would hinder his ministry to be effective and also the political implications involved as the word of God stated that the jews were under the leadership of the Roman, but in the case of Bartimaeus, it was different not only because Bartimaeus’ healing was his last miracle and his time was also near for crucifixion.

The crowd in front tried to make him quiet because they believed that the blind man did not deserve to have an encounter with the messiah, for his blindness could be a result of his parents’ sins according to the culture’s belief or they possibly did not want Jesus’ teachings to be interrupted. Jesus established that, when people are believed that any physical disabilities someone has can be a result of his parents’ sins, by saying that things like that happened to people so that the name of God could be glorified.

In the same way, the religious leaders were trying so hard to keep the people from believing in Jesus; even though they had seen all the miracles Jesus had performed they were blinded to His identity and refused to recognise Him as the Messiah while the blind man immediately knew that Jesus was the son of David. As Bartimaeus was dealing with the crowd’s opposition, that causes him to be even more determined in his persistent faith, and he also has a greater sense of self-worth than that he keeps calling out that “Jesus son of David have mercy on me”.

Bartimaeus was crying out for mercy by approaching Jesus the right way as he understood that he deserved nothing from the Lord except His mercy. As we all learned that mercy is God withholding punishment that we rightfully deserve because of our sins. Jesus hears the blind man and calls him to come over, the blind man immediately jumps up and goes to jesus.

Illustration

I remember when my wife was pregnant with one of my daughters, she went for a doctor’s visit as a regular altrosound check up in order to see how the baby was progressing in her belly. As we all know that there’s always a given time that the doctor expects the baby to fully complete or develop her body parts. But one of the baby’s kidneys were nowhere to be found and the doctors inquired of us to terminate the pregnancy because it might cause other complications for the mother and the baby would not live long.

In front of the doctors we stood firm and professed our faith in Jesus Christ by saying that the great Lord would definitely make a way where there was no way; and we kept the faith and continued to pray sincerely by bringing our problems before the great Lord. The lord heard our prayers and how many of you here can testify to that, some time in your life you were dealing with something that seemed impossible to handle then you prayed to the lord and you were certain that the lord heard your prayers. The lord also heard Hannah’s prayers when she was being mocking by others.

Application

Brothers and sisters, what can we learn about how we should approach God if we want God to hear us? We need to approach God through persistent faith in Jesus christ like the blind man Bartimaeus determined in his persistent faith, even in the face of opposition because our God is the God who says to keep on asking we shall receive to keep on knocking the door will be open to us and to keep on seeking we will find. Brothers and sisters, therefore we need to be persistent in our faith by following the method of Bartimaeus and the many ways our lord Jesus Christ has shown us in the bible. Our great lord not only hears our prayers, he responds to our prayers too.

God responds to persistent faith.(41-42)

Explication

In stating his desire to see, Bartimaeus was so confident that Jesus the messiah had the power to heal him. As the blind man came over to Jesus and Jesus asked him what do you want me to do for you? The blind man answered by saying Lord I want to see. Right here that’s the faith our Lord Jesus Christ requires in order for Him to move. Bartimaeus does not question Jesus like so many others did, he went straight up to the point because he believed that the messiah Jesus Christ could make him well.

Many have wondered, including myself, why Jesus asked this question or wasn’t it so obvious that Jesus already knew the life of Bartimaeus. Yes He knew the blind man life but Jesus asked this question because He not only wanted to make sure that Bartimaeus knew what he really wanted and Jesus also wanted to energize faith and cause it to be vocalized or to be spoken out. In other words, Jesus wants to let you know that it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek him, Hebrew 11 verse 6.

Then Jesus said to him receive your sight, your faith has healed you. When Jesus said that your faith has healed the man, he was not saying that the man’s faith possessed some power; The man had faith in the Messiah, and it was the Messiah’s power that had healed him.

Unlike the jewish and the religious leaders who claimed to have their sight but they could not see and were unable to recognize the Messiah because of their spiritual blindness. In the same way, if the nations also have faith in the Messiah, their faith will have healed them of their spiritual blindness.

Illustration

The gospel of Luke 8 recorded that Jesus has healed a woman in response to faith. That particular woman had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding and could find no cure. However, that woman touched the fringe of the lord’s garment and that bleeding stopped immediately. The bible recorded that woman did such an amazing thing in order to touch the Messiah’s garment by pressing against the crowds that surrounded Jesus because she believed that could be her last result to be healed after trying so many other ways and she didn’t want to miss that opportunity. The lord said that someone deliberately touched me and felt healing power go out from me. When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front Jesus and acknowledged that her touching the lord, then Jesus said to her daughter your faith has made you well, we learn again that the woman has not possessed some power but her persistent faith in the lord has made her well because of the lord’s power. How many of you can testify to that right now or identify yourself with that woman.

Application

Brothers and sisters, what can we learn about how we should approach God if we want the Lord to respond to our problems? We need to approach God through consistent prayer in a persistent way through faith. Oftentimes, we treat prayer like a game, we pray once or twice then expect things to turn around for us. If we truly want to receive from God we need to be persistent in our prayer through faith like Bartimaeus knew that persistence was at the heart of receiving from Jesus. Our lord not only hears, responds to persistent prayers through faith, but it, in return, brings glory to God.

God’s name is glorified as a result of persistent faith. ( v 43 )

Explication

Right after Bartimaeus receives his sight, he immediately became the follower of Christ,