IBS Application for Mark 10:47-52

“And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart. Get up; He is calling you.’...”

It seems oddly well-timed that my current IBS assignment has to do with a matter of faith that I’ve recently determined to be something I have to take to heart if I am to grow in my walk with Christ. But I don’t question God’s timing when it’s this clear. Anyway, in this passage we see a blind man, Bartimaeus, calling out to Jesus amongst a large crowd. He cries out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” even though he’s unlikely to be heard amidst the roar of the crowd. The people who do hear him tell him to be quiet. I can imagine them becoming frustrated with him, because they’re all trying to get a taste of the blessings that Jesus has to offer, but because this blind beggar is shouting over them. “Be quiet,” I can hear them say. “I’m trying to hear what Jesus is saying!” “Don’t disturb the teacher!” But he doesn’t stop. He gets louder and shouts after Jesus even more. Like we discussed yesterday, we can’t really know whether or not Jesus was using His omniscience in this moment or not to tell whether or not this man was there or if He simply finally heard the man’s cries... or if he had heard the man the first time and wanted to see how far this man would go to get His attention and receive mercy. A test of his faith, if you will.

Whichever way you want to interpret the passage it doesn’t really matter; the outcome is still the same. Jesus decides to call the man up to Him to hear His request. The man asks that his sight would be restored, and Jesus gives him his sight back. What strikes me about this is Bartimaeus’ persistence. Even when he is told to stop, he doesn’t give up. He does what he is able to do, and calls out even louder and more often until Jesus answers and rewards his faithfulness.

“Pray without ceasing” is something we’re told to do in Scripture. But why? If we think about it, the things that are important to us are typically things that we spend a lot of time with. Use of time is a good measure of how important something is to us. I believe that with this in mind we can make the leap to say that how much time we spend in prayer says a lot about how much we care about God and the things we pray about. While works do not save, they are a good measure of how faithful you are. The time you spend in prayer tells God how much you care about that which you pray for.

While this blind man wasn’t praying in the traditional sense, he sought to speak with Jesus so that his ailment may be healed. He called out to Jesus over and over, and I think Jesus answered because this man demonstrated great faith through his persistence.

My application for this study is something more of an addition to the applications that I’ve already come up with: That I would take this idea of praying without ceasing to heart and pray more often that God would take away my shame, guilt, fear, and sin and heal the still sore wounds of my past, as well as seek out my strength in Him alone until I am wholly reliant on Him. For the sake of some structure for the next week, I’ll dedicate any down time I have to praying for all this that isn’t spent doing homework, taking part in On The Mount, taking part in fellowship or doing a devotion, and set aside some time each day, like at the start of fellowship, to pray for these issues and the people I’ve promised to pray for.