We pause our Exodus Wilderness Wanderings for a few days to join another wilderness journey. This one, during Jesus’ era. Let’s take that journey into faith, as we learn how to see anew … with a blind man. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat
Mark 10:45-46 AFV
[45] For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” [46] Then they came to Jericho. And as He and His disciples were going up from Jericho with a large multitude, Bartimeus the blind man, the son of Timeus, was sitting beside the road begging.
The Blind Man beside the Road
Y’shua must have been exhausted after dealing with the crowd, and the internal power struggle among the disciples. He had to redirect their squabble about who was the greatest among them. On the Jericho Road, His heart would have been full. He was about to face betrayal and eventually crucifixion, and there in His inner circle was *the one* who would literally sell Him out.
No doubt about it, Jesus would need to preserve the unity within His team prior to His death. He knew they didn’t understand the times nor the seasons. He was preparing them for _His crucifixion and resurrection_, but they missed the point. They were busy arguing about inheritance and status. For, in those days, place settings mattered. Being placed at someone’s right or left indicated one’s importance to one’s host. And the Sons of Thunder not only coveted then, they asked to inherit the most important spots in Heaven – at His right hand.
It immediately sparked anger among the others. Not necessarily about the crass request in response to Y’shua’s revelation about His pending betrayal and death, but at James and John’s audacity in seeking pride of place beside Jesus! Y’shua pointed them to the real qualification for greatness:
service and sacrifice, toward the many whom others would see as undeserving.
As He spoke, en route His final living miracle, a blind man sat on the side of the road.
Point to Ponder
What was so significant about that blind man being on that Jericho roadside? Could the man’s blindness have a deeper meaning?
Deeper Dive
The people Y’shua encountered in that journey, along with His own disciples’ eyes, were all fixed on the peripheral things: power, human relationships, what they forfeited to follow Him, and social visibility. In that moment, _they had failed to see_ what truly mattered to Jesus.
At this point in the story, although the blind man’s motive isn’t apparent, the man’s blindness seems to highlight the disciples’ spiritual blindness. It also spotlighted their failure to see how critical the moment was that they were sharing with Jesus on the Journey to Jerusalem. How different their actions might have been if they had seen the important picture!
We recall that in the Wilderness Wanderings of the House of Israel, they also failed to see God’s Godness, despite the many signs they were privy to. How many times must our Triune God have said,
‘_Really! That’s what you want? That is your greatest desire as my Chosen. I thought you desired something important_’.
For, the things that made them grumble paled in comparison to what YHWH had done for them time and time again.
On or life’s journeys, Y’shua invites us to also see Him for Who He truly is, and what He desires from us. In case we forgot, we remind ourselves that He is the Son of God. He is our Living Bread. He is our Sacrificed Lamb. He is our Redeemer. And today, He desires us to see that greatness in service and sacrifice, rather than gaining social visibility, is what truly matters.
If His glory was revealed through service and sacrifice, then as those who are Chosen by Y’shua to follow Him in Spirit and Truth, we also are called to be likewise. The question is, what are we so focused on pursuing that prevents us from truly seeing Y’shua Jesus?
Self-Check
How might we be of service to another in a manner that allows them to see Christ in us?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
