I hope that all is well with you! Thank you for participating with me in our “Summer in the Psalms” over the last eight weeks. What a joy it was to dive into this incredible book of scripture. As a review, the Psalms that were covered were 23, 80/85, 92/93, 61/62, 34, 51 and 16. We didn’t make it into the 100’s in the Psalms so maybe next summer :)! Psalm 34 is my personal favorite out of all the ones covered, but I love them all. Psalm 34:8 pretty much sums it up with “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” Amen! This summer we learned what it means to go to Him for refuge and to trust Him through all the days of our lives. Thanks be to God.

This fall I will be preaching on the theme of identity. I will be looking at “who does the world say we are, and who are we in Christ.” We will spend a lot of time comparing and contrasting and will shape our Sunday class around these topics. Please be praying. I feel the Lord may be putting 2 Corinthians on my heart to preach as the letter says so much about identity. 

This Sunday, we’ll cover Mark 10:46-52.  When I began at First Church I preached on the Book of Mark for about seven months. Now I want to revisit one of the passages, the healing of blind Bartimaeus. The last time I preached this text I covered it from the lens of blind Bartimaeus and the healing he received. This Sunday we’ll approach it more from the lens of the disciples – what they saw and heard and how it affected their faith.

Mark 10:46 begins with Jesus and the disciples coming into Jericho. Fun fact: Jericho might be oldest continuous settlement on earth….how is that for some trivial pursuit to stump your friends :)! The group is in transit on their way to Jerusalem when Bartimaeus shouts out to Jesus while he is sitting on the roadside begging.  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 46). 

People rebuked the man and told him to quiet down, but Bartimaeus was undaunted and shouted the same thing again. I love his persistence and unrelenting desire to get before Jesus. May that be said of our lives, that we will stop at nothing to be with the Lord! 

So Jesus stops and has a simple, yet profound response by stating, “call him.” There is so much to be learned here about “divine interruptions.” Serving the Lord is very often not very convenient. After all, we are busy people with things to do and places to be. Stopping to meet a need and ministering to people means putting our agenda aside – seeking to serve someone and love our neighbor as ourselves, big and daunting steps. But oh the ultimate joy when we do! For the disciples to witness their Lord’s willingness to stop what He was doing to minister to this man must have been huge and made them think about their own agendas.

Then they called to the blind man and said, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus (v. 50). I love those words of ‘cheer up!’ May joy come to us when we realize that the Lord is calling us. No greater joy. And remember that the Lord is primarily calling the man not to a cause, but rather to Himself. The first and primary call is always to Jesus Himself, not to a ministry. But as He calls us to Himself we are sent out. The man has been called to Jesus now and nothing will stop him from going there!

Then Jesus (the master question asker) asks the blind man, “what do you want me to do for you?” This question seems so obvious….the man needs his sight, so heal him! But I love how Jesus asks this because it invites the man into his own healing by answering the question. If Jesus asked you this question now; “what do you want me to do for you?– How would you respond? Something to pray about it!

After the man says “Rabbi, I want to see”  Jesus heals him and says, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Then the man follows Jesus on the road. May that be said of us in our desire to seek the Lord! As He calls us to Himself and His purposes we

follow Him with great joy,

serve those who He places before us and 

respond to His wondrous call.

Thanks be to God! See you Sunday!

Blessings,

Pastor Andrew