Luke 18:35-43 The Blind Beggar

Format for Your Devotions

Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.

Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.

Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.

Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.

Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?

Step 5: Apply this to your own life.

Step 6: Prayer

My Example Devotion: October 24, 2018 Luke 18:35-43

Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front 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 commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

(Understanding the Text) Jesus was on His final trip to Jerusalem.  Jericho was the last city before He reached His destination of Jerusalem.  Edersheim calls Jericho the “city of Palms” and says that it is about six hours from Jerusalem.  “Josephus describes it as the richest part of the country, and calls it a little Paradise. Antony had bestowed the revenues of its balsam-plantations as an Imperial gift upon Cleopatra, who in turn sold them to Herod. Here grew palm-trees of various kinds, sycamores, the cypress-flower, the myro-balsamum, which yielded precious oil, but especially the balsam-plant.”

Before entering the city Jesus had taken His twelve disciples aside and privately tried to warn them about the events that would happen once they reached Jerusalem, but they refused to listen.  Now, they are traveling through the city, and a crowd is following them.  Why?  I think that the crowd believes that Jesus is headed to Jerusalem to be crowned king.  They are right, but their understanding of the event is flawed.

The journey from here would be all uphill until they reached Jerusalem on the summit.

Luke places this event as Jesus entered Jericho.  Matthew and Mark place it as He exited.  Matthew tells us that there were actually two blind men sitting together and begging and shouting to be healed.  Mark tells us the name of the beggar, Bartimaeus.  From these multiple sources, I can get a more complete picture.  Bartimaeus must have been the more vocal and an important member of the Way after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  I picture the two sitting together talking with each other and begging.  They break off speaking as they hear the noisy crowd approaching.  Bartimaeus starts shouting questions hoping to get an answer if he shouts loud enough.  Finally, he catches someone’s attention and is told that Jesus of Nazareth is approaching.  Bartimaeus knows who this is and has long dreamed of going to Jesus for healing.  Now, Jesus is coming to him.  He will not miss this chance.  He has known what it is to see clearly, and he longs to leave the darkness of blindness for the light of sight.  At the top of his lungs, he begins to yell out for Jesus to come and heal him.  His companion hears his shouts and joins in.  Jesus sends some disciples who lead the two over to where Jesus is.  The blind man falls silent as he is led through the darkness, maybe brushing up against numerous people in the crowd until he reaches Jesus.  He hears Jesus ask what he wants.  Here is the chance he has dreamed of.  With complete trust in Jesus’ ability to do so, he asks for sight.  Jesus rewards that trust by healing him and his companion.  Bartimaeus, ever vocal, knows who to thank and begins praising God for his healing.  He joins the crowd following Jesus to Jerusalem.

Why is Matthew the only one to mention the second blind man?  I think Matthew as a tax collector wanted to be numerically accurate.  I think that Bartimaeus was a leader in the church and so his story was well-known.  Either the other blind person never followed Jesus, or he was not counted as significant for some reason.  Maybe, he was shy; maybe he was young;  maybe he was a she and so wasn’t considered important.  I lean towards the shyness angle.

This seems to be the last miracle before the triumphal entry  to Jerusalem.  If so, it was the last memory the disciples had of “normal” times with Jesus.  From here on out everything would be transformed-first to the fulfillments of their dreams and then to a nightmare.  In many ways, Jericho was the end of the ministry with Jesus that they had lived for 3 1/2 years.

(Application / Revelation of God) My application for myself is that God always rewards faith and cannot work with me without it.  I must trust God to complete the healing of my life  that He has begun.  I am too doubtful and try to heal myself or just endure rather than shouting to Jesus that I need His attention.  As soon as I know, I should be shouting to Jesus to heal me.  Unfortunately, I wait until I have suffered for a while before trusting God to take care of my problems.

(Prayer) I want You to heal me in all ways. I have many scars and hurts and open wounds. I worry about being in pain again from new hurts. Please take the old hurts away and give me the ability to trust You. Help me to face the possibility of new hurts with courage like You did. Give me a giving heart that does not close even when there is pain.