This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 1–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 10:46-52 Blind Bartimaeus
They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still, and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!” He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus on the way.
Jericho is approximately 23 miles from Jerusalem and known as the city of palms. While there were other villages on the way, Jericho was the only city of significance on the road to Jerusalem. Both the incidents with blind Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus the tax collector (see Luke 19) occurred in Jericho as Jesus was on His last journey to Jerusalem and the cross. This healing is essentially the final miracle (except for the high priest’s servant) that Jesus performed.
On that fateful day, Bartimaeus was sitting next to the road near the entrance to Jericho begging as usual. The text says that Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho. This indicates that Bartimaeus was at the entrance on the side of Jericho that led toward Jerusalem, which makes sense because that road would get the most traffic as people walked back and forth between the two important cities. As usual, a large crowd was surrounding Jesus, so the blind beggar would have heard the cacophony of feet pounding on the street and raised voices as they drew near. When he questioned a bystander as to the cause of all the commotion, he was told that it was Jesus of Nazareth. Bartimaeus realized that an epic opportunity was approaching if he could only reach out and grasp it.
Bartimaeus was obviously not a shy person, and it seems that he had previous knowledge of Jesus’ ability to heal. Maybe, he had dreamed of Jesus someday restoring his sight in the same way that so many other people had received healing from Jesus. Realizing that this might be his only chance, Bartimaeus began calling out for Jesus to heal Him. Little did he realize that this would truly be the last chance for anyone to be healed because Jesus would soon be dead and then return to heaven. However, even without this knowledge, Bartimaeus knew that he might never have another opportunity to see again, so he called out over and over again in order to gain Jesus’ attention. He was so loud that people in the crowd tried to hush him. Possibly, they thought that he was being disrespectful, or maybe his voice just irritated them.
Picture Jesus looking over the crowd as He hears the disturbance. He spots the shouting beggar and stops walking. Jesus directs one of His disciples to go fetch Bartimaeus . As the disciple starts to push through the crowd, the message is passed from person to person that Jesus is going to do a healing. That message of hope made its way to someone nearby, and Bartimaeus was informed that Jesus was asking for him. The blind beggar was not taking any chances that Jesus would change His mind. Bartimaeus immediately threw off the garment that he had been using to cover himself and eagerly rose up as fast as he could. Then one of the disciples or someone in the crowd guided him to Jesus. As Bartimaeus and his guide quickly walked over to Jesus, the crowd parted providing a clear path to the Healer.
It may seem silly that Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted. It was obvious, but this is God’s way. Even today, God waits until we ask. He tells us to bring our requests to Him in prayer. Just as Bartimaeus persisted when his first call for help was not answered immediately, we need to continue to bring our requests to God in our prayers. Bartimaeus persisted because of his total faith that Jesus could heal him. Unfortunately, our faith often falters, and then we do not follow Bartimaeus’ example. Frequently, we give up too quickly instead of continuing to make our requests known to God. We need to be more persistent, especially when we know that we are asking for something that God wants to give us. Do not let the blessings of God pass you by. Instead, reach out and grasp them and follow where they lead.
The text says that Bartimaeus followed Jesus after he was healed. He was probably among those who waved palm branches and shouted hosannas at the triumphal entry. Jesus fulfilled Bartimaeus’ request, but Jesus did more than that. He gave Bartimaeus a new life and purpose. Bartimaeus wanted sight, which he received, but he also received a call to follow Jesus. He eagerly answered that call. We, too, have received a calling and a purpose in this life. It is to follow our Savior wherever He goes. Like Bartimaeus, we need to joyfully stick close to our Healer, wave our palm branches, and boldly proclaim to everyone that the Savior of the world is approaching to claim His kingdom.
DAY 2–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 11:1-6 The Lord Has Need
When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.” They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him. Some of those who stood there asked them, “What are you doing, untying the young donkey?” They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.
Jesus’ life seems to have been a three-part mission. The first 30 years were to demonstrate to the world that He would not sin either as an unknowing child or as an aware adult. In this part of the mission, He only needed to be Himself. There were no signs that He had to fulfill for other people. He simply lived a normal life as a carpenter in a normal sinful human town. He knew how long this part of the mission would last because He had studied the prophecies of Daniel.
The second phase of His mission involved spending three and a half years revealing the character of the Father to people who were blind to the Father’s love and care. To accomplish this portion of the mission, Jesus received a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This second phase required that He be totally reconnected with His Father’s power in order to reveal God to humanity. Jesus’ ministry before the final week in the Jerusalem area was full of signs and miracles. He spent this time period ministering to people and teaching them about the kingdom of heaven and most of all, who the Father really was.
Then came the cross. Jesus began the final part of His mission on earth during the week before the cross. This was the week where He tied up the loose ends on earth before taking our deaths upon Himself. As Paul puts it, He became sin for us. The Bible gave lots of prophecies to guide Jesus through this final fateful week. One of those prophecies was that He would enter Jerusalem riding on an unbroken donkey. Why? This was the Jewish sign of a king entering the city. Jesus had to enter the city this last time as Israel’s king. He was forcing a confrontation with the Jewish authorities, but He was also telling the people clearly who He was. At the beginning of His ministry, He had kept people guessing about whether He was claiming to be the Messiah or not, but here, He was clearly stating that He was Israel’s King. Because of this act, there would be no confusion in any Jew’s mind as to whether Jesus claimed to be the Messiah or not. The triumphal entry was a pageant that Jesus was required to perform in order to begin the whole series of incidents that would lead to His death.
The countdown had started, and Jesus had to time His actions accordingly. Each event had been carefully planned and coordinated to bring the desired result. Either the process of obtaining the animals had been miraculously revealed to Him, or He had made previous arrangements for the colt. Whether through God’s providence or human planning, the donkey was available and waiting exactly at the time and in the place where Jesus had told His disciples to look.
The disciples may have been confused by Jesus’ instructions for obtaining the donkey and their lack of knowledge about the situation they were involved in, but they still obeyed their Master to the letter. In the same way, we are often in the dark about the direction that our lives take. Our circumstances often seem confusing and make no sense to us, but like the disciples we must obey God’s instructions in every situation. Someday, we will be able to look back on our lives and clearly see God’s leading, but until then, we must let His word guide us as we stumble along with partial understanding and limited knowledge. We cannot trust our own plans to be successful, but we can be assured that God’s instructions will lead us to where we should be with perfect timing.
DAY 3–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 11:7-11 Hosanna!
They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road. Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Crowds of people had been following Jesus since before Jericho. They had sensed that something important was about to happen. They had hoped that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to be crowned king, overthrow the Roman rulers, and make Jerusalem the center of an earthly kingdom again. Then, someone overheard Jesus’ instructions about the donkey, and word rapidly spread through the crowd. People began to think about what part that they could play in ushering in Israel’s new golden age and crowning Jesus King of the Jews. Some remembered that they needed to wave branches, so they rushed out into the groves where the palm dates were growing to fetch some. A king needs a royal path so when they saw Jesus getting on the colt, the people laid down anything they could think of to make a road fit for their king. Some put their robes on the path while others placed the leafy branches down so that the donkey was not walking on an ordinary dusty trail. It may be difficult for modern readers of the Bible to understand why anyone would put their cloaks on the dirt to be stepped on (and maybe pooped on) by a donkey. It is helpful to remember that this kind of behavior happens frequently when famous people are involved. Many modern individuals have demanded that famous singers and actors write their autographs on items of clothing thereby ruining the apparel. Thinking about the motivation of these eager fans, we can better understand what the crowd surrounding Jesus was doing. Imagine the bragging rights you would have if you could claim that the King of the Jews’ colt had walked over your cloak on the day that He was crowned.
There was no saddle for the colt, and the disciples did not want their soon-to-be King’s robes (or bare legs) to be soiled, so they took their own robes off and put them on the back of the colt for Jesus to ride on. As the disciples performed this action, their hearts were full of excitement. They forgot all about the gloomy predictions of death that Jesus had previously given them. As they saw the crowd cheering for their Master and watched the prophecy of the triumphant Messiah-King being fulfilled, their excitement rose to new heights. They must have been looking at each other and grinning from ear to ear as they began walking beside Jesus and the colt through the crowd and up the path to Jerusalem. In their ears rang the words, “Hosanna” and “How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” and most of all, “How blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!” With so many in the crowd shouting support for Jesus, the disciples felt assured that more people would join them in the city itself. They were on their way to a fight with Rome that would end in victory because they had the miracle-performing king on their side. They envisioned a future full of the re-enactments of past miracles where angels had destroyed the enemies of Judah.
Jesus went all the way through Jerusalem and into the temple . . . and did nothing else. There was no crowning ceremony. He did not fight a battle. He did not challenge the Jewish or Roman leaders. He simply looked around. Jesus was a disappointment to the disciples that day. Luke says that on the way into Jerusalem, Jesus was crying as the others were shouting with joy. “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it” (Luke 19:41). Then, when He had ridden into the city, rather than forcing some kind of confrontation, Jesus silently entered the temple, examined everything, and quietly left Jerusalem.
The noisy crowd became more hushed as they drew near to the temple. Since childhood, they had been taught to reverence this holy place. Jesus dismounted from the colt and walked toward the entrance. The crowd watched in silent confusion as Jesus went from place to place in the temple looking around at the worshippers and the money lenders and animals and treasury. During this inspection, the people waited tensely to see what Jesus would do next to establish His kingdom. However, as time passed, the multitude who had ushered in the new king began to calm down. As their excitement ebbed, they began to feel sweaty and tired and hot and hungry. They realized that it was getting late, and they needed to find a place to stay for the night. Maybe, they became impatient and started grumbling and asking when Jesus was going to do something, yet they stayed on in hope. Then, Jesus simply exited the temple and began walking with His disciples trailing behind in confusion toward the city gate leaving Jerusalem behind and heading for the suburb of Bethany. As the people realized that Jesus was leaving the city without accomplishing anything, they stopped following Him and began muttering about their disappointment. They began to question whether Jesus was really the Messiah. As they spread throughout the city looking for food and lodging, they discussed the events of the day. Many of them must have concluded that they had been fooled and began rejecting the false messiah they had so eagerly embraced earlier in the day. Did their disappointment lead them to join the mob who would shout for Jesus’ crucifixion in just a few days?
Many times, we have false expectations of God, and when our expectations meet disappointment, we blame God rather than re-examining our own wrongheadedness. Some people have turned on God because He did not act according to their false beliefs when trials came their way. For this reason, it is important to read the scriptures and try to understand what is truly said about God rather than looking at the Bible through our own worldly desires. We should always question if our ideas come from heaven or from our own culture. When we become disappointed, we need to re-examine our faulty expectations rather than simply suffering through our circumstances with fading faith. Sometimes, we may never know the cause of our problems until heaven. At times, we will have to stoically accept our difficulties simply because we do not know enough to understand, but other times we will need to discard our wrong assumptions about God and the kingdom of heaven. In any of these cases, we can be assured that our problem is not because of God’s actions. We can trust God to always act out of love and justice.