46 They came to Jericho, and as Jesus was leaving with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!”
48 Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man. “Cheer up!” they said. “Get up, he is calling you.”
50 So he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
“Teacher,” the blind man answered, “I want to see again.”
52 “Go,” Jesus told him, “your faith has made you well.”
At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.
Read Mark 10:46-52 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
Have you ever told someone to do something, and instead they do the opposite?
Have you ever been that person – the one to do the opposite of what you were told?
In our passage for this post, we find an example of this type of disobedience displayed, but in this case, would we blame the disobedient person?
In this passage, Jesus heals Bartimaeus, a formerly blind beggar who lived in or near Jericho. Following the healing, Jesus says, “Go, your faith has made you well.” (v. 52a) However instead of going away, Bartimaeus chooses to “go” follow Jesus: “At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.” (v. 52b)
Such disobedience: Bartimaeus chooses to follow the person who healed him.
If you are like me, I am not surprised at all by this reaction – even if it is counter to what Jesus said. When God does a miracle in our lives, following Him is a perfectly acceptable response.
However, is there something deeper in Jesus’ command to “Go”?
What if when Jesus said “Go”, the idea He was saying was “Be free [from your disability]”? In this angle, Bartimaeus was freed to see instantly, and this freedom allowed Him to choose whether to follow the One who freed Him, or choose to share what Jesus did with those in his community.
We could understand this also in Jesus’ similar command to, “Go, and sin no more.” We could angle this to say “Be free, and choose to never go back.” This then wouldn’t be a command to never sin ever again, but a challenge to not repeat the same mistakes we’ve made, to learn and grow from our mistakes, and to redirect our life towards God’s ideal for us.
In our own lives, when Jesus sets us free, will we thank Him and go our own way, or will we choose to follow Him—the One who set us free?
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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