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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends all around the world.
Today is April 1st. As this new year of 2020 began, there was great global hope of what this long anticipated, Olympic year would bring. Only a very few people, deep in a little known province in China, knew anything about a strange flu-like illness, that was beginning there.
Now, 100 days later, it’s probably fair to say, no one anywhere in our world, has ever seen anything like the “COVID-19”. This Coronavirus has changed how we live, the words we use, the global economy, global travel, how we nurture relationships and how we feel right now. Virtually no one is untouched by this, and its effects on our world will be long lasting.
Some friends of mine have developed a private GROUP Facebook page for those of us on this “Walking with Jesus” journey, so we can share our stories with each other, all over the world. Please join us, and tell us how things are where you live. Tell us what God is doing to bring hope where you live. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.
Two weeks from today we will have just come through Easter weekend. It appears this Easter will be far different from any Easter we’ve ever seen. Today, let’s continue our journey with Jesus toward His Easter, which is the most significant weekend in human history, and brings HOPE to our world today.
Luke 18:31 says “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again’. The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them…” (Luke 18:31-34)
You’ll remember Jesus had personally selected each of these 12 men to follow Him, be taught and trained by Him, and He would eventually send them out into the world to tell His story. By this time they’d had several months together. They’d heard Jesus speak God’s truth many times. They’d seen a wide array of miracles. They’d had several private conversations, just the 13 of them, but this one was radically, shockingly different.
These words Jesus spoke were very terrifying. There is no indication Jesus entertained any questions from them about the shocking announcements He had just made. It appears they picked up their things, and together, headed up the road, toward Jerusalem. But as we walk along with them can you hear the questions, the confusion maybe even the worry in the conversations between Andrew & Peter or James & John or Philip & Nathanael or Matthew & Judas? What Jesus had said seemed totally unthinkable. Probably as unthinkable as if someone had, 100 days ago, predicted the current COVID-19 situation in our world.
What did Jesus mean? How could all those terrible things possibly happen to One so popular, so celebrated everywhere He goes? This map helps us see where Jesus and the Disciples were walking, for Luke tells us they next arrived in Jericho on their way to Jerusalem.
Does the name “Jericho” bring any historical events to your mind? Yes, that’s right… it was the first city conquered as the Hebrews, who had left Egyptian slavery and wandered 40 years in the desert with Moses, finally crossed the Jordan river with Joshua, and entered the land God had promised to Abraham. This Jericho was a large, strong city, well protected by high walls in those days. But Joshua chapter 6 gives us the remarkable account of how those Jericho walls crumbled, as the people had walked around the city for six days, and then simply shouted, as God had instructed them to do!
In Jesus’ day as today, Jericho was a thriving city in the Jordan river valley, surrounded by date palm tree farms, thus called ‘the city of palms.” In Luke 18:35-43 Dr. Luke tells us a remarkable story about what happened as Jesus and His disciples entered Jericho. A blind man received his sight by the miraculous touch of Jesus. Mark tells us his name was Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). He was a beggar, as far as we know, thus he had no capacity of working and there was no social system to help him.
Day after day, all he could do was sit by the roadside in hopes some passers-by would drop a few pennies in his cup. Let’s sit down beside him for a while in his darkness, his loneliness, his despair. Close your eyes so you feel the darkness.
As you hear all the people walking by talking about life, ignoring you and Bartimaeus, what emotions do you feel welling up inside you? What questions would you like to ask Bartimaeus, who sits in this dark despair, everyday?
Then suddenly the sounds change, Bartimaeus noticed before we did, for his hearing is so much more acute than ours. Bartimaeus calls out to those passing by, asking what’s happening. “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by” someone says. And without hesitation Bartimaeus shouts, at the top of his voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Did his shout frighten you like it did me? “Do you know Him, Bartimaeus? No, but I’ve heard a lot about Him, and if I can get His attention, I think He might help me!”
Sometimes people can be so harsh, so rude, so inhumane. Dr.Luke tells us “Those who led the way rebuked Bartimaeus and told him to be quiet…” (Luke 18:39). That is part of our story in 2020 isn’t it?
This picture has been sent to me and is reported to be Dr. Li Wen Liang, the Chinese MD who first noticed COVID-19 in the hospital where he was working in China, and he tried to raise the alarm, but was first disregarded by both Chinese authorities and the world, and later arrested as a trouble maker. Dr. Li contracted the virus, treating his patients, and he died of COVID-19 on Feb. 7th. I have received word from a trusted friend that Dr. Li was a follower of Jesus!
Now on April 1, less than 60 days after Dr. Li’s death, and nearly 1 million people having tested positive for COVID-19, what do we think about the efforts made to silence him?
In our world over the past century there has been great efforts made to silence Jesus and His followers, or anyone who will tell the story of Jesus and especially the truth of Easter! But in these days of a global pandemic of fear, millions of people are desperate for hope and some are asking about Jesus and Easter!
For Bartimaeus, he will not be silenced. He cries out again “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” My friends, look closely at what Dr. Luke tells us happened next: “Jesus stopped and ordered that the man be brought to Him. When he came near, Jesus asked him ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ (Luke 18:39-41)
Let’s stand close enough to both watch and listen. What do you see and hear in the crowd now? A moment ago they were telling Bartimaeus to be quiet, he was unimportant, Jesus could not possibly be concerned about him, an insignificant, road-side, blind, beggar.
But now… every eye is on Bartimaeus as he has Jesus’ full attention! Perhaps Jesus’ hand is even on Bartimaeus shoulder or maybe holding his face, so Jesus can look deeply into those blind eyes. The question hangs in the air… and every person in the crowd is imagining how they would answer, if Jesus had asked them “What do you want Me to do for you?”
How would you answer that question today, April 1, 2020, my friends? Do you believe the risen Lord Jesus Christ has the power, and the full understanding of your life, enough to be able to both know what your greatest need is, and do the miracle needed in your life and mine today?
“Lord, I want to see”
5 words! Bartimaeus didn’t need to say anything more. It was his deepest longing. He’d thought about what it would be like…for years!
I wonder if Jesus looked around slowly, at the people in the crowd, with that penetrating look which says “I know what your deepest longing is”. Let Jesus look deeply into your eyes right now, my friends, and hear Him say it to you… “I know what your greatest desire and your deepest needs are.” Would you agree our greatest desire and our deepest needs are often not the same thing? Which would you rather Jesus meet in your life today… your greatest desire or your deepest need as He sees it?
Dr Luke was a physician. I’m sure he marveled at the reports he heard of miracles like this one. He writes: “Jesus said to Bartimaeus, ‘receive your sight; your faith has healed you.‘ Immediately Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God!” (Luke 18:42,43)
Do you notice my friends what Jesus said? “Receive your sight, your faith has healed you.”
Oh it was the blindness, reversing power of God unleashed through Jesus which restored 20/20 vision sight to this man, BUT it was the blind man’s desperate faith which moved Jesus to heal him, do we understand that?
Do you remember it was the same thing with the crippled man lowered through the roof to Jesus in Mark 2? And it was the same faith which enabled Peter to walk on the waves for a few steps in Matthew 14. So it calls us to both ask and answer the question for ourselves, each of us, all over the world today. What is the reality, the scope, the depth of your faith in Jesus today, in view of the issues which face you, where-ever you live in our ‘COVID-19’ world?
Does God understand your situation better than you do? Does He see both your greatest desire and your deepest need? Which would you prioritize for His powerful touch on your life, today? What is the depth of your faith and the urgency of your call to Jesus today?
My friends, Jesus is standing with you, right where you are. Hear Him ask you that penetrating question “What do you want Me to do for you?”
Now I suggest you talk with God right now. Open your heart and pour out to Him all that He already knows about, and only HE can help you with. Oh how much Jesus loves you my friends. Don’t wait, don’t hold back… He’s ready right now. He’s listening for your response to His question, be careful you don’t give a flippant or shallow answer. God is ready to help you with what HE knows is your deepest needs!
I have a song for you that I think may help you right now. . .here’s the YouTube link, of course skip the ads if there are any before the song begins:
Oh LORD JESUS, we praise you that you know our deepest need. . .
Click to read today’s chapter: Mark 10; Luke 18. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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