Daily Devotions
A blind man, Bartimaeus … was sitting by the roadside begging. Mark 10:46
Bartimaeus, sitting by the roadside near Jericho, was both miserable and blessed – miserable because he was blind, lonely, and forced to beg, but supremely blessed to have Jesus, the Son of David, the promised Messiah and Savior, come his way to give him sight.
There is hardly a person today who in one way or another doesn’t find himself or herself in a situation of distress. If it isn’t blindness that handicaps him or her, it is something else: lack of education, poverty, failing health, sickness in the family, or the loneliness that usually accompanies misfortune. But such persons are also greatly blest to have Jesus, the Helper and Healer, come their way.
The Lord comes our way through the Word and the sacraments. Through these means He conveys all the blessings He gained for us on the cross: remission of sins, peace with God, a purpose for living, the promise of eternal life. He comes our way whenever the Gospel is applied to us through brotherly consolation and the pronouncement of forgiveness.
The Savior comes our way in the person of a friend, relative, neighbor, or fellow Christian in whose heart the love of God is working. Through such a representative He imparts many gifts of healing, including new perspectives, a clearer vision, eyes of the mind that now can see.
We are blest for our own good and to be a blessing to others. Jesus has brethren like Bartimaeus among us today. We find them in homes beset by hunger and other needs, in hospitals, in prisons, and in many other places. He has ascended into heaven and will not go physically in person to help them. But He has you and me as His delegates. Through us He still comes to the needy.
PRAYER: O Lord, use me as your delegate to bring hope and cheer to those in distress. Amen.
(Devotions from “With Jesus Every Day” copyright 1997, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)