Thoughts for the Day

As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ Then he shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and ordered the man 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 see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

All three of the Synoptic Gospels have the story of the healing of a blind man at Jericho and Mark gives his name as Bartimaeus (Mark 10.46-52). We recently looked at the story of Zacchaeus the tax-collector also in Jericho, but it's likely the healing of the blind man was at a different time, not on Jesus' last journey to Jerusalem.

The healing of Bartimaeus brings us to the thorny question of "What is faith?" It's not something we think about all too often, probably, but let's look at it now. Firstly, faith has two different aspects. It requires us to believe that something is true, and then if we believe it, it requires us to put our trust in that something. These are two separate steps. One way of explaining this is to think of a narrow rope bridge strung across a small valley. We can look at it and know what it's for, it's a pathway across a chasm. Trust is actually walking across the rather flimsy rope bridge.

Similarly we may read the stories about Jesus, and understand what it says about him. We may believe that Jesus died on a cross to pay for our sins and was resurrected for our salvation. But this belief is not enough. It's like seeing the bridge and watching people walk over it! We still need the trust bit - we need to step on the bridge! In other words as Christians we need to put our belief into action and fully trust in Jesus four our salvation. This starts with saying sorry for our sin, and slowly becoming transformed into the kind of person God wants us to be.

Lord Jesus Christ
give us true faith:
to know You,
to believe in You,
and to have real trust in You,
so that we may confess our sin,
change our life,
and become the person
You wish us to be,
Amen.