An Example of Discipleship

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). These were the crying words Jesus heard said from a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

We have much in common with Bartimaeus. For Bartimaeus, he was begging to people he could not actually see. Yet, oddly enough, he is an example of a model disciple. Despite being blind, he recognizes Jesus. He “sees” Jesus through his spiritual eyes. He “sees” Jesus through his faith.

We, too, “see” Jesus through our faith in Him. Like Bartimaeus, we are also beggars. Now, we may not be as noticeably poor as Bartimaeus in fear of if we will eat that day, but we are poor: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We all live in poverty in our own sin, since we are all born sinful.

Like Bartimaeus, we also call on Jesus and trust in His power to deliver us from our poverty of sin. Apart from Jesus, we are doomed to suffer the depravity of our sin, which is eternal damnation. But the Triune God — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — is a loving God. Due to God’s love for us, Jesus became a beggar for us, as He took upon Himself our human flesh and suffered and died for our sins, so we could be saved. Each time we say the Kyrie (“Lord, have mercy!”) and call upon Him in prayer, we call on Christ as our Savior to save us from sin, eternal death, and Satan. And each time, we call upon our Lord, Jesus says to us: “Go your way; your faith has made you well” (Mark 10:52).

Each time we call upon the Lord, Jesus compassionately responds to us — just as He healed Bartimaeus’ sight — as He takes upon Himself the depravity of our sins and replaces it with His righteousness. 

This interaction between Jesus and Bartimaeus had a profound effect upon Martin Luther. It is recorded that Luther’s last words were “We are beggars. This is true.”

We are all beggars as we cling to Jesus for all of our needs of body and soul.

In Christ,

Pastor Adelsen