{"id":5213,"date":"2014-04-07T00:46:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T07:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=5213"},"modified":"2014-04-07T00:46:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T07:46:40","slug":"transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2014\/04\/07\/transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus and his disciples went to Jericho. And as they were leaving, they were followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. When he heard that it was Jesus from Nazareth, he shouted, \u201cJesus, Son of David, have pity on me!\u201d Many people told the man to stop, but he shouted even louder, \u201cSon of David, have pity on me!\u201d <\/p>\n

\tJesus stopped and said, \u201cCall him over!\u201d <\/p>\n

\tThey called out to the blind man and said, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid! Come on! He is calling for you.\u201d The man threw off his coat as he jumped up and ran to Jesus. <\/p>\n

\tJesus asked, \u201cWhat do you want me to do for you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\tThe blind man answered, \u201cMaster, I want to see!\u201d <\/p>\n

\tJesus told him, \u201cYou may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tRight away the man could see, and he went down the road with Jesus. (Mark 10:46-52)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tIt\u2019s easier to heal a blind man than to transform a heart. But Jesus did both. Jericho served as a gateway to Jerusalem. On its outskirts, was a blind man known as Bartimaeus. When he learned that Jesus was coming by, he started doing what he always did with everyone who came by: he lifted his voice and begged, mouthing the words that such a beggar would always mouth: \u201chave pity on me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tBy addressing Jesus as \u201cson of David,\u201d the blind man was acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah and the rightful king of Israel. When Jesus asked the beggar what he wanted, Jesus already knew what it was. But he wanted him to say out loud what was hidden in his heart.<\/p>\n

\tBartimeaus knew that Jesus could give him something more than mere coins. So he asked Jesus for what he knew he could spare. What was Bartimeaus\u2019 reaction to gaining his sight? He \u201cwent down the road\u201d with Jesus. The Greek word implies more than simply walking a ways with Jesus. The word is used of those who become disciples. It meant that from that moment on, Bartimaeus became one of Jesus\u2019 followers. Bartimaeus was with Jesus for the rest of his life. So today, we who claim Jesus as our Savior go \u201cdown the road\u201d with him. We are rightfully amazed when a blind man can see. But we should be even more amazed when a man decides to become a follower of Jesus.<\/p>\n

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Jesus and his disciples went to Jericho. And as they were leaving, they were followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. When he heard that it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5216,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions\/5216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}