Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word blind.
Reading
Mark 10:46-52—Blind Bartimaeus
Keys for kids
- Bartimaeus called out for Jesus to have mercy on him.
- Jesus showed compassion and invited him to come to him.
- Bartimaeus began following Jesus after Jesus healed him.
Questions
- What did Jesus ask Bartimaeus?
- What did He then do for him?
- What spiritual lessons are here for us to learn?
Notes
After telling His disciples that He came to serve, Jesus demonstrates it for a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. How ironic that the question Jesus asks Bartimaeus is the exact question he asked James and John. Yet the sense is all different.
For James and John we might rephrase the question as what in your self-centered, serve me, mentality do you want me to do for you? But for Bartimaeus, it is, How, in your helpless, humble, dependence do you want me to show you mercy? And the wonder of it all! Hughes invites us to imagine how it was for Bartimaeus. Blind at the beginning of Christ’s sentence, he was seeing at the end of it! And the thing he saw first was the face of Jesus.
Are we alert to the desperate cries of the spiritually blind around us? Are we listening to some indication they are seeking God’s mercy? Are we urging them to ask Jesus to take away their blindness and their sin? Are we telling them, “Get up! Take courage! The Savior is calling you.”?
Hughes notes that Jesus was passing through Jericho, never to come that way again. If Bartimaeus had not responded, he would never have had another chance. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by some of those around us today.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 31b, 119s
Prayer
- Pray that you will lead blind sinners to Jesus, with God’s help.
- Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.