Daily Devotional for Thursday 20th June
Then they came to Jericho
What do you remember about Jericho? That the walls fell down? Apparently one of the oldest settlements known to history, this is where the conquest of the Holy Land began under Joshua. And it was the place the Good Samaritan was heading to (or maybe from) when he stopped to help someone who’d been attacked. And it was the place a tax collector hid in a tree so as to see Jesus (Zaccheus - Luke 19). And it was the place a man called Bartimaeus lived. Thinking about it, was Zaccheus around when Bartimaeus got healed? Would that explain why he (presumably a wealthy and powerful man) was so interested in this wandering preacher?
Well, whatever the truth of that situation, we know for certain that Bartimaeus lacked something. He couldn’t see. But unlike Jesus’ words to the rich man in Monday’s reading, Jesus doesn’t tell him: “One thing you lack”. Why – was this poor beggar more ‘perfect’ than the rich and righteous man who had gone away “sad”?
Perhaps it’s that magic quality we mentioned yesterday which makes the difference: Humility. He knows he cannot save himself and he simply calls for Jesus to “have mercy on me”. Remember the rich man asked “What must I do to inherit eternal life”
John Newton, a former slave-trader turned vicar and hymn writer, penned in the late 1700s the most famous hymn of all time when he wrote about “Amazing Grace”.
His conversion from sinner to saint was like a blind man gaining his sight. He may have had Bartimaeus in mind – someone calling out “have mercy on me”.
Newton also wrote the hymn I am quoting from this week (“How sweet the name of Jesus sounds”) and I’ll leave you with some more of those sublime words:
Jesus, my Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,
My Prophet, Priest and King;
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.
