Bartimaeus Refuses to be Silent

In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of a blind man named Bartimaeus. Starting in verse 46 and going until the end of the chapter, this happening has several truths that can and should be extracted for our benefit and spiritual growth. To give some background Jesus is in the city of Jericho ministering to the people. A large crowd had gathered around Him, which was very a-typical for Jesus' ministry. As Jesus, His disciples, and the crowd were all leaving the city they passed a blind man known as Bartimaeus. Having been out begging all day along the roadside, Bartimaeus might have been relieved to hear a large crowd wondering past as the chances of someone having mercy on him, giving him some money, just went up. Imagine his surprise, his bewilderment, to hear that the crowd followed the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, The Healer! All the stories of Jesus' great works must have flooded into his consciousness at that moment, filling him with courage, excitement, and faith, because he immediately started shouting "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

The 1st Truth: The first idea that sticks out to me is this: we can't be afraid to make a commotion when we are in need of God's healing touch. I have heard it said that Jesus heals who He wants, when He wants, that we must sit there along the road in our misery and frailty, like Bartimaeus, and wait for Jesus to pass by. When He does eventually pass by, He will heal us if He wants to and there isn't much we can do to change that. If this were the case I believe the story of Bartimaeus would have been very different. But the way it is written authoritatively suggests that Jesus had already passed by, fully capable of healing Bartimaeus, but it wasn't until he made a commotion, shouting after Jesus, that Jesus stopped and called for Bartimaeus to come to Him. The very fact that Jesus had the blind beggar come to Him, rather than the other way around, throws into the question the belief that Jesus does it all, and we just have to sit there.

The 2nd Truth: He Refused to be denied. "Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more." Mark 10:49. Bartimaeus' faith, I believe, was made clearly evident here. He had faith that Jesus could and would heal him, if he could only get His attention. So he shouted after Jesus, the crowd tried to silence him, tried to stop him from seeking his healing. But his source of faith wasn't found in the good graces of those around him. If it was he would have apologized for being "disruptive" or "too radical" and sat back down. His source was Christ Jesus, and the healing that he knew was there, that's why he kept shouting all the more. How many of us have listened to the crowd, only to have Jesus pass us by?

The 3rd Truth: Your Faith has Healed you. "'What do you want me to do for you?' Jesus asked him. The blind man said, 'Rabbi, I want to see.' 'Go' Jesus said, 'Your faith has healed you.' Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road." Mark 10:51-52. Its absolutely incredible to me, when one studies the miracles of Jesus, how often He says "By your faith you have been healed." He makes it abundantly clear, He can only give to what our faith will allow. He is not limited, God is truly infinite. We, on the other hand, are finite and truly limited on our own. Apart from God we can do no thing. With God "Everything is possible for him who believes" Mark 9:23. When it comes to physical healing, Jesus works within the confines of our own faith in Him. He doesn't force His power upon us, instead He freely apportions it to those who are able to receive it.

If We Truly Live to Love Christ, Our Love Will Show the World Why We Live.
-Jared Carlson

Daily Bread

This story in the 7th chapter of the book of Mark about the Syrophoenician woman is fascinating in many ways. The woman is a gentile and comes to Jesus to beg him to heal or deliver her daughter from demonic oppression. What is Jesus' response to such a plea for help? He likens her to a dog. "it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." Imagine, you humbly approach Jesus the Christ and ask for a miracle, for mercy, and He turns you away. But was He truly turning this woman away, or testing her faith?
I believe this story makes it quite obvious that Jesus was testing the faith of this non-Jew. Seeing if she had the faith in Him to continue to seek deliverance in the face of all odds, to refuse to be denied. Thankfully, this woman did have faith as her response shows: "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Jesus then told her "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." And verse 30 shows us that she went home and indeed found her daughter just as Jesus had said.

There are several nuances that reside within this story that are easy to skip over if we don't read carefully. First, it is incredible that Jesus likens healing and demonic deliverance to bread. Bread, today and back then, was a staple in ones diet. You ate a lot of bread just like we do today. It was common, not extravagant. Was Jesus therefore saying that these miraculous works are supposed to be as common as our daily intake of bread? Why Not? If they're supposed to be a rare random phenomena for a select few He could have easily likened miracles to another food group. Instead, He chose bread. This is perfectly inline with how common His miraculous works were. As long as there was faith in those asking, He gave freely.

The second nuance that sticks out is this principle: Healing may tarry, but if we continue to believe for it, if we refuse to be denied, it will come. This gentile woman is a perfect example of one who approached Jesus and boldly asked Him for a miracle and even after being denied one, asked again. How many of us have asked God for a miracle, have petitioned His holiness, and given up when we were denied, or it didn't happen right away? How many of us would have received that which we sought if we hadn't given up? The Syrophoenician woman didn't give up. She had faith, and Jesus worked a miracle on her behalf.

If We Truly Live to Love Christ, Our Love Will Show The World Why We Live.
-Jared Carlson

If You Can?

This will be the first post of a study I am doing currently. For the past few weeks I have been carefully reading through the Gospel of Mark. Paying particular attention to each of Jesus' miracles. It is my belief that the church, in the west particularly, has been taken captive by false theology and gone astray from the original teachings of Christ regarding physical healing. It is my belief that physical healing, like salvation, is freely granted to us as part of our relationship with Christ. And as I delve deeper and deeper into the Gospels I find confirmation after confirmation regarding this reality. Receiving physical healing should be a common occurrence within the body of Christ. Sadly, in America and most of the west, we don't see this. We see people praying for healing, believing for healing, and never receiving it. Whats going on? Are we missing something? No, what I am seeing is that we aren't necessarily missing something, rather we are adding to the scriptures to explain why certain things happen or don't. We have all the evidence we need to believe that healing is now and healing is for everyone who has the faith to receive it. Jesus makes it clear, abundantly so, and it takes a great deal of interpretation to skew what is so obvious.

Here is what I believe in a nut shell: Healing wasn't just an ability granted to Jesus and His disciples, rather it is granted to those who have the faith to receive it. Believing and even commanding your body to be healed in Jesus' name doesn't force God's hand if He already wants to heal you. Satan has crippled the church by incorporating into church doctrine the idea that God sits up in heaven randomly flipping a huge coin to help Him decide who He feels like healing today. I believe Jesus wanted us to live a life of power passion and authority in Him through His Holy Spirit. By doing so, we will change the world for His glory. I plan on proving that by the very words of Jesus.

If We Truly Live To Love Christ, Our Love Will Show The World Why We Live.
-Jared Carlson

What Does it Mean to be Righteous?

All throughout the Bible are references to righteousness and living a righteous life. In addition are many promises for those who live a righteous life before God. So what exactly does that look like? How can we know if we are living under that blessing? The scriptures make it clear that the foundation of a righteous man is a healthy fear of Almighty God. There is a lot of confusion surrounding this concept; fearing the Lord God. We tend to relate this “fear” to an emotion we might feel towards a haunted house or a horror flick but that’s not necessarily the fear the Bible describes. The book of Proverbs helps shed light on this “fear concept.” Proverbs 8:13 (NIV) reads “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” If we truly hate that which God has deemed evil, we are more able to do that which He has deemed good and right. When we do that which is pleasing to Him, we are well on our way to establishing that healthy fear of the Lord and His commands and ultimately righteousness.

Our relationship with Christ is often described as a journey. If a journey of 1000 miles truly begins with one step then this would be a important first step. The Proverbs say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. Let us therefore, as follows of Christ, fear the Lord our God by hating evil, and it is only by genuinely knowing Christ that you will genuinely know that which is evil. Spend time with Him, make Him The Priority, talk with Him, He desperately wants to do the same. Do that, and this first step will become surprisingly possible. We can do nothing apart from Him.

If We Truly Live To Love Christ, Our Love Will Show The World Why We Live.
-Jared Carlson