"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom
do men say that I the Son of man am?
And they said, Some say that thou are John
the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias,
or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them.
But whom say ye that
I am?
And Simon Peter
answered and said,
"Thou art the Christ
the Son of the living
God.
And Jesus answered
and said unto him,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 16:13-17

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When Jesus was in front of him, Bartimaeus
heard Him say, "what wilt thou that I should
do unto thee?" Trembling he replied, "Lord,
that I might receive my sight."

Then Jesus touched Bartimaeus' eyes and said,
"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole."
And immediately he received his sight and he
followed Jesus. Mark 10:49-52

When Bartimaeus arose

he threw off his garment.

When we come to Jesus,

we must throw off the
garment of our

self-righteousness and

receive the blessings as

a gift of grace!

For course, as Bartimaeus was crying out to Jesus
the crowd was trying to quit him. They didn't want
him disturbing anything because Jesus was about
to enter Jerusalem.

By that time he had gotten Jesus' attention. Jesus
told the people to bring him over to Him. The
crowd had changed their attitude and said to him,
"Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee."

Bartimaeus had heard of Jesus, as many people
had. He had been told of His miracles and heal-
ings. Now he jump up as hope rose up that he
might get to see Jesus and even be healed.

Jesus never stayed long in one place, and could
be gone before he found out where they were.

But soon the blind man was aware that Jesus
was close and about to pass by. Determined to
reach out to Him, he
cried out "Thou son of
David, have mercy on
me.", repeatedly.

The last days of Jesus' ministry were near. He
and His disciple were on their way to Jerusalem.
They had to pass through Jericho. Many others
on their way to the Holy City were traveling
with them.

Near the city, a blind man named Bartimaeus,
sat begging. He heard the sounds of people
coming and then He was told it was Jesus of
Nazareth passing by.

"And they came to

Jericho: and as he

went out of Jericho

with his disciples and

a great number of

people,

blind Bartimaesu,

the son of Timaeus,

sat by the highway

side begging.

And when he heard

that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of

David, have mercy on me. And many charged him

that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the

a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on

me." Luke 10:48

The Jews and the Samaritans had gotten together
in their miseries. Normally they had nothing to do
with each other; but their afflictions had wiped out
all pride of race.

When Jesus heard their cries for mercy, He didn't
have to think about it. His compassion rose up in
Him and He shouted to them to go show them
selves to the priests. They knew what that meant
and they were off to claim their cure. They felt
the healing taking place in their bodies as they
ran in obedience.

Jesus was passing through Samaria on His way
to Jerusalem, He found a group of ten lepers
waiting for Him.

He had sent out the Seventy to prepare the way
before Him [Luke 10:1]. These lepers may have
learned from them that He would come that way.

When they saw Jesus and His disciples, they
began to cry out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on
us." They didn't dare to get very close because
of polluting them.

"And one of them, when he saw that he was
healed, turned back, and with a loud voice
glorified God. And
fell down on his
face at his feet,
giving him thanks:
and he was a
Samaritan.

And Jesus
answering said,
Were there not
ten cleansed?
but where are
the nine? There
are not found that
returned to give
glory to God, save this stranger. And he said
unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath
made thee whole." Luke17:15-19

"And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem,
that he passed through the midst of Samaria
and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
villiage, there met him ten men that were lepers,
which stood afar off; And they lifted up their
voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on
us. And when he saw them, he said unto them,
Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it
came to pass, that, as they went. they were
cleansed." Luke 17:11-14

Jesus, indignant at their hard-heartedness, asked
them, "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox
fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull
him out on the sabbath day?" Luke 14:5

There was only one answer. If any of their animals
fell into a pit on the sabbath day, they would have
helped it out on the same day.

Maybe some of them thought Jesus was right.
After His death and resurrection, there were some
Pharisees who became believers.

Jesus read their thoughts and said, "Is it lawful
to heal on the sabbath day?"

If there had been any mercy in them, they would
not have stood in the way of this man's chance to
be healed.

But really his misery didn't matter to them, their
only interest was in whether or not Jesus would
heal on the Sabbath day.

There were those present who were curious to
see if Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath
day.

According to their Law, remedies could be taken
on the Sabbath only if the person's life was in
danger.

Some think the man was planted there to see
what the Lord would do, but it's not known for
certain if that was the case.

There was a custom at that time, that the doors
of a house were left open so that those who had
not been invited by the host could come in to
listen to what the guests had to say, especially if
they were someone notable.

On this occasion there was a man who came in
who was afflicted by dropsy. The man didn't
say anything but
hoped that Jesus
would see him
and notice of his
condition.

There was another time when Jesus was in a
Pharisee's home on the sabbath. He was invited
by one who was called a "chief Pharisee". Also
invited were other Pharisees and lawyers.

Jesus wasn't really invited out of friendship but
more of curiousity. It said that during the meal
He was watched continually.

Today a number of objections have come up
against scriptural healing. Some think the heal-
ing of the sick is unholy, that it shouldn't be
associated with the preaching of the Gospel.

Others say that the salvation of the soul is
more important than healing of the body and
it is true; but they imply it is more sufficient
without the healing of the body that isn't true.

Many have come to Jesus as Savior of their
souls because of the healing of their bodies.

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The opposition by the

ruler of the synagogue to
Jesus' healing is a lot like

those of today.

Some will go to ridiculous

lengths to oppose the truth.

This ruler was trying to

make out that he was
just trying to keep the sabbath sacred, but he
appeared more angry that the woman had been
healed. He may not have wanted her to stay in
the afflicted condition but the miracle won many
of the people to Jesus which he really apposed.

There is a difference between oppression and
actual possession by evil powers.

It is true that some believers like the woman
in the synagogue are bound by evil spirits in
their bodies. Those who are victims of elilepsy
are more severe cases of oppression.

Some good christians have been affected by
epileptic spirits.

Even though Jesus spoke of the woman as a
daughter of Abraham, He made it quite clear
that physically she had been bound by Satan
and needed deliverance.

There are those today who bacause of pride and
wrong teaching do not recognize that afflictions
are oppressions of Satan, so they continue to
remain in their bondages.

Jesus would show that the physical bondage of
Satan was not restricted only to sinners and the
unsaved people.

He spoke of this woman as being "a daughter of
Abraham," or one under covenant promise.

Jesus recognized the people as being sons and
daughters of Abraham, only when they were
sons and daughters by faith.

To the wicked Jews who claimed to be children
of Abraham, Jesus said, "If ye were Abraham's
children, ye would do the works of Abraham"
John 8:39

Peter had seen Jesus heal many people and knew
that it was true.

When he preached to the house of Cornelius he
told them about Jesus who went about doing
good and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil (Acts 10:38).

Jesus pointed out that many sicknesses are a
result of a "spirit of infirmity" like this woman
who was bound.

There are those who claim evil spirits have not
a thing to do with sickness; so, of course, the
devil enjoys being ignored so he can be free to
continue his evil work.

Jesus said that she had been bound by Satan
for eighteen years.

Jesus saved the Sabbath as an institution of love
from a narrow and formal Jewish tradition. They
had made that a time of inactivity but Jesus
revealed it as a day of worship and rest, not full
of meaningless restrictions.

It was not to be a day of bondage but for the
freedom of the spirit. Jesus' teachings are needed
today by those who have fallen into that bondage
of Sabbatarianism.