The apostle was going into Jericho for the last time. By the wayside he finds a poor, blind beggar who asks for a farthing, and he says, “Silver and gold have I none, but I can tell you of a great physician in Israel who can cure you.” “Can cure me?” he says. “I was born blind.” “Yes, but I have talked to a man in Jerusalem who says he was born blind, but now he sees.” “Why,” says Bartimeus, “how is that?” “Well, sir, Jesus of Nazareth was in Jerusalem, and a boy, he said, led him up to Him, and He just made clay with spittle and anointed his eyes, and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam. If you could only go up to Jerusalem, all you would have do would be to tell Him. He don’t charge anything.” “He don’t charge anything?” “No, He treats princes, potentates, and penniless all alike, for nothing; you have only to come before Him, and ask Him.” I can see Bartimeus’ eyes light up as he cries out, “If I can get my eyes by asking, I will get them.”
He takes his place by the wayside in expectancy. All at once he hears some one coming, and he cries out, “Who is coming? What does it mean?” At this no one answers him, but he begins to mistrust that it is Jesus of Nazareth. He has been told how great crowds flock about Him. And he cried out again in a louder voice, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried again, then, with all his might, “Thou son of David, have mercy upon me.” Some in the crowd thought Christ was going up to Jerusalem to be crowned king, and did not want Him to be disturbed by the blind beggar; they cried out not to disturb the Master, but the beggar would not cease, but cried all the louder, “Thou son of David, have mercy upon me.” And the prayer reached the ear of the Son of God, and he hushed all the voices about Him while He heard the earnest suitor. There was no mistake.
