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They Met Jesus - The Man That Could Not Be Stopped |
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I just finished reading a book called, "God Loves The Dandelions." It's about
God's love for people who feel like weeds because of their failures,
inadequacies, pain, and their lifestyle. They are people others call dandelions.
They are people who are called "hopeless, unimportant, or useless."
Jan is one of the dandelion people in this book. She said, "I am no rose, just a
dandelion. But God must love (dandelions) because he lets so many of them grow
and you just can't stomp them out."
(Roger Fredrikson, God Loves The Dandelions, p. 76)
The point of the book is that God loves people like this. Jesus always had time
for people who were rejected, lonely, hurting, and helpless. These are people
who had no hope of finding comfort or solutions for their pain and problems.
Today I want to introduce you to a dandelion person, a man named Bartimaeus who
met Jesus. Bartimaeus was desperate, without hope, and who could not be stopped
from coming to Jesus.
The Setting
In Jerusalem it was time for the Passover, the most important religious festival
of the year. Thousands of people came from all over the country to the capital
city of Jerusalem. Jesus also traveled to Jerusalem, not only for Passover, but
because he knew it was time for him to die for the sins of the world.
As Jesus and his disciples set out for Jerusalem, Jesus told them of his
approaching death.
Mark 10:32-34 "They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the
way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.
Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.
‘We are going up to Jerusalem,' he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be betrayed to
the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and
will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him
and kill him. Three days later he will rise.'"
We know that this weighed heavily on the mind of Jesus. As walked closer and
closer to Jerusalem, the fact of his coming crucifixion did not leave his
thoughts.
In order to get to Jerusalem, the main road led through the town of Jericho. It
was both a junction point and a resting place for travelers on their way to
Jerusalem. People stopped in Jericho to rest before making the 18 mile, 6 hour
trip, uphill to Jerusalem.
It was in Jerusalem that Jesus met a dandelion person named Bartimaeus. Let's
turn to his story in Mark 10:46-52. As you turn there, I will remind you that
although Mark is the shortest of the Gospels, he often includes powerful details
that the other writers do not mention. So it is with the story of a man named
Bartimaeus.
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