LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
LUKE 18: 39
Key Verse
“Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”.
Luke 18:39
INTRODUCTION
God had promised to send a Saviour or Redeemer called the Messiah in order to remove the sinning ways of the nation of Israel and to remove the wrath of God against them for their indiscipline and their constant disobedience. The sin that affected them had made them spiritually blind, made them enemies of God, and was leading them to death and destruction.
But the Son of David was sent by God to bring mercy to the people, and Jesus went about fulfilling all the prophecies about what the Messiah would do. He healed the sick, raised the dead to life, did all manner of miracles to make the life of the poor better, and taught them the ways of God the Father. He fulfilled the promise of God to save His people.
On His way to the Cross to be crucified Jesus told the disciples of the future of the country, reminded them of the nature of God, and blessed the little children, warning the disciples that if one wanted to enter the kingdom of God, they would have to become like children, be humble, enquiring, obedient, and kind to each other.
Then Jesus went on the road to Jerusalem and a blind man who lived in the town of Jericho by begging heard that Jesus was passing by him. He and the people knew from the Book of Deuteronomy that the Law of God had stated that the poor and helpless should be looked after by the better off persons. God made provision to take care of the helpless and He had blessed them. But the people were not obedient to the law of God and so the blind man named Bartimaeus had to beg to keep himself alive
The man knew about Jesus and knew that He was the Messiah the Son of David that would come and bless the people. So he shouted, “Jesus son of David have mercy on me”. He knew Jesus was being followed by a great crowd of people, and he wanted to attract the attention of Jesus by shouting over and over again to have Jesus show him mercy. The people in the crowd were annoyed at his constant screaming and told him to be quiet and not shout at Jesus, but the blind man did not listen to them and kept on shouting.
Jesus heard the man. Jesus was kind and patient. He knew the man was suffering. He had lost his pride for he was a beggar. He was not able to work to support himself but depended on the whims of others and their feelings which made them often ignore his pleas for help. The loving and merciful Jesus stopped where the man was and asked the man what he wanted Jesus to do for him, and the man responded right away that he wanted Jesus to restore his sight.
Jesus did something never done before. Jesus was happy this blind man was not spiritually blind, but despite his serious disability and illness knew Jesus was the Messiah the Son of David. Many of the people and the rulers in Israel were not physically blind and had disability but they were spiritually blind. The refused to see the truth God had told them about. They did not follow the law of God and follow His instructions on how to look after the needs of the poor, the disabled, and the helpless. But Jesus was different. He followed the ways of God. He healed the man right away. He showed the man God’s mercy. The man was so happy he followed Jesus and shouted praises to Him for this blessing of mercy from God.
We too must understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour sent by God to save us from death. We must praise God the Father and Jesus the Merciful Son of David who left His glory in heaven and came to earth to be with us. Then He suffered a painful death on the Cross in order to take on Himself all the sins we did and would do, and then ascend after His resurrection to sit on the right hand of God the Father, in this place of power, to plead for us and ensure God the Father would forgive us and take us into His family and be with Him forever.
So let us bless and honour the Father and Jesus the Merciful Son of David. Let us not ignore the needs of the disabled and the helpless. We must do all we can to help them. That pleases God. We must behave like Jesus and if we truly are people of God and are in God’s family, we will show that we have God’s nature. May God bless us and help us to be changed and be like Him and be a blessing to others.