THE KING’S BUSINESS
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confidently exclaimed. “Well, I will take you at your word,” says Jesus. “You may pay the price, the cup and the baptism of agony may be yours also, but whether the first places shall be yours, eternity shall re veal.” | , Saturday, July 24. Mark 10:42-45. Jesus dealt very gently with their selfish ness. “He called them to Him.” He always draws us nearer to Himself when He would win us from our low lives to a higher one. The method of Christ’s kingdom is utterly at variance with the method of the king doms of this earth. In the kingdoms of this world he that rules is great; in the kingdom of Christ He that serves is great. If any one wills to be great in Christ’s kingdom he must take the part of a servant of others, and all who would be the very first must take the place of a slave of all. This gives us again a truth that occurs in a variety of forms of expression throughout the New Testament (Mark 9:35; Matt. 20:26, 27; 23:8-12; Luke 4:46-48; 14:11; 18:14; John 13:13-17; 1 Cor. 4:19-23; 1 Peter 5:5, 6). The Head of the kingdom is Himself the supreme illustration of this principle, which governs it. He came “not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” His ministry cost- Him all He had. He laid down His life as a ransom to purchase life for a wicked world that had forfeited it. He paid the price that would purchase life for others, though it took all He had (2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Titus 2 :14; Is. 53:5; 2 Cor. 8 :9). He gave up the highest glory, and descended to the deepest shame and thus attained to the name that is above every name (Phil. 2 :6-9). He that would attain to real greatness must tread the same path. Sunday, July 25. Mark 10:46-48. The three accftunts of this miracle differ in detail. We will not dwell on that now, as we took it up. in our study in Matthew. And He showed how to reconcile the ap parent discrepancies. Bartimaeus is a strik ing illustration of man as he is by nature.
His home, Jericho, the city under a curse (Joshua 6:17, 26), type of this world, blind (2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 3:17), a beggar clothed in rags (cf. Is. 64:6). But Bartimaeus, like the sinner of whom he is a type, obtained salvation by simply crying out for it (cf. Rom. 10:13). The time to call is the time that Bartimaeus chose, "while He is near” (Is. 55:6). He cried simply for “mercy.” The people were displeased to hear him cry for mercy, ànd rebuked him. There are many still, even religious people, who are irritated when they hear poor, sinful, af flicted people making a disturbance by cry ing aloud to Jesus, for mercy. They thought it beneath the dignity of Jesus to be dis turbed by the clamor of this poor, blind wretch. Though Bartimaeus was poor, he was a man of faith, and the rebuke of the crowd, so far from closing his mouth, only made him cry out “the more, a great deal.” It was well that he improved that oppor tunity, for Jesus never passed that way again. His prayer was a model : Short, definite, personal, earnest, importunate, be lieving. Monday, July 26. Mark 10:49-52. Jesus did not rebuke Bartimaeus for cry ing to Him, and He never will us (Phil. 4:6). Note carefully three precious and meaning-full words, “Jesus stood still/’ Jesus was on important business, the most important errand of His life, and yet He stood still to listen to the cry of the poor,, blind beggar, and to relieve his need. Are we like Him? Jesus did not Himself call Bartimaeus, He s bade those who had re buked him to do it, and thus He taught them a lesson. - “Be of good cheer,” they say, “rise, He calleth thee.” There is no more cheering message for "sorrowing souls than “He calleth thee,” and He calls all sorrowing ones (Matt. 11:28). Bartimaeus was ready to go as soon as the call came, and “sprang up.” It was the quickest move ment he had made for years. He did not stop to argue, discuss or reason, he simply “came to Jesus.” That is always the way
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