Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-17

their community to have the noted
Stranger met by such commition.
With many a shake and gesture
and stern word they warned the beg
gar, Hold your peace!" They told
him that TIE great Teacher had no
time for wayside beggars. He. was
on His way to the great Passover
and, of course, He was interested in
the great buildings that Herod had
erected to make Jericho famous. The
beggar's intrusion of his misery was
a jarring note.
Yet so far as Bartimaeus was con-
cerned, all the concerns of the world
seemed small alongside of this one
particular need of his own. There
was no suppressing such a desire as
his. He wanted one thing and wanted
it with strong crying that consumed
his soul and shut out the world. Even
as John Knox cried, "Give me Scot
land, or | die!" so Bartimaeus clam
ored for sight.
q. Importantly and Opportunity
Importantly sometimes. makes op-
portunity. God likes to- answer per-
sistent prayers. He loves the man
who will not be denied. Insistent
faith wins Him. OF course, Jesus
heard the beggars cry What were
Herod's palaces to Him alongside of
a human need? He cared more for
it than for the veritabe gardens of
God that surrounded Jericho in glor-
ious effulgence. Somebody has said
that God would still all the celestial
choirs of cherubim and seraphim
around the throne, if necessary, in
order to hear the prayer of one
needy human being. The world had
been unheeding of Bartimaeus for
long dreary years. Jesus knows him
the first time He passes.
Suddenly the procession halted.
Turning toward the beggar Jesus
said, call ye him." Then the
sycophantic crowd. who had been
stillng the clamor of Bartimaeus,
! became vociferous in their message
! to Him: BE of good cheer. He call
eth thou"
Delirious with joy, the blind man
| leaped up. No patient plodding for
ward. with a staff in front of him,
on this occasion. No careful con-
cern for his poor property. Flinging
| aside his treasured outer garment,
and plunging forward in the direc-
| tion of the sweet voice he had heard,
needless of whom he might run into,
Bartimaeus rushed to Jesus. This is
dramatic picture and one that the
world would not willingly spare
from it's galleries of memory.
Getting the Thing We Want
Sometimes our dreams do come
true. The deepest and dearest de-
sires of our heart are realized. For
1t is the compassion of God to give
more than we ask or desire. Such
great hour had come to Barti-
maeus. This was his moment of op-
portunity and destiny, for the Voice
that had summoned him from his
wayside roost now continued, What
wilt thou that l should do unto
| thee?
| What an offer was this! 1t was a
| blank check on the resources of
Heaven. Bartimaeus could have what
| he wanted!
Did he take time for deliberation
Not he. Was there any need for him
to calculate some scheme of perma-
nent relief that would take him from
| the roadside? Could he not get an
introduction to Herod's favor?
| No consideration OF the sort en-
tered his mind for an instant He
wanted one thing and only one
thing, and he wanted that so badly
that 1t crowded into his throat like
a sob. rabbi, that l may receive
my sight"
| Inat was all. he Del1eVed that
Jesus could do this miracle for him.
! Nor was his faith misplaced. For a
third time the patient, gentle-voiced
Teacher spoke, go thy way. Thy
faith hath made thee whole" Straight
way Bartimaeus was no longer blind
| Bartimaeus by the roadside, but a
seeing man. Exultant in his JOY and
grateful he left all his old ways and
| followed Jesus toward Jericho
A Picture Story
In that incident you have the
! whole gospel. 1t is all there, In
graphic form. There is mans need.
which no human power can satisfy.
| There is the compassion of Christ,
/ which encompasses the lowliest and