How to Read God's Wordনমুনা

DAY 2: Actions

What are the actions in this passage?

Jesus announces that he will suffer, die on the cross and rise again - and Jesus announces this before arriving in Jericho.

Noting actions applies above all to texts in the Word of God that are narrative rather than dogmatic. You can't necessarily apply what I'm saying to epistles like Galatians or Romans. However, you can get this kind of approach by reading the chapter before and the chapter after.

If I measure with the map in my Bible (you can also measure with your Bible), I see that there are about 25 km between Jericho and Jerusalem. It's quite a mountainous landscape, and they're taking a route that doesn't seem obvious.

These maps tell us that Jericho is below sea level, while Jerusalem is a little higher up. Over a distance of 25 km, it can take a whole day to get there!

Finally, Jesus will walk for several days, leaving Capernaum (as we saw in the previous chapter), then passing through Jericho, Bethphage, to reach Jerusalem.

Jesus waits until the last day to tell them that he will suffer, die and rise again. So the disciples learn this news in the midst of difficulty: that this last day of arduous walking is leading them, in addition, to Jesus' death.

So it's interesting to know this context, to discover the circumstances in which they meet Bartimaeus.

So we learn that, despite the suffering and difficulty of this walk to Jerusalem (the place where Jesus will die), Jesus still stops for Bartimaeus!

It's important to note the actions, because all these points together can help us grasp what the Holy Spirit wants to tell us through the passage we're reading.

The idea is not to note just for the sake of noting. It's important to explore everything to get a better understanding.

Let's pray together: Holy Spirit, everything written in Your Word is important and I want to be attentive to what You want to tell me! Please lead me, speak to me, in Jesus' name!

Jeremy Pothin