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• As bad as blindness
is in the 20th century, however, it was so much worse in Jesus' day.
• Today a blind person at least has the hope of living a useful
life with proper training.
• Some of the most skilled and creative people in our society are
blind.
• But in first century Palestine blindness meant that you would
be subjected to continual poverty. You would be reduced to begging for
a living. You lived at the mercy and the generosity of others.
• Have any of you ever seen a beggar on the streets of Werribee
or elsewhere (Discuss and offer examples if you have had the experience)
• It is not unusual if you lived in London to see people with their
dogs in the underground asking for money to feed them and their dogs.
• But these beggars (most of them anyway) could at least see.
• Just think how much harder it would be for a blind beggar (Discuss)
• In Jesus day, unless your particular kind of blindness was self-correcting,
there was no hope whatsoever for a cure. The skills that were necessary
were still centuries beyond the medical knowledge of the day.
• But there are other types of blindness as well
• Physical blindness we have already spoken about. But there are
also many people who can't see the wood for the trees as the expression
goes.
• There are many people who look into a mirror each morning and
don't see what you and I can see.
• Some people who are very selfish, unkind, judgmental etc, are
unaware of their own attitudes. They are so full of themselves, they can't
see the damage they are doing to their own image.let alone the hurt they
cause to others.
• Bartimaeus believed in Jesus and as a result he was healed. He
had faith in Jesus.
• Sadly there are many people today who have sight, but refuse to
truly believe in Jesus.
• Our church would be so much stronger if people who claim to know
Jesus, could really see him. Their lives would never be the same again.
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Kids
Church Activity:
Congregation activity to stress the problems of blindness. An adult and
a child to go off together, one blindfolded, and led around an area where
they have to rely on the person who is not blindfolded. Then to change
and reverse the procedure. To also stress there are many types of blindness
(People don’t see their own faults, insensitive to others feelings
etc)
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