Mark 10:49
And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
Jesus stood still and stopped, and commanded that the blind man be called to come to him. The word brought to him that he was called gave him comfort and courage to rise. That call reveals him as the great Physician who answers the cry for mercy with comfort and healing power that leads on to healing for those who trust in him.
Those who bring the sick to him in the arms of faith, crying for mercy as Son of David as Bartimaeus did, are comforted and feel his healing power. They lay aside all medicine to rely alone on his arm, having seen God's salvation while still expecting entire restoration by faith. When he is near, people should earnestly ask him for mercy, and by his grace receive clearer sight, a gift more valuable than material wealth.
He still passes by and offers what is most needed, of infinite gain worth a lifetime of toil and suffering. He offers it even to one blind to the higher interests of the soul and to the attractions of the heavenly life in the city of God. Though such a one has labored for what is not bread, and has sacrificed peace and honor and companionship with God's children and even his own children in order to go his own way unhindered, he is still offered what he most needs. Though he has sought contentment in secret sinful pleasure and base gratification without regard for God and heaven, and is now hopeless and without God, Jesus still passes by with that offer.
Bartimaeus's appeal for mercy is the example of how a sinner, even at the eleventh hour and on the very borders of the eternal world, may come to Jesus with a broken, repentant heart without delay or hesitation for pardon and life and rescue from perishing. Such coming requires risking everything to break Satan's bands woven by one's own wicked course, refusing to remain his bond slave. It requires coming to the light, confessing sins to God and to those wronged, and making thorough work of repentance to grasp the crown of life, while God alone can renew the heart and restore a sense of duty to him. Every voice bidding the sinner hold his peace must be disobeyed at peril of soul and life. That includes Satan's desperate efforts and suggestions to silence the cry for salvation and to hold him bound in sin and despair, because Jesus stands calling with invitation and is mighty to save and rescue from the devil's snare.