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December 16, 2018
Jason Meyer | Mark 10:46-52
And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.—Mark 10:46–52
Advent Sermon #3, 2018
Introduction
The first verse of one of my favorite Christmas songs is ...
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him, born the king of angels.
O come let us adore him. O come let us adore him.
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Perhaps the first line is misleading. Many people do not feel “faithful,” or “joyful,” or “triumphant.” People come to church with highs and lows. They come weighed down by their past and fearful about their futures. In the mess of life, at our lowest, we do not feel like singing of ourselves as “faithful,” but “unreliable,” not “joyful,” but “sorrowful,” not “triumphant,” but “defeated.” The song would not have the same ring to it if we sang: “O come all you faithless, joyless, and defeated.” Or you perhaps you don’t feel the high or low, but you struggle to feel anything at all. You feel blank or blah or apathetic. You don’t feel triumphant or defeated, but you feel like you are just stumbling forward.
Maybe the song should be for the down-and-out. Maybe that message fits better with what Christmas is all about. Who can come and adore the Savior? Answer: Those who can’t save themselves and can’t seem to get it together—those who have no hope in themselves—their only hope is to look outside of themselves. It fits the reason why Christ came. Remember the trustworthy statement, deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost, and for this reason I received mercy: that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who would believe on him for eternal life (1 Timothy 1:15–16).
In fact, the Pharisees regarded themselves as faithful and triumphant—though I highly doubt they saw themselves as joyful. A self-righteous view of ourselves would actually keep us from coming to adore him. In fact, our text today shows that the only people who come to Jesus are those that truly know their need.
People who perceive their need for Jesus come to Jesus. People who are blind to their need for Jesus don’t come to Jesus.
Outline
We will walk through the text at a fairly brisk pace and try to put the whole picture in front of us before turning to application as we try to put ourselves under the message God has for us today.
1. The Call (Mark 10:46–50)
And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Bartimaeus definitely forms a contrast with the disciples. He is not having any arguments with anyone about being the greatest like they were. He was not about to ask if he could sit at Jesus’ right or left hand on his throne.
Notice three things here. First, notice the summary of his life. It is a two-word description for Bartimaeus: “a blind beggar” (v. 46). He is a disabled man and he is a dependent man. He can’t make it on his own and he knows it. He is used to depending upon the generosity of others. The only thing he has is what he is given on a daily basis.
Second, take note of the summary of where he is: He “was sitting by the roadside” (v. 46). He is dependent upon others and so he has strategically positioned himself in a place where people will pass by. He has put himself on the path of potential mercy.
Third, notice his summary of Jesus. This is no generic cry for help. This blind man has eyes to see that Jesus is the Son of David (10:47). This is the first time this phrase is used in Mark. He looks to Jesus as the promised King to come in the line of David. This man is confessing that Jesus is the Messiah! The blind beggar has eyes that are spiritually open when much of the crowd is actually spiritually blind.
How do the people receive him?
a. The Response of the Crowd (10:48a)
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
The crowd has no mercy for this man. They try to silence him by shaming him. Mark says that he was “rebuked” (v. 48). This is a strong word—they were not just doing the library thing: shhh! This is a forceful rebuke and it comes not from one or two, but from “many” (v. 48). Imagine sitting in the library talking and having everyone in the library come around you and with irritated scowls say SHHHH! That gives you a small feel for how the crowds felt about Bartimaeus. They made it known that they did not think he merited Jesus’ attention. Jesus is a somebody and Bartimaeus is a nobody. They are saying: “Be quiet, Jesus should not waste his time on you. Quit bothering him.”
That is a common theme in Mark. The disciples think that children will bother Jesus and he would not give them the time of day. It is simply the other way around. We are the ones that look down on others that we think are weak. The world values power and greatness that rules over others and commands respect and attention. But that is not the way the Kingdom works, and it is not the way that the Savior sees people.
b. The Response of Bartimaeus (10:48b)
But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“He cried out all the more.” Bartimaeus refused to be silent. The crowd tried to shame him into silence with a corporate rebuke, but the public shaming did not work on him. Why? He was so desperate that he had no pride left to save or salvage. He cried out all the more with a singular fervor. He had a singular focus because he had a singular hope: only the Messiah can help me. He knows that he has nothing to offer the Messiah – he comes with empty hands as a beggar – “nothing in my hands I bring,” that is a great way to come to Jesus. We know how the crowd responded. How will Jesus respond to the needy and the desperate?
B. The Call of Jesus (49a)
And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
I love that word: “stopped” (v. 49a). This cry for mercy stopped Jesus dead in his tracks. This is the same thing that happened for the woman with the flow of blood. Jesus had important business—the ruler of the synagogue had his precious daughter at the edge of death, and this social outcast (a woman with a 12-year flow of blood making her perpetually unclean and making anyone she touched unclean) comes and touches Jesus and tries to get an anonymous healing. But Jesus stops. He calls her. He vindicates her and calls her “daughter.” O the mercy of the Savior! Cry out to him! Do not pass me by! Do you think he will really just keep walking past you?
a. The Response of the Crowd (49b)
And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”
How fickle and shallow is this crowd?! One minute they are silencing and shaming Bartimaeus. The next minute they are trying to encourage him to take heart and get up because Jesus is calling. I am surprised Bartimaeus did not mouth off in frustration: “Yeah—no thanks to you all.” But look how he responds. He does not shame them or rebuke them in return. He is too focused on running to Jesus.
b. The Response of Bartimaeus (10:50)
And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
Mark does not simply say that Bartimaeus “came to Jesus” (v. 50), he emphasizes how he came to Jesus. Notice two observations: (1) he sprang up, and (2) threw off. Don’t you love this language? First, he leaps for joy. He “sprang up.” There is immediate joy and hope and earnest expectation. No lollygagging or dillydallying—pure haste!
Second, he not only sprang up, but he threw off: “throwing off his cloak” (v. 50). The fact that Bartimaeus left his cloak is significant. He knew he would not need it anymore. He used it to essentially provide for himself. He used his cloak to collect the money, like a musician who lays out his guitar case for people to throw their coins in. He also would use it to stay warm at night.
Why does he throw of his cloak? First, he clearly believes that he will be healed (he believes he will not need it anymore). Second, Mark is also showing us that Bartimaeus fits the pattern of a disciple or follower of Jesus. The disciples leave everything to follow Jesus, whether it is a fishing business and their father Zebedee in the boat or, in this case, a simple cloak as their only possession. One commentator says it in a way that makes multiple connections in Mark.
Like the first disciples Jesus called, he abandons his former way of life and leaves everything. The cloak he leaves behind is not much perhaps, but it is his sole worldly possession and a necessity (Exodus 22:26–27; Deuteronomy 24:12–13). The cloak would have been placed before him to collect alms by day and would have been his source of warmth by night. He will have no encumbrances in following Jesus. Leaving just a garment may seem easier than selling all that one has (10:21), but that is why Jesus indicated how hard it was for those having possessions to enter the Kingdom (10:24–25).[1]
The rich man could not leave it all and follow Jesus, but Bartimaeus did with joyful abandon. He did not walk away sad like the rich young man, he sprang up – you almost get the sense that he was sprinting to Jesus.
We come now to the second point in the outline. Bartimaeus called for Jesus and Jesus called for Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus came running. Now what will they say?
2. The Question (Mark 10:51)
A. The Question of Jesus (10:51a)
And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
This seems like a strikingly odd question to ask a blind man? Imagine an ice cream truck that is selling some of those ice cream cones with the chocolate at the bottom of the tip of the cone—so that is your last bite! The child comes up with a dollar bill and the man says, “What do you want?” Well, isn’t it obvious? An ice cream cone!
So we know more is going on here than meets the eye, but what? Did you notice that the author has stitched these two stories together by repeating the identical question from Jesus? He asks James and John: “What do you want me to do for you? (10:36)” and he asks Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” (10:51). Why? Notice that the question Jesus asks is the same, but the request is totally different.
And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”
Last week, the disciples asked to be seen (10:37). This week Bartimaeus asks to see (10:51). We noted last week that this is the very question that the disciples should be asking. They are partially blind and need to see! That is why Mark began this section with the two-part healing of a blind man (8:22–26). The disciples can partially see and they are partially blind. They need the second touch of Jesus to remove their remaining blindness. Does Jesus have a two-stage healing in store for us again?
And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Jesus tells him two things: (1) Go your way, (2) your faith has saved you/made you well. Both of these are common responses from Jesus after a healing.
B. The Response of Bartimaeus (10:52b)
And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
Bartimaeus’ response is unique. After being told to go his way, he does not go away but follows Jesus on the way. He has cast off his cloak and he follows Jesus and refuses to leave him. This is a picture of true discipleship. When your blindness is removed, now you can follow Jesus as a disciple—on the Calvary road to Jerusalem.
Bartimaeus models what true discipleship is in three ways: (1) he sees Jesus rightly (Son of David – Jesus can and will help), (2) he sees himself rightly (totally dependent and in need of help), (3) he responds rightly (he leaves all that he has—his cloak—and joyfully follows Jesus on the way: the Calvary road).
So what is the point of the passage? The Main Point is that the Servant promised in Isaiah has finally come.
You might ask, “How would you prove that? How do you know this story says that? Proof: He has come to open the eyes of the blind and lead them on the way just like Isaiah said (Isaiah 42).
Isaiah and the Identity of Jesus
One of the things we are emphasizing this Advent is the way that the whole biblical story fits together. The Christmas story is a scene that has a part to play within the overall story. Here is how this particular text or scene ties into the larger biblical story.
This text, like every text in the Gospels, does not first and foremost tell us something about Bartimaeus, but about Jesus. Who is Jesus? He is the Messiah, the servant of the Lord who has come to open the eyes of the blind and lead them on the way. Why did I put that stuff in there about the Messiah and the servant of the Lord? I bet Isaiah has something to say about that.
But take a moment before we dive into Isaiah to think about the specificity needed. We need a reference to Jesus as (1) servant, who will (2) be compassionate and responsive to the weak and not keep walking by. We need a reference to him coming to (3) open the eyes of the blind. And it would also be helpful to have a reference to him (4) leading a blind man so he can find the way.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights …
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench …
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
Now it would probably be a stretch to ask for this, but wouldn’t it be amazing if there were a text in Isaiah that had the eyes of the blind being opened and going to Zion with a mention about being ransomed (like Mark 10:45).
Isaiah 35:4–5, 10
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened .…
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
People are supposed to suddenly take note and exclaim, “Wait a minute, this is the one we have been waiting for. He came as the servant to ransom us and when he came he would open the eyes of the blind and lead them in the way.”
The Lesson of Bartimaeus
Main Application Point
People who perceive their need for Jesus come to Jesus. People who are blind to their need for Jesus don’t come to Jesus.
Bartimaeus was a blind beggar. He was very aware of his need. There was no façade of self-reliance. Everyone despised him as someone down and out, but he was actually further ahead because he understood his desperate need. Awareness of weakness can be a great gift if it compels us to come to the Savior.
Someone might ask, “How can I relate to Bartimaeus? I am not a blind beggar.” You don’t know yourself. This is an invitation to grow in that grace of self-awareness.
1. Blind
The Bible says that our spiritual condition before God is that we are blind (2 Corinthians 4:3).
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.—2 Corinthians 4:4
God has to do a work of intervention in order for us to see who Christ really is. Part of the intervention is someone has to proclaim Jesus Christ. The way we serve is to proclaim the servant and try to set him before the eyes of those who don’t know him. This is like Bartimaeus setting himself strategically on the roadside. Going wherever Christ is proclaimed puts yourself on the path of grace.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.—2 Corinthians 4:5
Then the second part of the intervention is that God has to do a miracle in their hearts.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.—2 Corinthians 4:6
2. Beggars
Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). A beggar is not someone who is just below the poverty line and can get by with a little assistance here and there. A beggar has nothing. The only thing he has is what others give him or her. That is what we are spiritually. We have empty hands. And the gospel says that Jesus does not come and give us some spare change. He gives us eternal life at the cost of his own life. We are spiritual beggars who had nothing but received everything.
We had to see our need for Jesus in order to come to Jesus. We had to have our blinders removed. We had to be willing to acknowledge that we could not save ourselves. Without a proper sight of him, we cannot rest in him. It is hard to follow Christ if you do not see that he has all authority and all wisdom. It is hard to rest in him if you fail to see how finished his work is. It is hard to trust him in times of trouble if you fail to see how sovereign he is and how for you he is.
Could it be that the weakness you despise in yourself is the very thing that draws you to Jesus or keeps you dependent upon Jesus? Could it be that success and beauty and strength are some of the greatest sources of blindness in our day that keep people from coming to Jesus? Awareness of weakness and crying out in dependence is a prerequisite for the display of divine strength. So if you feel weak and feel like crying out for God’s mercy and strength, then you are in exactly the right position to receive mercy.
3. Cast off whatever is keeping you from trusting Christ.
Bartimaeus threw off his cloak. It reminds me of another famous scene in a familiar Christmas movie. The most moving moment in the Charlie Brown Christmas movie is when Linus shares the Christmas story. It seems to be the only moment when Linus does not need his security blanket anymore. He drops the blanket at the moment that he recites Luke 2:10, “Fear not.”
The call of discipleship involves the call to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:2). A disciple will look at the things he u.
Our text grabs you in whatever situation you find yourself in this morning and speaks directly to you: If you cry out to him for mercy, Jesus is the kind of Savior who stops. Bartimaeus cries out for mercy. Jesus has his own suffering and death in mind as he leads the way to Jerusalem. If anyone ever had the right to be preoccupied, it was Jesus. But then he heard the cry for mercy.
And Jesus stopped.—Mark 10:49
A cry for help is the sweetest sound to a Savior. He will stop. He will save. Do not let fear of what others in the crowd may think keep you away. Cry out all the more for mercy. See Jesus rightly, see yourself rightly, and respond rightly.
___________
[1] Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark. The NIV Application Commentary (421). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Outline
Main Point: The Servant promised in Isaiah has finally come.
Proof: He has come to open the eyes of the blind and lead them on the way just like Isaiah said (Isaiah 42).
Main Application Point: People who perceive their need for Jesus come to Jesus. People who are blind to their need for Jesus don’t come to Jesus.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to see Christ as an overflowing fountain of mercy and to cry out to him!