Sermon Tone Analysis
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~ \\ Bothwell & Clachan
October 29, 2006
Mark 10:46-52
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Message Series (B) - JESUS’ CURIOUS QUESTIONS FOR CONFUSED FOLLOWERS: Message No. 6 - "What Do You Want Me To Do For You?" (Episode 2) Mark 10:46-52 \\
!
*1.
Introduction*
!! *1. A. Location, Location, Location*
A realtor was driving around a young couple to search for their first dream house.
After listening to their concerns about mortgage points, maintenance costs, and school systems, he decided to give them a bit of advice.
"I've been selling homes for 23 years," he said, "and I've discovered only three things matter when you're buying a home: location, location, location."
To prove his point, he drove the couple to see two homes.
The paint was peeling on the first house, and the driveway was heaving in spots.
"It may be a handyman's special," he said, "but look at the view."
The house sat at the foot of a purple mountain, adjacent to ten acres of untouched forest.
Then the group went to see a charming two-story stone farmhouse with five bedrooms, a big kitchen, and plenty of closets.
"Everything's immaculate," the wife exclaimed after a brief tour inside.
"In fact, we might buy it if it was located somewhere else."
Then she pulled back a curtain to see an interstate highway and a busy airport runway.
Location, location, location.
It is a good rule in considering real estate.
It is also a good rule in biblical interpretation.
Anybody who wants to know the deeper meaning of a biblical text can benefit by looking around its neighborhood.
-- William G. Carter, No Box Seats In The Kingdom, CSS Publishing
!! 1. B. Grabbing Opportunity
Batimaeus didn't have that opportunity.
He didn't have a NT he could open up in order to see the Biblical neighbourhood he was living in.
William Barclay once said there are three things that cannot come back: the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity.
Unlike us with our Bibles, Bartimaeus could not know what lay just ahead for Jesus less than 25 km away in Jerusalem.
He could not know that the Master would be crucified there and that this opportunity would never come again.
He did know, however, that the opportunity was here, now, and he wasn't going to allow it to pass him by.
-- King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.sermons.com
! 2. Our Story Begins
Mark’s account has all the graphic details of an eyewitness account.
Bartimeus is persistent and determined to catch Jesus' attention [[v.47-48|bible:Mk 10:47-48]].
It is a desperate desire combined with great faith in Jesus as the one who will save him.
And so he begins to call out vigorously, loudly, contuinually (v.46).
[[v.46|bible:Mk 10:46]] Jericho at the time would be very crowded with pilgrims on their way to celebrate Passover up in Jerusalem.
Bartimaeus made such a noise that everyone began to notice.
And it lead to our curious question for today.
!! 2. A. "What Do You Want Me To Do For You?"
On the surface Bartimaeus also didn't need to have his problem defined.
It seemed very simple.
He was blind.
!! 2. B. Why did Jesus even take time to ask?
Jesus clearly felt that, although it was pretty obvious to all of them who were watching, that it was still very necessary that Bartimaeus' problem be defined.
!! 2. B. i. Define the Problem
Thousands of years ago a young Chinese emperor called upon his family's most trusted advisor.
"Oh, learned counselor," said the emperor, "you have advised my father and grandfather.
What is the single most important advice you can give me to rule my country?"
And Confucius replied, "The first thing you must do is to define the problem."
Many unhappy people cannot put their finger on what is really causing their distress.
Many unfulfilled people cannot even tell you what it would take to satisfy them.
Many of us have no clear idea or conception what our real needs, our real desires, and our real priorities are.
And because we have never defined the problem or clarified our goals, we spend a lifetime anxiously wandering with very little to show for the pilgrimage.
-- King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
What do I need spiritually?
We must not tell Jesus how to meet the need.
But we must define our needs and then bring them to him.
! 3. Another Challenge
But in defining the problem and offering a cure, there is something deeper at work in our story.
And we must not rush over it.
In verse [[v.48|bible:Mk 10:48]] we read that others discouraged this man from seeking help.
Why do people scold this blind man?
It was customary for a rabbi or distinguished teacher to teach the crowd while on his journey to Passover celebration.
The crowd following Jesus may be offended by Bartimeus' cry drowning out what they are trying to listen to.
If so, then they do not understand Jesus, who is always merciful.
!! 3. A. So Much for Feeling Good…
It is amazing how many dumb things people can say, in the face of problems, in the name of religion.
You hear them at funerals.
How many hearts have been broken because of someone's outrageous interpretation of adversity.
Even Charlie Brown, in the Peanuts cartoons, encountered this.
One day Charlie Brown says to Linus, "I feel good.
I just got back from the grocery store.
Guess what?
The owner and his wife both complimented me.
They said I was a very nice boy."
Linus replied, "In the sixth chapter of Luke, it says, `Woe to you when all men speak well of you.'"
Charlie Brown leans his head on his hand and sighs, "So much for feeling good."
It is amazing how, in the name of religion, people can spread such ill feelings.
Probably Bartimaeus had to put up with some of this.
He was blind, and he was a beggar, and he was probably rejected.
-- King Duncan, adapting Charles Schultz, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
! 4. The Dramatic Encounter
The crowd quickly backs down when in verse [[v.49|bible:Mk 10:49]] we hear Jesus call out to Bartimeus.
They are no longer disturbed by the blind man’s noisy bellowing.
Suddenly its OK to help out this loud fellow sitting beside the roadway.
"Cheer up, he's calling you!"
On Bartimaeus part the response is immediate and enthusiastic!
He does not say "Wait until the crowd stops picking on me" or "Wait until I have done this or that."
Someone once claimed that: "Persistence and faith are the two great moral forces that distinguish Christians" (Brent Porterfield).
Bartimaeus is focused on Jesus as the source of his salvation.
He is able "to leap up, to spring up" and makes his way to Jesus without aid.He rejoices when he is called, throwing away whatever he holds dear, in faith that what Jesus gives is worth much more.
And in answering the call of Jesus, we see Bartimeus "throw aside his cloak".
For a beggar, the cloak may be his bed at night, it may be what he uses to collect the coins he begs.
The beggar throws aside what little security he has.
Please make note of that.
For some of us, this is the very point where we hesitate to come close to Jesus.
On the one hand, yes, with a healing from Jesus, Bartimaeus would be able to see.
But on the other hand there will be some real life consequences.
Have we truly defined and understood the problem and the implications of being cured?
Someone wisely mentioned to me the other day, that for one to really work to solve a problem in some situations could actually create problems in itself, if it further upsets the balance of an unhealthy situation.
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