Mark 10:46-52 "The Blind Man Who Saw Clearly"

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Men… one more announcement… our Regional Pastor, Roger Ullman, has invited us up to his church in Kalamazoo, MI…

For a Men’s Outreach with David Guzik

Many of you know of his fantastic commentary which you can purchase or access for free on Blue Letter Bible

We will have 2 sessions with David and lunch will be provided.

Save the Date… more details to come

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 10. Mark 10:46-52.

We left off, where Jesus and the disciples were going up to Jerusalem.

They were making that final ascent just prior to Jesus’ final week of ministry… His Passion week… His final Passover…

Josephus tells us that the city of Jerusalem swelled to 2 million 700 thousand people because of the feast.

So… on the road to Jerusalem… along with Jesus and the disciples… were thousands of Jews… ascending for the feast… singing the Psalms of Ascent.

It was during this time that Jesus once again predicted His betrayal, trials, mocking, beatings, death, and resurrection…

All prophesied several times over in the OT… even thousands of years prior…

It was during this time that James and John brought their mother, who according to Matt 20:21 said, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

Which was a big request… and one that required tremendous sacrifice…

Jesus let them know there was a cup for Him to drink… and a baptism for Him to be baptized with…

… symbolic for His suffering and death ahead.

Could they partake in this as well?

Surprisingly, they answered in the affirmative…

And, they were correct… James would be the first Apostle martyred… and John would have the martyrdom of a long life.

The other ten disciples were greatly displeased with James and John for putting forth such a request…

Ten disciples angry at the two… Not the Twelve in this moment, but the Ten and the Two…

Which is not surprising because division is often the result when someone tries to grab power.

In one final teaching and unifying moment, before ascending to Jerusalem, Jesus called all the disciples to Himself…

And reminded them of servant leadership… just as He had preached… the first will be last, and the last first.

All this vying for position among the disciples had to stop. Jerusalem was ahead… fulfilling prophecy was in their midst… mankind’s redemption was at hand.

Bigger things were at play then who would be the greatest in the kingdom.

Today, still at the base of the Judaean Mountains, Jesus and the disciples come to Jericho…

… and encounter Bartimaeus... the blind man who clearly saw Jesus was Messiah.

Thus our sermon title for today, “The Blind Man Who Saw Clearly.”

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today.

Mark 10:46-52 “Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 47 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!” 48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

So, we come to Jericho. A city name that should sound familiar… Jericho appears 64x in the Bible.

And there’s a Jericho of the OT and a Jericho of the NT… both which were about 10 miles Northwest of the Dead Sea… extremely low in elevation…

I have a map showing the locations of these two Jericho’s. Old Jericho in Jesus’ day was largely abandoned… New Jericho was an attractive city.

If you read all three gospel accounts about Bartimaeus… it seems like there is a discrepancy…

Matthew & Mark record Jesus and the disciples, “… went out of Jericho...”

Where Luke writes, “He was coming near Jericho…”

So, did this event happen before or after arriving in Jericho?

Quite possibly both… because there were two Jericho’s.

Coming out of old Jericho and approaching New Jericho… somewhere in between the two cities is likely where our event in Mark 10 occurs.

Not a discrepancy at all.

If you visit Jericho today… and go to the ruins of ancient Jericho… There is a spring of water called the “Elisha Spring Fountain” (supposedly the spring from 2 Ki 2:21)… and there lays a sign that says… “The Lowest Place on Earth 1300 feet below sea level… 10,000 years old.”

Guess the people that made that fountain didn’t subscribe to Young Earth Creationism… Jericho is no doubt one of the oldest cities on earth, but not that old.

Nor is it that low… Jericho is actually 846 ft below sea level... NOT 1300 feet below sea level… that’s the elevation of the Dead Sea.

So… two errors on that ceramic tile sign…

I wonder if anyone gave any thought to these things at the fountain reveal celebration?

We first read about Jericho Num 22… where Balak sent for Balaam… the Israelites had not yet entered the land… and were encamped in Moab… across the Jordan… across from Jericho in that scene.

Fast forward to Joshua 2, and Israel is beginning to come into the land… the spies go to scout out Jericho…

There they meet Jesus’ ancestor, Rahab the Harlot… whom the Bible doesn’t hide… the world may hide an ancestor who was a prostitute, but not God’s word.

God’s not embarrassed by your past when you come to Him in faith. By faith Rahab was fully cleansed of past iniquity.

She is one of the few women that appears in Jesus’ genealogy (Matt 1:5) as she is the mother of Boaz (from the Book of Ruth)…

And she is listed in the Faith Hall of Fame… Heb 11:31 states, “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”

In Josh 6, the LORD’s army marched around the city one time for six days.

On the seventh day the Israelites marched around the city seven times and seven priests blew trumpets and the people shouted… the walls of Jericho fell… and they took the city.

That was somewhere around 1400 B.C. and Jericho became the first city to be destroyed after the Israelites entered the promised land…

The city sat vacant for some time… but around 825 B.C., the city was rebuilt.

1 Ki 16:34 declares “Hiel of Bethel built Jericho.”

Not too far south was the NT Jericho, an attractive city where Herod the Great had built a winter palace. Some call this city “Herod’s Jericho.”

Because Herod the Great had a Winter Palace here at Jericho.

Not to be confused with one of Herod’s other 14 palaces…

This is likely the Jericho where Jesus encountered Blind Bartimaeus in our account today, and then Zacchaeus, the Chief Tax Collector…recorded in Luke 19.

Which is a beautiful account of that tax collector getting saved… and one to go back and re-read.

From Jericho… Jesus ascends to Bethany near Jerusalem where He raises Lazarus from the dead… recorded only in John 11…

Mark 11:1 records they come to “Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives” just prior to the Triumphal entry.

Last week we read those words in V32.. “Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem...”

And, if you look at this final map to set our scene for today… the indeed went up in elevation…

As Jesus wrapped up His Perean Ministry… He and the disciples would have crossed through the “Dead Sea Depression” (1,355 feet below sea level (and the lowest land point on earth))… up to Jericho… up to Bethany… and finally up to Jerusalem which is about 2500 feet above sea level…

About a 3900 foot climb altogether… truly “going up to Jerusalem.”

So, with that… the stage is set…

V46 again reads, “Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.”

Matthew, Mark, and Luke (all the Synoptic Gospels record this account)… Syn meaning “together” and optic “pertaining to the eye”…

So, these three Gospels are “seen together” in similar content, order, and wording.

John has a very unique perspective… written much later and looking back on the life of Christ…

So, when an account like this appears in multiple Gospels… a harmony of the Gospels reveals certain details not recorded in one of the other Gospels…

For ex., in Matthew’s gospel… it’s recorded there are actually two blind men… Matt 20:30, “And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”

Mark and Luke only focus on the main blind man… Bartimaeus…

Now… this may seem strange to have two blind men sitting by the road begging… but it was not unusual at all for the first century… especially at this opportune location… well positioned on the road going up to Jerusalem when so many pilgrims were heading up for Passover.

It was good money to beg during the time of the feasts… thousands were passing by…

And, if good deeds had been foregone all year… a last minute make up could be accomplished…

If the priest asked, “Do you show mercy to the poor?”

“Oh, yes… even just the other day I gave money to the blind!”

That’s definitely NOT how God wants us to give or serve…

2 Cor 9:7 reads, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

If you tithe to this church, make sure you do so cheerfully Gk hilarŏs you can almost speak it into English…

Our root word for “hillarious.”

God wants you to give merrily… joyfully… it should be a joy to support the Lord’s work…

This is one of the reasons we don’t pass the plate. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don’t want people to give out of obligation.

If you’re so hilarious about giving, I’m sure you’ll figure out how to do it… you won’t need a plate in your face to remind you.

Back to the feast… Passover is one of the seven Jewish feasts or festivals… listed in Lev 23… and of the seven Exodus 23:14-17 explains three feasts were required for all men to appear in Jerusalem.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread… which was actually two feasts—Passover, followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread…

The Feast of Harvest… also called the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.

… and The Feast of Ingathering… also called the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

So, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles…

Roughly, our months of April, June and October…

Christians can see Messiah in the Seven Feasts… Four spring feasts fulfilled… looking back at what Christ accomplished at His first coming…

Passover… the April feast in our account ahead… fulfilled when Jesus became our Passover lamb…

Unleavened Bread- fulfilled in Jesus’ sinless life (as leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible)… therefore He was the perfect sinless sacrifice…

First Fruits fulfilled in Jesus’ resurrection as Jesus was resurrected this very day and became the "first fruits from the dead."

And, Weeks or Pentecost fulfilled in Acts 2 when God poured out His Holy Spirit and 3,000 Jews responded to Peter’s sermon and were saved.

And, there are three fall feasts yet fulfilled… that many believe prophetically point us toward His second coming…

Trumpets- YET fulfilled in the Rapture of the Church when Jesus will appear in the clouds… as He comes for His bride, the Church.

The Day of Atonement- Pointing to the day Jesus returns to earth… the Second Coming of Jesus… when the Jewish remnant "look upon Him whom they have pierced," repent and receive Jesus as Messiah.

And, Tabernacles or Booths–Holding future fulfilment in the Lord’s promise that He will once again “tabernacle” with His people when He returns to reign over all the world… pointing to the Millennial Reign of Christ.

So, back in Mark… knowing this was Passover time… which we see upcoming in Mark 14:1… it’s not surprising two blind men were begging…

And, in V46… you can circle the words “great multitude” and next to it write “because of Passover season.”

Now… take note… there are TWO blind men, but only one is named by name… and only named by name in Mark’s Gospel

His name means… Bartimaeus… lit. the “Son of Timaeus”…

“Bar” means “son of”… BAR… TIMAEUS…

Often the Bible lists a name and then gives the meaning of the name right there.

But, what does Timaeus mean?

It has two contrasting definitions… some define Timaeus as “highly prized.”

And, if that’s your definition, then… Bar Timaeus…

Is the “Son of One Highly Prized.”

The other definition of Timaeus is not so positive at all, as Timaeus could also be rendered as “polluted or unclean.”

Thus, “Son of the Unclean.”

And, given his status in life… and his perceived curse of being blind…

I would say more saw Bartimaeus as the “Son of the Unclean” rather then “Son of One Highly Prized.”

But, by the end of this account… like Jesus does so well… He is going to flip the script.

So much so, that Bartimaeus is not just some blind anonymous beggar by the side of the road…

He is known by name… not just the beggar… he is Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus… how did they know this? How did they know his name?

Did he show them his birth certificate?

I don’t think so… you see what we read at the end of this account… look at the last 5 words of V52…

What does Bartimaeus do? He “followed Jesus on the road.”

One thought is that as Bartimaeus followed… he would become a known disciple… especially to Peter, who would share his story with the Gospel writer Mark…

Kind of fascinating that when the Rich Young Ruler approached Jesus… we never got his name…

He’s the anonymous Rich Young Ruler… his name eludes us… never captured in scripture… he disappeared into obscurity…

Yet, the blind beggar who followed Jesus… his name is Bartimaeus.

… known by name because he followed Jesus.

Do you remember a key lesson Jesus told the disciples as the when the Rich Young Ruler went away sorrowful and the Peter asked, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

Jesus concluded that lesson saying, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

We see that play out with the Rich Young Ruler and Bartimaeus.

The Rich Young Ruler was first in this lifetime, but now is unknown… anonymous.

Bartimaeus was last in this lifetime, but now is first… known by name… in glory with Jesus… because of faith.

Both Both stood before Jesus and had the same opportunity to follow Him…

The Rich Young Ruler went away sorrowful because he had much…

Bartimaeus had virtually nothing, but gained all.

One last point about V46… Bartimaeus is described as “blind” and as a “beggar.”

The two are obviously related… sitting by the road begging was the profession of those who could not see.

The first century had far less opportunity for those with physical disabilities.

Most men, if you weren’t a scholar, worked manual labor jobs… craftsmen… farmers… some were in the military…

But not Bartimaeus… for he was blind…

We don’t have the details as to what caused his blindness…

Perhaps he was born blind, BUT…

…there seems to be some indication that he formerly could see, but now he cannot…

In V51 he requests to “receive” his sight…

The word “receive” can mean to “recover sight” or to “regain sight.”

Does Did he once possess sight… that is now lost?

What it would be like to see again? The faces of loved ones… and the beauty of the world… sunsets… trees… the horizon… all those images would just live in his mind as memories now that all was black.

And, as time goes on… the greater details of memories fade with time…

We begin to forget the beauty of the sunset… we forget the facial features of our long lost friends…

The blackness of blindness was all he saw.

And, so he has been robbed of sight… if he had a profession in the past… it’s gone… now he begs…

But, with that…research has shown that when a person loses one of their senses, the brain adapts and remodels or rewires itself…

A deaf person may experience enhanced vision.

A blind person may hear better.

And this is beyond learned behavior… the brain creates “super senses” as an adaptation.

And as blind Bartimaeus sat by the road side… he could sense with his amplified hearing that something different was happening…

If you were to sit daily in the same place, with or without sight, you would get a sense of the rhythm of the town…

At certain times… the trash is picked up… kids are going to school… all day long Amazon is being delivered.

And whatever normal rhythm existed in Jericho… it was now disrupted, and Bartimaeus picked up on it.

Luke 18:36-37 records, “And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. 37 So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.”

Back in Mark 10:47 we read, “And when he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

What news had reached Bartimaeus’ ears about Jesus of Nazareth and the miracles He performed?

What former blind person maybe passed his way and said, “I once was blind too! But Jesus of Nazareth restored my sight! Now I see!”

And, now Jesus was here! Passing by… Bartimaeus had this once in a lifetime opportunity to catch the attention of Jesus… in the midst of this large crowd, so he “began to cry out...”

Cry out by def. means “to scream”… Bartimaeus starts to shout at the top of his lungs… “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

He cries out for mercy… which Strong’s defines as “compassion by divine grace.”

You can sense the desperation of Bartimaeus… screaming at Jesus…

To everyone else he begged for money… but to Jesus, he begs for mercy…

For some… money is all they can give… they won’t give time… they won’t give energy… they won’t have a conversation with you… but they’ll throw you a coin… there’s nothing new under the sun.

But, Bartimaeus knew Jesus could give much more than money… He could give mercy.

It’s a little lost on us just how desperate and how hopeless Bartimaeus must have felt.

His whole existence had been robbed from him where life was widdled down to begging by the side of the road.

In that culture, to have such a disability was perceived not just as misfortune, but as a curse from God.

Think about Job’s friends…the first one to speak to him, Eliphaz, builds a case that Job’s sin caused his trouble…

Eliphaz said in Job 4:8, “Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.”

In John 9:2, upon encountering a different blind man, the disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

That culture held a strong stigma against those with a physical disability… or an illness… or infertility…

They were thought superstitiously cursed by God…

I’ve told the story of the young lady named “Mercy” in the Philippines… who had skin tuberculosis… untreated for several years…

When we encountered her and as I was leading her to the Lord… an old Filipina lady was repeatedly shouting in the background…

Later her words were translated to me… she was shouting “she’s not worthy… she’s not worthy...”

A similar superstitious bent.

And, so when Bartimaeus… the “Son of the Unclean”… cried out for Mercy…

He cried out for far more than his sight to be restored… He wants his life back.

He wants his curse lifted… He wants his reputation restored…

He wants to be self-sufficient and to live a dignified life.

And, he seems to know that Jesus can heal him of all these things…

In Matthew’s account, the blind men call Jesus “Lord,” and cry out for mercy.

To call someone “Lord” is to recognize them as your master.

And, mercy can also be deeper than a cry for compassion, but also a cry for forgiveness knowing one deserves judgment.

Did Bartimaeus fall into some sin that led to him contracting a disease that caused blindness?

After David sinned with Bathsheba, in Ps 51:1-2 he wrote, “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.”

Was Bartimaeus in a similar state of mind? Crying out for mercy because of his transgressions?

There is great desperation in Bartimaeus… crying out for mercy…

I’m reminded of Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector… Luke 18:13 portrays the desperation of the tax collector, “… the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’”

In that parable, it was the tax collector… not the religious Pharisee who was justified.

In Ps 51:17, David wrote, “A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”

God responds to this kind of honest desperation… this total surrender… this submission to Him…

He responds to this, but often other people DO NOT… look at V48… “Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

All the religious Jews going up to Jerusalem for Passover are shushing Bartimaeus…

Even stronger though… the “warned” him… meaning they rebuked him.

Picture this scene… a blind man cries out to Jesus for mercy and the religious people rebuke him to silence him.

Like Bartimaeus was a nuisance to Jesus… just like when the disciples rebuked the people bringing little children to Jesus.

Remember what Jesus said? Let the little children come to Me.

Jesus is not in the business of turning people away… that’s what religious legalists do.

In Jesus’ day, the scribes and Pharisees complained that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners…

And, true Christianity is receptive to the broken… to the lost… “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

There is a great lesson to be learned from this passage… do not allow the crowd… especially not the religious crowd… to dictate how… or whether or not you come to Jesus.

Just like Bartimaeus… they try to rebuke him to silence, but what does V48 again say, “… but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

You can just feel the emotion of the scene… no one was going to stop him from crying out to Jesus…

Bartimaeus is shouting at the top of his lungs for mercy… quite a beautiful scene…

It reminds me of how David, in 2 Sam 6… how he didn’t care what anyone thought about his honest worship to the Lord. His wife Michal rebuked him, and he told her, “And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight.”

King or not… David didn’t care if other were embarrassed by his worship…

Just like Bartimaeus wasn’t going to let crowd stop him from crying out to Jesus…

Just like the woman with the issue of blood pressed through the crowd… persistent to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment.

God responds to persistent people… to persistent prayers…

Jesus says to “Ask, Seek, Knock...” Keep asking, seeking, and knocking… be persistent…

And, be utterly desperate for God’s mercy in your life…

What’s so fascinating to me in this scene is here we have a blind man… who is so desperate to encounter the Messiah… he doesn’t care what anyone thinks…

AND, twice now he is recorded calling Jesus the “Son of David.”

Which is a Messianic title used in 17 verses in the New Testament.

It looks back to 2 Sam 7:12-16 when God made a covenant with David that God would establish forever… the throne and the kingdom of his seed who came after him…

And, as Bartimaeus cries out “Son of David”… he is ascribing Jesus to the fulfillment of this prophecy… which He was.

Even though Bartimaeus was a man with no eyesight… he had tremendous insight…

Hearing of the miracles of Jesus… did Bartimaeus think back… and connect the dots that Jesus was the Messiah just as Isa 35:5 spoke about when Isaiah wrote, “ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing.”

Jesus quoted and sent that same verse to John the Baptist when he doubted saying, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Truly that verse is fulfilled in the Millennial kingdom, and partially fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry.

But many Jews thought that time of restoration of all things was upon them…

And, maybe as Bartimaeus cried out “Son of David”… the religious Jews recognized that Bartimaeus spoke deeper than ancestry… that he was calling Jesus “Messiah”…

And, perhaps that’s another reason the Jews told Bartimaeus to be silent.

Bartimaeus was the blind man who saw clearly… what the religious leaders failed to see in their pride… the Jesus is the Christ.

Many of us will never know what it is like to be blind physically, but many of us remember what it was like to be blind spiritually.

And, as Bartimaeus cries out… he is expressing faith in the Son of David…

Most people don’t risk looking a fool and being rebuked in a crowd… for something you don’t believe in.

And, with his faith profession… come great spiritual insight. Jesus is the Son of David.

Bartimaeus’ raw outcry for mercy and profession that Jesus is the Messiah… is the very kind of faith that moves mountains…

Despite the mountains of being blind… and ostracized… and shushed by the crowd…

The object of Bartimaeus’ faith was Jesus Christ…

And, not only does that quality of faith move mountains… it also stops the Savior…

Look again at V49 “So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.”

The crowd is thick… a great multitude is following Jesus… and yet…

By the honest cry of Bartimaeus, God stops in His tracks.

In March 1881, Spurgeon said, “I have heard of Joshua, who made the sun and the moon stand still, but I rank the blind beggar above Joshua, for he causes the Sun of Righteousness to stand still! Yes, he who created both sun and moon stood still, and the Lord listened to the voice of a man.”

Jesus was on mission to get to Jerusalem… His final Passover was near… He was in the shadow of the cross… the redemption of mankind was upon Him… the most important events in human and eternal history were unfolding…

And, yet… the persistent prayers of a blind beggar stops Him in His tracks.

Jesus’ compassion to Bartimaeus… despite the circumstance of the cross ahead… is amazing.

Never for a second think that your outcry to God doesn’t matter.

God will stand still for you. He loves you. He’s not to busy to hear you.

I just mentioned the women with the issue of blood and I’m again reminded of that account… that was another time when the crowds thronged Jesus…

And, upon her touch of faith He turned around and said, “Who touched Me?”

There are moments in time when great faith is expressed… and God stops… for it is a powerful moment.

2 Ch 16:9 declared “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

There were thousands of people on the road… and it’s not recorded that Jesus stopped for any of them…

In 1 Sam 16:7, God once told Samuel, “For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

How many Pilgrims heading up to Jerusalem for the Passover feast had the outward appearance of righteousness, but their hearts were far from God?

Jesus didn’t stop for them.

How many Pilgrims reflected the thorny soil in the Parable of the soils… their hearts crowded with cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches…

Jesus didn’t stop for them.

How many Pilgrims ascended to Jerusalem out of religious obligation, not in the joy of the Lord?

Jesus didn’t stop for them either.

At the Passover of Jesus’ first year of ministry, many believed in Jesus when they saw the signs He did.

And, then John 2:24 records, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men...”

Jesus knew the hearts of those superficial professors of faith… they desired a political Messiah… they desired prosperity for themselves…

Jam 4:3 declares, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

There are so many people following Jesus for what they can GET… not what they can GIVE.

There were a multitude of hearts ascending to Jerusalem in this crowd that followed Jesus… and He only stopped for the beggar who could not see.

And, then… as Jesus stopped… at the end of V49 we read, “Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”

What hypocrisy… a moment ago some of these people were warning Bartimaeus to be quiet.

NOW, that the eye of the LORD is upon him… they encourage him.

“Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”

They just told him to ‘shut up’… now they say ‘get up’… what two-facedness… what hypocrisy…

People can be so fickle… they sway with the wind… they flow with tides… culture changes about every ten years…

I never want my compass to be centered to that which is constantly changing…

With a compass like that… how could one ever reach their destination?

I pray we all are centered on the constant word of God.

Psalm 119:89 declares, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.”

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Matt 24:35 Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

There are people in our lives as fickle as this crowd… don’t be swayed by them…

Jesus didn’t commit Himself to the crowd.

And, had Bartimaeus listened to them… he would have been silent and Jesus never would have stopped.

Bartimaeus may have been blind, but he centered his eyes on Jesus… not on the crowds.

And, as Jesus commanded him to be brought to Him…

With great anticipation, we read these beautiful words in V50, “And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.”

That is a detail only recorded in Mark, and I could write a whole sermon based upon that one verse.

At first glance, this seem like a relatively insignificant verse.

Blind Bartimaeus is called, he rises and tosses aside his garment… his outer garment…

Which may have just been his most valuable possession…

Bartimaeus’ cloak was not a fashion statement… he was to humbled for fashion…

It was his coat by day, his blanket by night… his source of warmth and protection from the elements…

But it was also the tool of his trade… the garment would be spread out before him, so alms to the poor could be tossed his way…

The garment was very valuable to Jesus…

So we witness a tremendous act of faith in Bartimaeus “throwing aside his garment...”

He could have retained the garment… after all Jesus didn’t promise his sight would be restored… he only called to him…

No one would have thought differently of Bartimaeus if he approached Jesus holding his garment…

But in Bartimaeus’ heart… it would have been a reservation… it would have been symbolic of not fully surrendering…

It would have been as though he were reasoning, “I’ll hold onto this just in case Jesus isn’t who I thought He was… just in case He doesn’t heal my sight… just in case I need to continue begging…”

But, Bartimaeus did not have reservations… there was no “just in case”… no contingency plan…

He had one plan… and that was to surrender all to Jesus…

There was no plan B… no more going back to begging… no more need for the garment…

He threw it aside and took a massive step of faith towards Jesus… to heal him… to sustain him… to provide for him and save him.

And in glory, Rev 3:5 promises, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments...”

I’m fully confident because of his faith we will see Bartimaeus in heaven one day… clothed in a garment of white.

There are moments in our lives just like this… opportunities for us to toss aside our safety nets… and in all abandon… to follow Jesus…

And, to follow Him like Bartimaeus… we too must cast aside whatever may hinder us…

Whatever reservation… whatever sin… whatever wordly distraction…

This is true for the unsaved person first coming into relationship with Christ… just as it is for the person who had accepted Jesus, but still has a foot in the world.

14 years after I had accepted Jesus as Savior… I still had a blindness… a spiritual dullness… and it wasn’t until I cast aside my addiction and my career… things that I was holding onto… my outer garment…

That God blessed me with spiritual sight to understand His word… and to follow Him above all.

And, as this moment was upon Bartimaeus, in V51, Jesus asks, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

Seems kind of obvious to me what BLIND Bartimaeus may want…

And, I’m sure Jesus knew, but God wants to hear us say it… to put forth our request.

Because, who knows what we might say…

After all this was the same exact question Jesus asked James and John in V36, and they responded, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”

Bartimaeus doesn’t seek extraordinary glory… he just wants ordinary health…

He responds, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”

Rabboni appears only one other time in scripture… spoken by Mary Magdalene in John 20…

By def. Rabboni means, “My master, my teacher”… it’s a very personal term of one who has committed themselves to a precious master and teacher.

Bartimaeus is all in.

And, this personal relationship of submitting to Jesus as your Rabboni… this is where we all need to be as Christians…

If you’re not there already… cast aside whatever may be holding you back.

Wrapping up in V52, “Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.”

The faith that Bartimaeus placed in Jesus… brought healing… not in time… but notice “immediately he received his sight...”

And, I imagine the first face he saw was that of Jesus…

Which kind of ruins all of the other marvelous things we see in this world…

What is a sunrise or a sunset compared to the face of Jesus?

What is a waterfall or a canyon compared to the face of Jesus?

There was a famous hymn writer of the 1800’s and early 1900’s who wrote over 8,000 hymns and songs.

At six weeks of age, she contracted an eye infection... and her Doctor failed to properly treat it leading to her being permanently blind.

Her name… Fanny Crosby. And, as I imagine Bartimaeus looking upon Jesus… I’m reminded of this quote by Fanny Crosby…

“If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind… for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.”

What beautiful perspective.

Worship team please come…

Some of my favorite words of this whole account are the last five words which tells us Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the road.”

So often people were healed by Jesus and went their own way…

For Bartimaeus… there was only one way… and that was to follow Jesus.

Much like Peter, after many disciples turned back and walked with Jesus not more. Jesus asked “Do you also want to go away?”

And, Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

The same words we have been blessed to take in today.

Let’s pray!

Quite the account today… Bartimaeus was a blind beggar on the side of the road… and after he encountered Jesus…

He became a disciple on the road.

If you have never encountered that transformative power in your life… or if you need to cast aside your garment one more time…

Like Bartimaeus… don’t let anyone or anything hold you back… cry out to him today…

Come and pray with me in the front as we sing this final song.

And, for all of you… God bless your week ahead!