A Beggar’s Statement of Faith

Context

The destination is clear: Jerusalem. The occasion is clear: The Passover. The feelings among the disciples and many others fear and anxiety. The mission of the Messiah: unclear and unknown to many. The determination of Jesus: to suffer, to die and to rise again to redeem His people. And yet, as Jesus continues towards Jerusalem, He is also determined to display compassion to those in need and to teach everyone the truths of His precious message of good news. In our text today, Jesus displays extraordinary compassion and in so doing, provides a display of true faith. The blind beggar stands in stark contrast to the rich young ruler mentioned earlier in the chapter. The rich ruler had sight and everything else except the ability to see Jesus for who He is. We will see, the blind beggar, who we know from Mark’s account is named Bartimaeous, could not see, had nothing except the ability to see Jesus for who He is.

Before reading our text, I want to take a moment to address a potential point of confusion that often comes when the gospel account of this event in the ministry of Jesus are compared. It centers on the the location of Jesus, His disciples and the crowd, specifically as it relates to the city of Jericho. Our text begins by stating that Jesus was drawing near to Jericho. In other words, as Jesus approached Jericho. Marks’s account says, as He was leaving Jericho (and so does Matthew’s). To some, this may appear to be insignificant, and to be clear, whether Jesus was approaching the city or leaving the city, what occurs is no less important. But some liberal scholars use this difference as cause to raise questions regarding the veracity of this text and ultimately all of Scripture. But even if we are not tempted to doubt the entire event as true, I suggest the following explanation that is widely accepted.

Now, I do want to make clear that this is widely accepted, but I don’t think we can be 100% certain this is the right explanation. I am convinced this is the most credible.

In Jesus’ day there were two cities called Jericho: an OT Jericho and its NT counterpart. The NT Jericho thrived from, the late 2nd century to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The NT Jericho was situated about 2 miles southwest of OT Jericho. Mark relates the healing of Bartimaeous to OT Jericho (as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples) thus the event occured as Jesus was leaving that city and entering it’s NT counterpart. Luke, on the other hand, associated the incident with NT Jericho; following this, he (Luke) recounted Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus within the town. Thus, Luke wrote that Bartimaeous was healed as Jesus was approaching Jericho and then that Jesus encountered Zacchaeus as he entered and was passing through the city.

But the miracle we will consider today is one of the last miracles we read Jesus performing before He goes to the cross. He and His disciples have been journeying to Jerusalem since we first read of it back in chapter 9.

Luke 9:51 ESV

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

So now, let’s fix our attention on our main task which is seek to understand this text and invite the Spirit of God to grant us insight for His glory.

Read

Luke 18:35–43 ESV

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front 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 commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Introduction

Isaiah 6:9–10 ESV

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

This is the prophet Isaiah’s commission to go and preach God’s message to Israel. It’s an unusual commission to say the least. Unusual because he is instructed to tell people not to understand and to effect heart hardening and spiritual blindness. That’s what it may seem like on the surface. But Isaiah did not proceed as if he believed God called him to preach a complex and obscure message so people would not understand it. He faced what many preachers face: if hearers are resistant to the truth, the only recourse is to tell them the truth yet again.. and try to make it more clear than before. But to do this is to expose them to the risk of rejecting the truth again which results in an increased hardness of heart. Isaiah’s task was to proclaim the word of God in clear and simple terms to a people who had rebelled against God. The only hope this rebellious people had to be healed of the spiritual blindness was to hear and believe the word of God.

One of the main characters in our story is a man by the name of Bartimaeous. His father’s name was Timaeous (Mark tells us that). Matthew tells us that Bartimaeous was not alone by the roadside. There was another blind beggar with him. But for Bartimaeous, darkness was his reality. As each day closed after a exhausting and humiliating day of begging, he went to sleep in darkness. When he awoke the next day to make his way to a public place to begin another day of begging, he awoke to darkness. Whenever he considered questions regarding his life: why am i blind?, Does God know I am blind? Does God care that I am blind? Will I ever be anything more than a blind beggar? When will relief come?

Until Bartimaeous came in contact with the message of the kingdom… the good news of Jesus Christ, I suggest he really could not answer these questions. He was left in the dark. He was blind to the realities in which he lived. You and I, unless we know and embrace the message of the good news of Jesus Christ… unless we see Jesus, we are as blind as Bartimaeous was. We are blind to the realities in which we live.

FCF

Many cannot see.

We know the people of Isaiah’s day, of Jesus’ day. We see them every day. Perhaps we’re one of them. Blind to the reality. Living in darkness.

Main Idea

Unless we see Jesus, we cannot see.

Main Question

What are the realities in which we live that faith in Jesus Christ enables us to see?

If this blind beggar’s exchange with Jesus displays true faith, then what truths shape his profession? I will suggest 6 truths.

Destitution (35)

I think the beggar’s destitution, that is, his extreme poverty and need is clear even in referring to him as blind and a beggar.

Luke describes him as someone who was begging by the roadside. The picture here is someone who was a social and probably a religious outcast. He was not worth the effort to help and was beyond the reach of God’s favor.

This beggar, who has a name that we know from Marks gospel, Bartimaeous, is a picture of the condition of man. This is not to suggest that Bartimaeous was not blind and that he was not living in extreme poverty, but I do think we are meant to see beyond the physical here.

You and I are beggars. Have you ever heard or even used the phrase, I’m just one beggar telling others beggars know where to find bread? That phrase is often used to describe evangelism. But just focusing on this statement… it’s true. All people, despite our advantages or disadvantages, none of us possess anything that could be counted as currency to secure favor from God. We are destitute.

But I want us to consider an exchange between Jesus and His disciples regarding another blind person. It was a man who was blind from birth, and as Jesus and His disciples passed him by, the disciples asked:

John 9:2 (ESV)

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

So there is their assumption. This man was born blind either because of his own sin or the sin of his parents.

This is Jesus’ answer:

John 9:3 ESV

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Now, Luke’s concern is not for us to focus on blindness, but on the condition of spiritual poverty. God uses the destitute to display His glory.

Church, you and I bring nothing to the table, and it is important that we see this. We can’t loose sight of our need for rescue from God. Our need for a Savior. But know this, our destitution is no match for the glorious purposes of God. Yes, we contend with sin and a fallen world. Yes, we are engaged in a spiritual battle with our flesh and the evil forces that are at work in our lives and in the world. But God is at work as well. He displays His glory in the midst of wickedness. He shines His light into the darkness.

And unbeliever… yes you are destitute and have nothing to offer to God. And perhaps you have no concern to offer God anything. I urge you to pause in this moment and consider who Jesus is. He regards the destitute. He regards the pitiful, the poor, the blind and the naked. And not only does he regard us, he displays His glory through such people.

The simple truth about all of us is that we need a Savior. The glorious truth is that we have a Savior in Jesus Christ and He displays His glory through His people. God displays His works… His purposes through the destitute.

This truth… our spiritual destitution is accounted for in true faith.

Another truth accounted for in true faith is

Desperation (36-39)

Bartimaeous becomes aware that something’s going on. There’s commotion. Yes, people are passing through, making their way to Jerusalem, but something significant is happening on the road. He asks what’s going on. Some of the crowd told him that

Luke 18:37 (ESV)

… “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

As soon as he learns that Jesus is there. As soon as Bartimaeous know that Jesus is within earshot of his voice, he starts calling for Him. He cried out v. 38 tells us.

Now, I want us to see that the fact that the crowd emphasized that Jesus from Nazareth was coming through, did not give pause to Bartimaeous in calling out to Jesus for help. Why do I say that. It was unusual for someone of significance to emerge from Nazareth. Remember Nathaniel’s response when Philip told Nathaniel that they had found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Bartimaeous was not concerned about the arbitrary classifications of people that the elite imposed on others. He himself was relegated as an outcast as we already noted.

We get to verse 39, and the crowd attempts to silence Bartimaeous’s cry for Jesus’ help. Why? We are not told explicitly, but it seems that there was a general consensus that Jesus was too important to bother with this beggar. Or to put it another way, this beggar was too unimportant to have the attention of Jesus.

So, the crowd was essentially telling Bartimaeous to shut up.

But that doesn’t shut Bartimaeous up. Notice again verse 39: but he cried out all the more. Bartimaeous is not curious about Jesus, he is desperate for Jesus. No amount of peer pressure or fear of man is going to stop him from crying out for what he needs.

As one commentator put it:

Jesus is the final hope of the otherwise hopeless.

Shark Tank

Desperation is not a turn off to Jesus. In fact, we are suggesting that a clear perception of our desperation before God is essential to faith.

Bartimaeous says:

you all think I’m insignificant, that’s fine

you all think I not worth the time or effort, that’s fine

Is my presence repugnant to you, that fine

Do you think of me as pathetic, that’s fine

That’s all fine, but give me Jesus! Jesus, I need you.

Church, do you fear P.A.P. (perceived as pathetic)?

Do you fear letting anyone know that your marriage is in shambles because of feelings of embarrassment or shame?

Do you not reach out for help, accountability and counsel for your sexual struggles, be it pornography, lust, sinful attractions, out of a fear of exposing the ugliness of your sin?

Do you labor to give the impression that you have it all together… or maybe mostly together?

Do you fear being perceived as pathetic?

Can I tell you what Bartimaeous understood? Being pathetic does not turn Jesus off. Jesus is not a shark, looking for the impressive. Looking for those who have perfect marriages and only the sexually pure. His prerequisite for redemption is not having it all together or even mostly together. He calls the pathetic. he call the outcasts. He invites the weak and the sinful.

Of course, His call is not one that ignores sin or marginalizes the offense of our sin. He displayed this clear enough on the cross where he paid the penalty of sinners.

But what is pathetic is the effort we often employ to give off the idea that we really don’t need a Savior. That we have it all together. That we don’t struggle with sin. That’s what is pathetic.

And unbeliever, know this: Jesus came for those who are sick with sin. He’s the only one who can offer healing… forgiveness, restoration, true hope… salvation.

But don’t let this call to stop pretending that we have it all together make you angry or scared. Yes, we need to be like Bartimaeous, and cry out to Jesus for help, for intervention unashamedly but know this. Look at verse 40:

Luke 18:40 (ESV)

And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him…

Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. He is determined to fulfill His mission. He knows He is heading to His suffering and death. Much must have been flooding His mind, but He never had too little time or bandwidth for compassion.

He stopped. Sinner, this is what Jesus does for us. He stops. He hears the cries of sinners and stops. He pursues us, and responds to our desperate cries of faith with love and compassion.

This is the profession of faith of sinners… of blind beggars, of miserable moms, of disenchanted dads, of wounded wives, of hurried husbands, of troubled teens, sad singles, worried widows and all the other classifications we may be able to think of. True faith accounts for our destitution, our desperation and

Doctrine (38-39)

Bartimaeous’ cry to God for help was not empty. In addition to him receiving his sight, His understanding of Jesus is miraculous.

He refers to Jesus as the Son of David in verses 38 and 39. I think it’s unlikely that Bartimaeous met Jesus or even heard Jesus before this moment, but some how, some way he came to understand that Jesus was Messiah. He displays this in his declaration of Jesus as the Son of David.

Now Son of David is the title to refer to the heir of the Messianic throne. It references the promise that David received in 2 Sam 7:12-14, where he was promised a greater son and a reign over an everlasting kingdom

Now to be sure, word had spread about Jesus. In fact just a short time before this, something significant happened in Bethany. Jesus resurrected Lazarus from the dead. This news would have spread, and I’m sure Bartimaeous would have heard it.

His cry for help shows that he is aware of the power of Jesus to help. But I suggest that Bartimaeous linked together the facts that Jesus was believed to work miracles and that His mission was the mission of the Messiah.

His cry to have mercy on me displays a measure of repentance. It demonstrates his awareness that he has no merit of his own to offer. Bartimaeous believed that Jesus performed His mighty works in virtue of His divinely-appointed office.

The cry for mercy is a plea for compassion and healing. The need for mercy is often associated with sin. We cry for mercy out of a recognition that our sin renders us undeserving of God’s intervention and restoration. But we cry anyway because we know He is our only answer… our only hope. We cry for mercy not only because He is the only One who can save, but because He is merciful.

Consider what Psalm 46 says:

Psalm 46:1 ESV

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Stephen Charnock, in his Existence and Attributes of God said,

His providence is not wearied, nor His care fainting; He never wanted will to relieve us, “for He is our refuge,” nor even can want power to support us, “for He is a God from everlasting to everlasting.” The church never wanted a pilot to steer her and a rock to shelter her and dash in pieces the waves that threaten her.”

We are not on our own to contend with the struggles and pain of our lives. That Jesus is our Messiah means He is as merciful to His people now as He was towards Bartimaeous. He seeks and saves the lost. He forgives our sin. He restores peace to our souls when we are in times of unrest. This is part of what should fill in our doctrine.

Even is our rebellion… our resisting God, His mercy is not wearied. His mercy is not diminished by our lack of understsnding or failure to obey. We cry out to God for mercy because He is merciful towards sinners. This is part of our doctrinal confession.

So our destitution, our desperation, doctrine… all realities accounted for in our statement of faith… our profession. Also,

Deference (40-41)

Jesus stops, and asks Bartimaeous a question: what do you want me to do for you? This is the right posture. Jesus is not asking Bartimaeous to supply him with knowledge that He doe not possess. Jesus is seeking to elicit faith from him.

Jesus calls for Bartimaeous to be brought to Him. Mark lets us know that Bartimaeous threw off his cloak, sprang up and came near to Jesus.

With Bartimaeous’ declaration of faith that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus calls on him to ask with faith. Deference is humble submission and respect. This is the posture with which we appeal to Jesus.

We do not presume to ask. We do not ask from a place of entitlement. We ask our Lord. This is what Bartimaeous does. Look at v. 41: Lord, let me recover my sight.

Lord is a recognition of deity. Bartimaeous was seeking mercy from Messiah, from the Lord… from God.

After Christ’s invitation to declare his heart, Bartimaeous respnds with a display of humility in his request.

Bartimaeous is not just being polite and addressing Jesus as sir. He is recognizing Jesus as His Lord.

This was Messiah who was fulfilling prophecy. Jesus sited Isa. 61:1 when He said in

Luke 4:18 ESV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

In restoring Bartimaeous’ sight, the earth did not shake, no strong wind came, no voice from heaven was heard, just Jesus’ words receive your sight and Matthew lets us know that He touched his eyes when He said these words. Simple. Jesus shows this beggar mercy.

This is the mission of the Messiah unfolding before the newly restored eyes of Bartimaeous, and he receives it with joy but also with humility… deference.

Another truth faith accounts for is

Duty (42)

This is perhaps unexpected at this point. While faith is a gift from God, it is a gift that comes as a result of God’s work of regeneration. I suggest that Bartimaeous experienced much more than a miracle in recovering his eyesight. He was brought to life… new life in Christ. And because he was now alive, he could respond to Jesus in faith. He could respond with obedience.

Notice what Jesus says in v. 42: your faith has made you well

What Jesus does in verse 42 is command Barttimaeous to receive his sight.

Really, Jesus turns this into a lesson about faith by commending Bartimaeous’ faith publically.

Bartimaeous’s spiritual eyes were opened to see Jesus for who He is… the Son of David… the Messiah… Lord. He was then able to appeal to Jesus in faith. He obeyed Christ in his request for His physical sight to be restored. And Jesus commends this act of obedience…. says that his faith made you well.

You know, if you’re using the ESV version of the bible the phrase made you well is one Greek word which often means to save. In fact, the KJV translates it that way: your faith has saved you.

Luke notes more than once in his gospel when faith is instrumental is Jesus acting

Luke 7:50 ESV

And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 8:48 ESV

And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Clearly, Bartimaeous’ belief in Jesus brought benefit to him. The healing pictures the presence of a deeper reality beyond the restoration of his sight. His faith saved him.

Unbeliever, I implore you to see yourself in this blind beggar. Just like the rest of us here. We have a responsibility… a duty to believe that Jesus is the Christ. That He is the Savior. That He is the one who came to save His people from their sin.

A sober warning is given in the book of Romans

Romans 1:20 ESV

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

That’s us. We are without an excuse to not believe. God help those who persist in their unbelief.

There’s one more truth we need to take note of. It seems to me that this truth is often put in a separate category than faith. But I think, as we will see, this particular truth is part and parcel of faith.

Doxology (43)

Worship. This is the result of his encounter with the Son of David. The result of his understanding of Jesus and the restoration of his sight.

The healing is instantaneous, which the other gospel accounts note as well.

Bartimaeous becomes a following disciple as v. 43 says. So what happens?

Bartimaeous glorifies God

And the people praise God when they see this exchange between Jesus and Bartimaeous.

This is the proper response of those who receive mercy from Christ.

Doxology is what should result as we

see to understand more fully understand the two natures of Jesus and how exactly did He become man, as we considered briefly in our statement of faith, the more clarity we gain into these things, the greater our worship should become.

As we seek to plunge the depths of the doctrines of Grace, the passionate our worship should become.

We were made to worship. To worship the one, true living God. To worship Jesus the Messiah. The Son of Man… the Son of David. We were made to worship.

Bartimaeous saw… understood this purpose clearly when he saw Jesus clearly.

JC Ryle

Grateful love is the true spring of real obedience to Christ.

Again note the simplicity here. Bartimaeous’ statement of faith was one that resulted in his following of Jesus and worshipping Jesus. This is the life of all Christians today. Following Jesus and worshipping Jesus.

Conclusion

So what is your statement of faith?

Does it account for your spiritual destitution?

For your desperate condition before a holy God?

Is it doctrinally sound? In other words, does it reflect good christology? That Jesus is the Son of Man.. that He is the Son of David. That He is Messiah.., that He is Lord? That He is merciful?

Does it account for our rightful posture towards God… one of deference… one of humility?

Does it recognize our duty to respond to Jesus by faith. That none of us possess an excuse to that justify our rejection of Jesus.

Does it recognize the proper connection right belief and worship. Doxology is the purpose of our lives.

Perhaps some of you, if we think carefully and are honest, we most relate to the crowd. You’re willing to consider God, and are interested in Him and who He is and what He does. If you were there in Jesus’ day, perhaps you would have been part of the crowd that lined the streets as Jesus came in Jerusalem on the day of His triumphal entry. Excited, curious yet remaining at a distance.

Or maybe you most relate to Bartimaeous and the other blind guy he was with that Matthew tells us about. As soon as Jesus called, they left everyting they had (which was a cloak) and went to Him without hesitation. They cried out for mercy to the One who could and would grant it. They followed Him and worshipped Him. Their Messiah and their God was Jesus.