Luke 18:31-43 - Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Helen Keller is known for being both blind and deaf after an illness at the age of 19 months. With the help of her life-long teacher and friend, Anne Sullivan, she became the first deaf and blind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Someone once asked Helen Keller the following question:
“Isn’t it terrible to be blind.”
What a brash and blunt question to ask!
Her response was priceless, however.
“Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.”
Her answer goes beautifully along with what Paul says in Ephesians 1:18:
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
Brothers and sisters, there are two types of seeing. We can see with the eyes of our physical body and we can see with the eyes of our heart. So many walk around blindly following what they see with their eyes and completely miss what really matters - namely the eternal destination of their soul.
May we learn from our Scripture today what is means to truly see with the eyes of our heart.
Read Full Scripture:
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
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.
Prayer
Today we will see three important ways that disciples of Jesus Christ follow Him in faith. The first is…
I. Disciples of Christ Understand the Savior’s Purpose (31-34)
I. Disciples of Christ Understand the Savior’s Purpose (31-34)
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
This is the third time that Jesus predicts His death in what are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (namely the first three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are called Synoptic because there are many parallel passages between the first three Gospels while John’s Gospel, which was written last, focuses moreso on theology and filling in more understanding of Christ. Synoptic comes from a Greek word meaning ‘seeing together.’ The three Synoptic Gospels give us a beautiful picture of Christ’s life with John adding much to our Christology.
Here are the predictions that Christ gave while on earth about His coming crucifixion:
The first is found in Matthew 16:21-23, Mark 8:31-32, and Luke 9:21-22.
The second is found in Matthew 17:22-23, Mark 9:30-32, and Luke 9:43-45.
The third and final is found in Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 10:32-34, and Luke 18:31-34.
It should be noted that John’s Gospel has some other predictions although they are more subtle and not as direct. Consider when Mary anoints Jesus with a costly perfume in John 12:1-8. Jesus makes reference to her anointing Him for His burial. John 13:33 and John 14:25 also hint toward His death to come.
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
Looking back at verse 31 we see that Jesus is continuing on His road to Jerusalem. And He is reminding His disciples - seemingly privately here as He seems to take the Twelve away from the crowd that is following Him - that His time of death is at hand.
As He mentions His coming death the final time, He refers to himself as the Son of Man yet again. We have discussed this a couple of other times as we have gone through Luke’s Gospel. This self-given name of Christ was one of His favorite self-references and occurs some 25 times in Luke’s Gospel alone. It comes from Daniel 7:13-14 and refers to His deity.
He then tells His disciples that everything written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. This refers to everything written in the Old Testament about the Messiah - specifically in this instance - everything written in the Old Testament about the death of the Messiah.
There is much written about the coming death of Christ in the Old Testament. We can go back as far as Genesis 3:15 where we see that the enemy will bruise His heel, referring to the crucifixion. Praise the Lord that Jesus would crush the serpent's head showing Christ’s defeat over death and the grave and in the future, showing Christ’s ultimate victory over Satan and his demons as He throws them into the lake of fire.
Moving forward we see Psalm 22 which speaks of the death of Christ and is even quoted by Jesus on the cross.
Isaiah 52-53 clearly mentions the suffering servant who would be crucified for the sins of the world. With some detail, the prophet Isaiah describes crucifixion before it had even been invented yet!
Time would fail to go through all of the other many prophecies about the suffering Messiah, but it is clear that what Jesus is telling the disciples should not be news to them. They should understand it by now. Jesus is letting the disciples know that the time is getting near. They are on the road to Jerusalem. And at the end of this road, there is trouble.
He goes into even more detail about this in the next two verses…
For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
Jesus describes this coming trouble in some detail. He tells them that He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
All of these prophecies in Luke 18:32-33 prove true.
Luke 22:63, Luke 23:11, and Luke 23:35-43 show us three different times where Jesus is mocked and shamefully treated by soldiers and even by Herod at one point.
Jesus is spat upon in Matthew 26:67 as well as Matthew 27:30.
He is flogged (or better-termed scourged) as seen in Matthew 27:26 and John 19:1. Following His scourging, He was killed through crucifixion (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21-32, Luke 23:26-43, John 19:16-27).
Praise the Lord that there is more - on the third day He states here that He will rise. And on the third day Christ did rise - to the praise of Glorious Name (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-10, John 20:1-18).
I’m not sure Jesus could be any more clear about the future than He has just been, but listen to the disciples’ response…
But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Only Luke lets us know that the disciples had no idea what Jesus is talking about.
He literally says they didn’t get it in three different ways!
They don’t understand, it is hidden, and they don’t grasp it.
Exactly how this practically works out is difficult to understand.
It appears that their spiritual blindness is somewhat multifaceted.
1. They are likely blinded by their pre-understandings.
Their poor Messianic theology is likely blinding them from accepting the truth of what Christ has just revealed. Eventually, after the resurrection, they would look back at this time and finally understand what Jesus meant. But at this point, the idea of a suffering servant Messiah was too far from their expectations for their minds to accept.
2. It was hidden from them.
There seems to be an aspect in which this mystery was not illuminated by the Holy Spirit for the disciples completely.
Somewhere between their closed-mindedness and the lack of revealing of the Holy Spirit, they were left in the dark about what Jesus had just said.
May we each pray that we understand the Savior’s purpose my friends. Be sure that your pre-understandings don’t cloud your understanding of the Gospel. Be sure that nothing prevents you from following Christ and understanding His Word.
It is vitally important for us to remember that…
Proximity to Christ does not mean we are aligned with the purpose of Christ.
We can be around the people of God and serving and completely miss what Christ is doing. We must pray for clarity to understand the Word of God and His commands to us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, His Word will be illuminated, and we will not miss the Savior’s purpose.
Next we see that…
Scripture References: Ephesians 1:18, Daniel 7:13-14, Genesis 3:15, Psalm 22, Isaiah 52-53
II. Disciples of Christ Practice Persistence (35-39)
II. Disciples of Christ Practice Persistence (35-39)
As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
As they continue on the road to Jerusalem, we are introduced to a blind man in the book of Luke. Mark tells us that the name of this blind man is Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). This man is a beggar and is sitting by the roadside. As a side note, Matthew informs us that there are two blind men who are together (Matthew 20:30).
I love the synoptic - seeing together - that we get from the Gospel writers. Their accounts provide such a beautiful complete picture for us of what occured. These are not contradictory accounts - they are complementary accounts - giving us a more complete view. The diversity of views that we see in these accounts also lends to a wonderful proof of the truth and reliability of the Scripture. If these men got together to fabricate a story, they would have provided accounts with very little variation of view.
As we mentioned quite some time ago, homicide detective and Christian writer J. Warner Wallace, author of Cold-Case Christianity, says that variations in the accounts of witnesses actually proves an account much more reliable. Accounts that are far too similar show that there has been collusion and planning.
Bartimaeus is the only one we see speaking in this interchange. Why is the other man left out of Luke and Mark’s Gospels? Many New Testament scholars think that Bartimaeus became a prominent member of the church in Jerusalem and was commonly known. This would explain the specific mentioning of his interchange with Christ. Because the Gospel authors seem to hone in on Bartimaeus, we will focus on him alone today as well.
And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.
At this point in Jesus’s ministry, we are told that there is a great crowd following Him. This blind man cannot see, but he sure can hear. He hears the crowd that is passing by. And he inquires of what is going on.
It is often said that those who are blind have heightened other senses. This amazing stampede of people would have likely been heard by the blind man even while they were a long way off. He was likely anxiously awaiting some news of who was coming through. Surely it would have had to have been someone important.
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!”
He is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Obviously, the fame of Jesus had spread abroad. This blind man must have heard about the healing and miraculous power of Jesus Christ. The crowds knew Jesus by His hometown, yet this blind man speaks of Jesus in a much different way.
Interestingly, he calls Jesus the Son of David. He seems to have quite a understanding of Jesus. He understands Jesus’s lineage.
Although the crowd around him was able to see Jesus in the flesh, they were missing Who Christ really was. Yet, this blind man is seeing Christ with the eyes of his heart. He refers to Jesus as the Son of David. This name was the name given to the anticipated Messiah! It was a royal term.
This blind beggar gets it! He understands Who Christ truly is!
However, the crowd is outraged and annoyed at the blind man’s continual screaming. This refrain of, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, is getting old to them.
Those around Bartimaeus rebuke him and try to silence him.
If you recall, most Jews thought that those afflicted by such physical ailments were in sin or were being punished because of a sin of themselves or their parents. They see Bartimaeus as useless. He is a blind beggar. He is a homeless man most likely. He is a poor man. Why would Jesus waste His time on such a man when there were so many more important people in the crowd?
Yet, this man will not be silenced. He continues to scream at the top of his lungs. He continues to cry out to Jesus the Son of David. He is not wanting to miss his one and only opportunity to meet the Messiah!
Note his incredible persistence. Despite the opposition of the crowd, He continues seeking out the Messiah.
His persistence was based on a correct understanding of Christ. He knew Who Christ was, and so he knew that his persistence would pay off.
We all will face push back at different points in our lives as we seek to stand for Christ. The crowd will not understand us. At times the crowd may even rebuke and seek to silence us.
But we must persist in following Christ and sharing the truth of the Gospel. This man was sharing the truth of Jesus Christ. He was claiming that Jesus was the Messiah. Instead of the crowd supporting him in the truth that God had revealed to him through the Word of God - instead of them celebrating the illumination of God’s Word by the Holy Spirit - they sought to silence him.
Brothers and sisters:
You can persist in faith by being grounded in the Word of God. Stay rooted in the truth of God’s Word, and you can know that you stand on a firm foundation.
It is much easier to persist when you know that you stand on the solid rock.
Finally, we see that…
Scripture References: Mark 10:46, Matthew 20:30
III. Disciples of Christ Are Bold in Their Proclamation (40-43)
III. Disciples of Christ Are Bold in Their Proclamation (40-43)
Luke 18:40a (ESV)
And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him.
The crowd had canceled Bartimaeus. But not Jesus.
Jesus hears the cries of this blind man, and we get a glimpse into the merciful and loving heart of the Savior.
He stops and asks that the man be brought to Him.
Church, know that the Lord hears your cries for mercy. He hears you when you struggle, and He is with you in your pain. He doesn’t ignore you when you are hurting. Instead He goes to you. He welcomes you into His Presence. What a wonderful Lord and Savior that we have!
We can imagine that the crowd is probably pretty confused at this point. Why would Jesus waste His time with this outcast? Out of all of the people to get a special one-on-one encounter with Jesus, how is Bartimaeus the one who gets it?
Jesus lovingly chooses the outcasts. As Paul so beautifully expounds in 1 Corinthians 1:26-30, we see that Jesus chooses the weak in the world to shame the strong. The foolish in the world to shame the wise. He does this so that our boast is in Him and not in ourselves. He chooses people like us so that He can get more glory!
Mark gives us a little more information in how Bartimaeus reacts to Jesus requesting that he be brought to him…
And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
Bartimaeus shows incredible faith by throwing off his cloak. The cloak of a poor man was very valuable to him. It kept him warm at night. And by throwing the cloak down as a blind man, there was no way he was going to be able to find it again in this huge crowd without being able to see!
He had no earthly worries at all at this point. We are told that he sprang up and came to Jesus.
Luke 18:40b–41 (ESV)
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.”
I love Jesus’s question for the blind man. Jesus asks him what he wants Him to do for him. Jesus obviously knows what this man wants. However, sometimes Jesus likes us to articulate our desires.
By allowing this man to ask the question, he gave the man time to exercise his faith.
This reminds me a lot of prayer. We are commanded to pray. We should regularly be praying as we've mentioned multiple times recently. However, we might argue that Jesus already knows what we want and need, and so why do we need to pray? However, Jesus wants us to be in communion with Him. He wants to hear our requests. He wants to hear our prayers and praise. And He wants to increase our faith by hearing and answering our prayers.
This man replies back, and asks that his sight be recovered. The Greek word for recover here is anablepō (ah-nah-vlep-oh) which can refer to receiving sight or regaining sight.
It is not entirely clear whether this man could see from birth or not. This word is used some 25 times in the New Testament and can be used either way.
This man either had never seen anything from birth, or he had lost his vision at some point in his life. Either way, it would have proven very difficult, especially in the first century, for him to live his day to day life. There were no handicap improvements made during this time in world history. His life would have been spent begging and seeking to avoid danger. One wrong move and he could be in a pit or well or harmed by a large animal. He likely had been living his life in a constant state of anxiety.
What is Jesus’s response to the man’s request?
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.
Jesus then tells the man that he has recovered his sight and states that his faith has made him well. The word translated made him well here again is sōzō (so-zo) which is the Greek word used for salvation. In other words, this man has been saved by the grace of God through faith. His blindness was healed but something bigger happened here as well. This man had faith in Jesus Christ. He understood that Jesus had the power to heal him. He understood that Jesus was the son of David.
This man not only was able to see with his eyes, but the eyes of his heart were opened and he was able to see the Messiah clearly.
This blind man had already been bold in his proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah - namely the Son of David. But he wasn’t done praising and glorifying God yet. He now follows Christ and glorifies God. His persistence and boldness have not been misplaced. They have been placed on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and His Word.
The crowd glorifies God as well after seeing the blind man healed. Yet, we are not told that they are saved or made well. They have been impressed by what they have seen with their eyes. This blind man has been impressed with what he has seen with his heart. He has truly experienced the grace and mercy of God personally. Jesus has touched Him. He has believed and trusted in Jesus for salvation.
Interestingly, this blind man and the rich young ruler from last week stand in stark contrast (Luke 18:18-30).
The young ruler was rich and powerful and seemed to have it all together. He was respected. He had his sight and his strength. He was seen as blessed by his peers.
This blind man was poor and looked like a wreck from the outside. He was disrespected by his peers and was thought to be cursed by God because of his blindness and poverty.
But it was the blind man who was truly able to recognize the Messiah. It was the blind man who trusted in Jesus for salvation.
The blind man ends up richer than he could have ever imagined - having eternal life with Jesus Christ.
The rich young ruler ends up poorer than he could have imagined - one day standing naked and exposed before the judgement throne of the One he refused to obey and follow.
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 1:26-30, Mark 10:50, Luke 18:18-30, Matthew 28:16-20
Conclusion:
As we come to a close…
I pray that we are all disciples of Christ here today. I pray that the Lord has opened the eyes of your heart to see Jesus clearly and respond to the free gift of the Gospel.
I pray that we are able to see the purpose of the Savior clearly. The disciples missed this while on earth. I fear that a great many in the church today are missing the purpose of the church as well. We do not gather for a social club or for entertainment. We gather to encourage one another to continue pursuing the Savior’s purpose - namely making Christ known to the world (Matthew 28:16-20).
Only with the eyes of our hearts opened by the illumination of the Holy Spirit can we truly understand the Savior’s purpose, practice persistence, and be bold in our proclamation of the Gospel.
May we learn from the humble yet bold persistence of Bartimaeus today. Though physically blind, he was able to see what the religious elites were unable to see. By seeing through the eyes of his heart, he was able to see the surpassing greatness of the Messiah.
May the eyes of your heart be opened to the beauty and majesty of Christ.
