Importance of Sight
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
I was going to cook Alligator for lunch today, but I realized I only had a croc pot.
Today we are going to be in Mark 10:46-52.
Last week we saw the selfishness and arrogance of James and John. We also saw that the rest of the disciples aren’t any better. Jesus had just finished telling them about His death and they asked for Him to grant what they wanted. They treated the Son of God like a genie. They wanted the most prestigious seats of honor in all the kingdom. We saw that those seats are only for God to give out. Then again Jesus taught them what it meant to be great in the eyes of God. Service is the sign of greatness. We are to serve others just as Jesus served. He gave His life for us.
Today we are going to see Jesus do His last healing in Mark. He is going to heal a blind man, though he was blind, he had better sight than the disciples. We are going to walk through these verses like normal, but then we are going to see 3 ways that sight is important.
Please stand as we read God’s Word.
46 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. 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 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 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.” 52 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.
Let’s pray
The beginning of this is strange, they came to Jericho and immediately it says they were leaving Jericho. It is strange that Mark doesn’t tell us all that goes on in Jericho. We can see more in Luke, but Mark only records the healing of Bartimaeus.
At this point the crowd that was following Jesus was large. He was close to Jerusalem and the Passover week. There would have been large crowds of people coming to Jerusalem at this time. Most of them would have heard of Jesus and all that He had been doing. They would have been anxious to see Him heal or perform some other miracle. It would have been an exciting time to be around Jesus.
As they were leaving Jericho they are passing by a blind beggar. Mark tells us that his name is Bartimaeus. This is the only person who Jesus heals that we are told their name. Then Mark tells us that he is the son of Timaeus. Remember that Mark is writing this letter to the Gentiles. They would not of know the language and customs of the Jews. The name Bartimaeus means son of Timaeus. Bar means son of. So this information is not needed if he were writing to the Jews. They would have know this already.
Being blind at this time in history was a bad thing. At the time the Jews thought that if someone was blind, they were under the judgement of God, that they had sinned. We can see this in John 9:1-2
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
There was no disability help, not social services. The only thing he could do was beg for money and food. He was at the bottom of the social ladder. He was as low as the tax collectors. He didn’t have many friends, because he was a burden to everyone. Someone had to lead him to his begging spot everyday and help him home at night. The only people he had was probably his family. We are not told how long he has been blind or why he is blind. Just that he is blind. He probably was hope less. No one had ever been healed of blindness before. That was until Jesus came along. He had probably heard the stories of all that Jesus had done. The healing of the lame, the healing of the blind. But Jesus had been up north most of His ministry. Hearing about Jesus probably gave Bartimaeus a little hope, but not much, Jesus wan’t anywhere near him. Until today! He heard a large crowd and coming and talking. He probably heard the people talking about Jesus and found out that low and behold, Jesus was there! He had come to Jericho! Today was his lucky day. The only person to have healed blindness and he was right there.
He cried out to Jesus. He wasn’t saying, hey Jesus. He was crying out!! Jesus, Son of David!, have mercy on me! He was going to get Jesus’ attention. There was a large crowd after all. There would have been a lot of noise with everyone talking and moving around. He went from being hopeless, to all of a sudden, hope is walking by! He was going to be heard.
The crowd and those around Jesus, told him to shut up, be quite. Who does this beggar think he is, calling out to Jesus. They didn’t have time to stop and talk to him. They were on their way to Jerusalem and the Passover. There was no time to waist.
Bartimaeus wasn’t going to be stopped. He cried out again even louder I imagine. JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!!. Success! Jesus heard him and told them to bring him to Him.
This is a funny part. The people that had just been telling him to shut up, are now telling him that Jesus is calling him! A little humble pie! They were probably like, hey don’t mention what we said earlier, we were just messing with you. Imagine the joy Bartimaeus felt when he heard this news! He was excited!!
We can tell by what Mark tells us next. Bartimaeus sprang up and threw off his cloak and went to Jesus. He wasn’t going to waste any time. He probably threw off His cloak because it would have been dirty and a symbol of his beggar status. It was probably his only possession. It is what would have been used as shade in the hot summer days and for warmth in the cold winter. He would have laid it out in front of him while he was begging to catch was tossed to him. He threw it off and went to Jesus. It is hard for us to imagine what his life was like. Even the poor here have so much more than he did. He had nothing. But the news of Jesus gave him hope. And now Jesus is not only here but He is calling him to Him. What a day he is having!
Jesus asks him a familiar question, “ what do you want me to do for you?” This is the same question he asked James and John. What a different answer he gives to this question. He didn’t want power or fame or honor. All he wanted was to be able to see. He just wanted to be normal again. He was humble and just longed to see again. He may of had a wife or even kids that he couldn’t see anymore. We don’t know his whole story, but he was humble. He was the opposite of the disciples and how they just acted. Though he was blind, he had better sight than they did.
Jesus tells him that his faith has made him well. This phrase could have been and in some translations is translated your faith has saved you. They are the same Greek words. Jesus tells him that his faith has saved him. We can see that this was a true salvation, Mark tells us that he immediately regained his sight and began to follow Him on the way! I love that Mark includes on the way. He wasn’t just following Jesus, He was following Him on the way. Jesus tells us that He is the way and Bartimaeus was following the way.
Jesus didn’t say that your great faith has saved you. Jesus never says that. That is a lie from the prosperity false gospel. It was this mans faith that was the conduit for the healing of both his eyes and his spirit. The amount of our faith had nothing to do with anything. Jesus said that if we had faith like a mustard seed we could move mountains. That is not a big seed. Our faith need not be great. It is the focus of our faith that is great. We just need that little faith and then salvation is ours as long as Jesus is the focus of our faith alone and nothing else.
I want to focus on 3 sights that we must have. 3 things that we must see clearly.
1 - We must see ourselves correctly. If we do not see ourselves as we truly are, we can never see Jesus for who He is. We must see ourselves as the sinners that we are. We must be like an onion. The more we peel back the layers of who we are, the more we cry. We are wretched sinners in the sight of God! If we can’t see that, we will never see Jesus. We will just see a teacher, or a man. When we see ourselves correctly, we will have a humility that is foreign to the world. The world will see us as weak. Only the weak need saving. Only the humble can see the saviour. Look at the difference that James and John and Bartimaeus. James and John thought they deserved glory and honor. Why, just because they were with Jesus and in His inner circle. They had to be humbled and that is coming at the cross. They all scatter and hide. They lose their entitlement real quick once Jesus is crucified. Bartimaeus was humble and only asked for his sight nothing else. No honor, no glory, just his sight. He didn’t think much of himself after years of being blind and poor and a beggar, it would be hard to think much on oneself. Even before Jesus healed him, he had better sight than the disciples who had been with Jesus for almost 3 years!
2 - Once we see ourselves correctly, we can see Jesus correctly. Only when we see our need for saving, can we see the Saviour. If we are like the rich young ruler, we will never need a saviour in our eyes. We will never see Jesus for anything other than a good teacher or man. Jesus is the only Son of God, and we must see that or salvation will never be ours. The disciples treated Him like a wish granter, a genie. They looked at Him like He owed them something. We want you to do whatever we ask! Really, that is how we talk to the Son of God? No, we cry out to Him like Bartimaeus did. SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME! That is how we talk to our Saviour. We come to Him like a beggar, humbly on our knees! We don’t deserve to approach Him, to talk to Him. It is because He loves us so much, we can come to Him and talk to Him. We must see Him for who He truly is! The Messiah, the Saviour of the world. The only Son of God. Who gave His life, so we, who believe in Him, can have life.
3 - Once we see Jesus correctly, we can see others correctly. Look at how the crowd saw the beggar, as a bother. Someone who wasn’t worth wasting their time on. They were telling him to be quite. Stop being annoying. If they would have seen themselves correctly and Jesus correctly, they would have been taking that blind beggar to Jesus. They would not have waited for Jesus to call him to Him. They would have been like the 4 friends who lowered their man down through the roof. They saw Jesus correctly. They knew that Jesus wants the broken and hopeless to come to Him and He will heal them and give them hope. We must see people the way that Jesus sees them if we are to be Jesus to them. We can’t pick and chose who we love or treat well. Jesus died for everyone and loves everyone. God wants all to reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
We must see everyone with the love of Jesus, then we can reach them and tell them the good news. Tell them about the Saviour. The one who gave His life for them.
When we have the correct image of ourselves, Jesus and finally others, we can make a difference and help to expand the kingdom. We can be fruitful only with correct sight. We have to see everyone correctly if we are to be useful for God. When I first surrendered to ministry, I would cry a lot. I would tell Beth that God broke my eyes! But what He really did was, He fixed them. He let me see what He sees. He gave me a love for His people. He gave a love for the lost. He gave me a hatred for my sin. He gave me a hatred from my pride.
When we have these 3 right, we will have the correct prospective on life. There can be no I when we are a servant! Remember that Jesus said that the Son of Man came not to be served but to be a servant. If the God who created us came to serve us, why do we think that we need to be served. Why is it so hard for us to be a servant? It is not when we understand who we are, who He is, and then we can truly see others correctly. It all starts with us seeing ourselves correctly. We can not be a servant if we are concerned with how we are treated. Philippians 3:10-11
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
We can only say this and truly mean it if we see our own sin and it’s cost.
Play video.
Has God given you true sight to see things the way He sees them?
Do you see yourself the way God sees you?
Do you see Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible? The humble servant who came and laid down His life.
Do you see others the way Jesus sees them? Do you love like He loves?
If not, when we sing this last song, ask God to give you His sight. Let you see things the way He does. Ask Him to let you see people the way He sees them, the way He loves them. Only then can we expand His kingdom!
Let’s pray
