What do you want me to do for you?

Blind Bartimaeus

Mark 10:46–52 NIV

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Remember we are at a section in the scripture where it’s all coming together. Last week- we saw Jesus tell his followers it was time to go to Jerusalem and he started leading the way.

Now Mark records this event because it starts to reveal to the readers and those following Jesus a key aspect of following Jesus - syncing the desires of your heart with the desires of Jesus.

The key question that hinges the whole narrative and will form the backdrop to the rest of the Gospel is - “What do you want me to do for you?”

We need to understand this story in the large view of our ability to follow Jesus. For Jesus is not taking hostages, if you desire other things than go, but if you desire Jesus, than forsake all else.

The story of Salvation is not a one time event and then you sit on your hands until you die and go to heaven. The Bible presents the story of our salvation as starting with the decision to follow Jesus.

-Whether that was instantaneous or gradual ore even a bit of both.

-That decision then turns into a daily decision - to trust Jesus as he works within you. To choose to follow Jesus, every day.

-That decision to follow Jesus creates a lifestyle of what we often refer to as sanctification. Or the process of becoming more like Jesus.

For choosing to follow Jesus doesn’t make you immediately like him. That’s a process… lifelong.

This story showcases this journey to us, before Jesus goes to the cross. After all these times he showcases what it means to actually follow Jesus.

-Into the unknown

-Into suffering

-Into a new kingdom

-Into humility

SALVATION——> DAILY APPRENTICESHIP ——> SANCTIFICATION

Be the person crying out to Jesus

Mark 10:46–48 “Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!””

We are all this person at one time and in many ways.

We want our status in life to improve.

-have mercy on me

Think of this man, on the outskirts, wanting to belong. Wanting to be part of regular society, wanting to not have to beg for money. Wanting a change in life.

-He’s heard about Jesus - he believes that maybe, this man is the long awaited Messiah. This man can heal and change his station in life.

-So he starts crying out when there’s a rumbling that Jesus is nearby. “SON OF DAVID! HAVE MERCY ON ME!”

This is step one to any sort of life change. This is the key to fixing your life and changing your station.

-TO CRY OUT TO THE ONE WHO CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

He knows who he’s crying out to. “SON OF DAVID”

This is a Messianic proclamation.

He is declaring and crying out to the Messiah. The King who comes!

You see the crowd going - “hey shush, you. Stay in your place.”

This is a bold proclamation — Messiah! Shush.

This beggar is being disruptive. Doesn’t he know his place? Shush.

If you choose to cry out to Jesus, follow him, and pray to him. You will have naysayers…

-Shush.

You may even be your own naysayer… “he’s not going to answer, he doesn’t care about little old me.” — “My problems aren’t big enough for him.”

-Shush.

But what does he do?

CRIES OUT ALL THE LOUDER.

If he is truly the one who can change your life and your life needs to be changing, wouldn’t you do anything to make it happen. Even embarrass yourself, step out on a limb, risk your status?

Matthew 13:44–46 ““The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Bartimeaus is this parable in action. — SON OF DAVID.

His address is helpful to understand their rebuke. This man recognizes Jesus for WHO HE IS and WHAT HE CAN DO.

Jesus says “Come” - what is our response?

Jesus turns and says - who’s that yelling for me, have him come here. I want to see him and talk with him.

The crowd turns to the blind man and says - Cheer up, stand up, and go to him, for he’s asking you to come.

Then he does something remarkable that you may miss if you are just casually reading… He throws off his cloak, he jumps to his feet, and he goes to Jesus.

Preaching Mark 10:46–52

Certainly his leaving behind the cloak (the himation or outer garment that was often the only night covering the poor had—which is why the Torah forbade it to be taken in pledge) and springing up is an image of his eagerness to get to Jesus. But it also symbolizes the renunciation that following Jesus requires (cf. 10:28–31). If his occupation is begging, and generous people put their offerings on the cloak, then it represents leaving behind the symbol of his occupation just as James, John, and Levi did (1:18, 20; 2:14). Perhaps most generally, leaving behind the cloak represents abandoning what hinders approach to Jesus. Ironically, the one who has nothing finds this easier than the one who has “many possessions” (10:17–22).

If CALLING OUT is step one of following Jesus.

STEP TWO is shedding your cloak or your man-formed identity.

-Whether it’s from yourself.

-I’m a failure. I’m not smart. I am strong.

-I am a fisherman, I am a beggar.

As Hebrews 12 puts it, when we read it last week — THROWING OFF THE SING THAT SO EASILY ENTANGLES.

-You can’t be changed if you want to take your nonsense with you.

-Your life won’t be different if you drag with you all the lies you believe about yourself.

Bartimaeus shows his commitment to LIFE CHANGE by throwing off the cloak and JUMPING to his feet.

-CHOOSE ME! I WANT JESUS!

We have to ask yourselves… If Jesus bids you come, what is your response?

-Is it reluctance?

-Is it frustration… why didn’t you come sooner? Why did you make me blind? How dare you!

-Is it disregard or apathy? —- reality for many that grew up in the faith. Ho-hum.

Jesus is calling all of you to come to him today. Did you know that? - He looks out over the crowd and sees the one calling to him, “COME!”

Your life will change you hear that voice and you respond.

ME—-> The call to come to Jesus isn’t just a one time thing. While it happens in small ways daily. I can remember when he called me to follow him as a child and I was baptized.

And when he called me to ministry as a teenager.

I can remember being called and bid - come.

Maybe one of the best examples of being called and life being radically changed comes from Augustine.

-As a boy in a small North African town — his father was a pagan honoring the old Punic gods. His mother was a zealous Christian.

-Augustine grew up not interested in religion but in lust and temporary pleasures.

-He describes an event from his childhood when he would steal pears from a neighbor’s vineyard not because he was hungry or in need but simply because he could and it gave him a thrill. “We would simply throw them to the pigs after we stole them”

-By college he started to get wrapped up in Philosophy and loved it so much he made a name for himself in that way. Still living into his world of darkness and sin. He even came to believe that Christianity was a corrupt religion.

-His mother, Monica, had dreamed he would someday become a Christian was fervent in prayer for him. She followed him to Carthage and prayed, while Augustine continued to live it up.

-One day, he was offered a professorship in Rome but his mom begged him not to go, fearful of his debauchery and how it would grow in Rome. He told her to go to bed and sleep easy, he wouldn’t go. After she left, he boarded a ship to Rome.

-After a year in Rome, he ended up in Milan as a professor. It was here that he would hear the call of Jesus. But not until he got his mistress pregnant, but wouldn’t marry her as it would ruin his status in life.

-One afternoon while in his garden, wrestling with all the evil and struggles in his life, he heard a child skipping down the street singing a line that he heard as “Take up and read.”

-He had been reading about the philosophies of Saint Paul and so he picked up one of Paul’s epistles and it was Romans 13:13–14 “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

“No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”

He would later become a monk and then a bishop and become one of the most influential Christians in his day through ours. There is a Augustine quote hanging in my office. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Jesus bids you come, will you come.

What about you?

What is it you truly want?

Mark 10:51 ““What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.””

Jesus then asks him a blank check question — What is it you want? If you can have anything, what would it be? You have sought the Messiah, you’ve called out for the Son of David who is the Son of God, what is it you want me to give you?

This is a soul-searching question. This is a big deal. If Jesus asks you this question, how would you answer?

What do you want, if I can give you anything, my child?

Would it be money? Fame? Power? Influence? Reconciliation? World Peace?

What is it your heart truly wants?

For Bartimaeus it is easy — “I want to see!”

This is actually a big moment for this is a radical turning point for Bartimaeus because he has only known begging and being blind. This is his lot in life, it’s a lot to live what you know even if it isn’t good.

He chose to have his life changed. To leave behind his old life and start a new one. This is the call of God.

6,000 Plus Illustrations for Communicating Biblical Truths Blind Bartimaeus

Theodore Monod, while telling his little brother about blind Bartimaeus, asked him, “What would you have asked for if you had been in his place?”

The boy answered, “Oh, I would have asked for a nice big dog with a collar and a chain to lead me about.”

Bartimaeus knew better what he needed. He did not want reformation, but regeneration. Though this is the need of the world today, how many choose the blind man’s dog to the seeing man’s eyes (

Instead of reformation, he chose regeneration.

He chose to let Jesus change his life. And then Jesus did.

Jesus said, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight.

Now listen the blind seeing is HUGE but maybe arguably the most important thing happens next. Jesus tells him to “GO!”

But what does the blind man do, “He followed Jesus along the road.”

What is our response to Jesus?

This is applicable because remember just a couple stories ago, there was another man that came eagerly to Jesus, threw himself at the feet of Jesus in worship. BUT THEN WAS UNWILLING TO CHANGE.

“He went away sad.”

Now we have a man that says - CHANGE ME. I WANT TO SEE!

“Followed Jesus along the road.”

Immediately he — followed Jesus. Didn’t turn back to his station, but followed Jesus.

He didn’t go pick up his cloak or any of the money that was thrown at his feet, he simply left it all and followed Jesus.

That’s the journey of following Jesus.

Calling out to the Messiah - the one who can save.

Going to him when he calls.

Being saved by giving it all up for him.

Following him the rest of your life.

AKA

Repentance — I know I need to change

Salvation —- Jesus has healed me and saved me.

Sanctification — Jesus is making me new day by day.

Now we head to the altar — and I pray you come if he’s calling you to come.

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How does Bartimaeus' cry for mercy relate to your own call for God’s intervention in your life?

In what ways can you shed your own 'cloak' or identity that hinders you from fully following Jesus?

What does it mean for you to hear Jesus ask you, 'What do you want me to do for you?' and how might you respond?

How does the concept of daily apprenticeship to Jesus resonate with you in your current faith journey?

What steps can you take to be more like Bartimaeus in boldly seeking Jesus despite opposition?

In what areas of your life are you need of change similar to Bartimaeus seeking to see?

Consider who or what you might be allowing to silence your cry for help; how can you overcome that?

What possessions or identities do you need to let go of in order to follow Jesus more closely?

How can you recognize moments when Jesus is calling you to come and respond with eagerness?

Reflect on the ways you have felt God's call in your life; how has it shaped your path?