Untitled Sermon

Bible Passage: Mark 10:46-52

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

One of the things that we stressed heavily at the beginning of our study through Mark was that Jesus came to establish a ministry of teaching accompanied by signs.

Signs being miracles

We said that this is important because it is ultimately the word of God proclaimed to sinners.

This is why Jesus said in Matthew 4:4

Matthew 4:4 ESV

But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

But what this doesn’t mean is that His signs and wonders are to be tossed aside or held in low regard. After all Jesus did raise a man from the dead, cast out demons, make the lame walk and the dumb talk.

And as we have journeyed through the story of Jesu according to Mark we have pulled some incredible truth out of Jesus’s miracles.

Today we are going to look at the last miracle of mercy done by Jesus before He heads to the cross.

Because after this Jesus will enter into the Holy city of Jerusalem and spend the last week of His life preparing for His ultimate mission of dying on the cross for sins.

But even in the face of imminent suffering and death Jesus still makes time for the broken and the outcast.

BODY

Mark 10:46 ESV

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.

The city of Jericho is about 15-20 miles or a days journey or so from Jerusalem.

It is a well populated place and as Jesus is leaving a large crowd is following him. Word had likely spread at that point to most places about who Jesus was.

And a man named Bartimaeus, a blind beggar is named.

Blind people were often beggars because it was believed in that day that blindness was the result of being under the judgement of God. This would mean that people would cast them away and estrange them so as to not be caught up in their misfortune.

If you have noticed, other than Lazarus, most of the people that Jesus heals are not named but Bartimaeus is.

This probably means that he went on after this miracle to be a well known figure in the early church. People reading this letter from Mark would probably have heard of him.

Mark 10:47–48 ESV

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!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus as “Son of David” recognizing Him as the salvific figure that has been foretold to heal the broken and forgive sin.

Many people around try to get him to stop and go away from them and Jesus but Bartimaeus doubles down and continues to beg.

And He is begging Jesus for mercy, for pity, for compassion.

Here in a second we are gonna see Jesus move on His behalf in a mighty way but I want to pause for a moment and analyze how Jesus responds to different people and why.

We have watched Jesus enter into many dialogues and get into many different situations with different types of people.

And it is usually the approach of those who come to Him that determine how He will respond and I think this says a lot about the character of God.

He is direct and pointed with the pharisees and those who hold themselves in high regard.

But with those who come to Him broken, begging for mercy, He moves toward with gentleness and grace.

I fear that American christianity sounds a lot more like the first group of people than Bartimaeus.

We make demands of Jesus. We want Him to fit in our boxes. We want Him to accept our sin. We want Him to care about our church preferences. We want Him to agree with our theology. We want Him to like the people that we like and hate the ones we hate.

But not very often do I hear of many christians simply falling on their face and saying “Jesus, messiah, Son of David, Have mercy on me a sinner.”

At the end of the day, what else matters for Bartimaeus? If Jesus doesn’t heal him then his life goes back to a living hell.

What else really matter for us? What is our excuse?

Are we demanding things of Jesus or begging for mercy?

Do we even recognize the reality that we are blind beggars?

I think it would benefit us greatly to be reminded of Psalm 51:17…

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

When we realize how broken we are, we respond to the presence of God differently…

Mark 10:49–52 ESV

And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 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.” 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.

Did you see what it said there in verse 50?

Bartimaeus threw off His cloak and went straight up to Jesus.

Bartimaeus didn’t have anything to him name but a cloak.

This was his blanket at night, his pillow, the vessel he used to catch money from people.

It was His whole life.

But when God passes your way you leave your whole life behind.

because even if Bartimaeus were to lose his cloak after leaving it behind, the warmth, protection and provision of Jesus far surpasses what the cloak could ever offer.

When your chance at being healed comes through, what does it matter to have a nice cloak?

All he wants from Jesus is to see.

And Jesus gives him his sight because of His faith.

And look at what it says there at the end…

Mark 10:52 ESV

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.

No more begging, no more outcast, no more blindness, no more wondering if life would ever change. Just following Jesus.

CLOSING

Quick observation and a commission before close…

You are never too broken and Jesus is never too busy.

Jesus is about a week away from great pain and suffering and there is a crowd who is gate keeping people from him but He still found Bartimaeus.

Jesus will heal the broken and the poor in Spirit.

So if you’re hurting, broken, caught in sin, full of shame. Jesus can and He will heal you.

Then here is the commission

We had our prayer meeting this past Wednesday and at the end I felt the Spirit of God prompt me to pray over our church, that we would have a desperate faith.

The kind of faith that looks like being destitute if we can’t be in the presence of God.

The kind of faith that is ready to leave everything we hold dear behind because we so long for the sweetness of Jesus.

The kind of faith that says I will obey because I trust in Jesus.

The kind of faith that says I will lead the blind to Jesus.

We need a desperate faith.

Recognize your blindness, your brokenness and throw yourself at Jesus. He will not let you down.