Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Blind Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside begging.

He heard a lot of noise and asked what was happening.

He was told that Jesus, His disciples and a large crowd were on their way to Jerusalem.

When Bartimaeus heard this, he began to shout and call out to Jesus.

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Those around him told him to be quiet.

The more they tried to stopped him, the more he shouted, “Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Jesus stood still and summoned Bartimaeus.

The crowd that was shouting at him few minutes ago was now the one informing him that Jesus wanted to talk to him.

Bartimaeus jumped to the invitation, threw away his cloak and ran to Jesus.

Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus said, “Rabbouni, I want to see.” Jesus said to him, “go, your faith has saved you.”

Instead of going, Bartimaeus decided to follow Jesus.

Bartimaeus is a Model Disciple because in chapter 10 people failed over and over again to comprehend what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

At the close of the chapter, one man got it and it was blind Bartimaeus.

What lessons can we take away from this formerly blind man?

Isn’t it amazing that the most unlikely candidate has become the epitome of discipleship?

Chapter 10 which I believe is emphasizing what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, shows us one failure from the disciples after another.

However, at the end of the chapter, the most unlikely candidate got it right.

He shows the model of a true disciple.

Blind Bartimaeus conveys to us the model of a true disciple of Christ.

A true disciple of Christ must possess the following:

A true disciple recognizes Jesus identity (VV.

47C-48).

A. Blind Bartimaeus Recognized Jesus:

A true disciple recognizes who Jesus is.

Because of his blindness, he hadn’t seen the dead raised, the lepers healed, the calming of the storm, the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water.

However, he heard the stories of Jesus’ miracles and believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the one the prophets spoke about in time past.

There were so many people following Jesus that missed His identity.

His disciples did not comprehend who He was.

James and John saw Him as a political Messiah.

The religious leaders saw Him as a fraud.

But the man without sight recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the Davidic King.

He recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of the promise God made to David in .

The educated class within Israel missed the identity of Jesus-the religious leaders, the scribes and teachers of the law missed His identity.

Do you know who Jesus is?

If you were asked, “who is Jesus?

What would you say?

One day, Jesus came to His disciples and said to them, “who do men say that I am?”

The disciples responded by stating, “Some say that you are John the Baptist.

Others say that you are Elijah and still others say that you are a prophet.”

To be a true disciple of Jesus, we must have a clear understanding of the identity of Jesus.

Bartimaeus said, “Jesus, Son of David.”

Understanding the identity of Christ is not enough.

We must also embrace His work on the cross.

By calling Jesus The Son of David, Blind Bartimaeus went back to the beginning of the first gospel, the Book of Matthew.

This is how it starts, “The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.”

Since Matthew was writing to the Jews, he wanted to convey to them that Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise given by God to David.

He was pointing out to the Jews that Jesus was qualified to rule on the throne of David.

He does not only recognize Jesus’ identity, but He also accepts Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the Son of David.

It is one thing to recognize something, but it is more important to recognize and also accept Christ’s claims.

Blind Bartimaeus did exactly that.

One commentator points that Bartimaeus was a man without physical sight, but he had insight.

His blindness deprived him of seeing the works of Christ.

But his hearing gave him access to the miracles and teaching of Christ.

When He heard about Christ’s work, he believed in him.

He had more insight than the disciples and the religious leaders of his day.

His blindness deprived him of seeing the works of Christ.

But when He heard about Christ’s work, he believed in him.

He had more insight than the disciples and the religious leaders of his day.

We are like Bartimaeus.

We haven’t seen Christ but have heard about His miracles and works on our behalf and we believe in Him.

The apostle Peter writes in , “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy...” Peter writing to the church in Asia Minor, informed them that not many living at that time had seen Jesus.

Though they did not see Him, they believed in Him.

This reminds me of Thomas who believed that Jesus was alive only after he saw Him.

Jesus states in , “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

This includes all those who have believed in Christ since His ascension to His Father.

They did not see Him.

They heard about Him and believed in Him.

A true identification of Christ can only be found in His word, which is the Bible.

Christ is the focus of the word of God.

The Old Testament points to His coming and the New Testament points back at His walk on earth and tells us about the work He did for humanity and also about His second coming.

Some are following Jesus but do not know Him.

In our church, we may have people who have been in the church for so long, they preach, teach and attend church regularly but do not know who Jesus is.

If we knew who Christ was our lives will be different.

This represents the crowd.

Some have been with him for many years but do not know Him.

They are following Him for different reasons.

The disciples fall within this group.

3.

A true recognition of Christ can only be found through His word, which is the Bible.

Christ is the focus of the word of God.

The Old Testament points to His coming and the New Testament points back at His coming and tells us about the work He did for humanity.

We can get a true glimpse of Christ by listening to Gospel centered messages.

We can get a true knowledge of Christ by engaging the Gospel centered songs we sing.

We can get a true knowledge of Christ by being a part of a gospel centered fellowship or church.

B. A true disciple of Christ is persistent (V.

48):

The crowd warned Bartimaeus to be quiet.

But he was persistent.

The “many” are not identified by Mark.

The “many, ” I believe, was a reference to the crowd and to the disciples.

The crowd and the disciples probably rebuked Bartimaeus because they felt that he was too insignificant to bother a significant rabbi like Jesus.

After all, he was just a blind beggar sitting on the side of the road.

Blind Bartimaeus was going against the disciples and the crowd.

The disciples were known for being obstacles to “would be” disciples of Jesus.

In , they stopped the mothers from bringing their children to meet Jesus.

In , they stopped a disciple from casting out demons in Jesus’ name.

But Blind Bartimaeus would not let their antagonistic behavior silence him.

He recognized that this was his only chance for healing.

Persistence is an important feature in Mark’s gospel.