Blind Bartimaeus

Introduction

Good morning church! My name is Corey Jefcoat and today we are going to be studying a narrative from the book of Mark chapter 10 verses 46-52. First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to preach today and if you were expecting the next Billy Graham or big name preacher then you have entered the wrong church.

A little bit about me before we get started is that I am 25 years old and I am married to my wife Breanna for 2.5 years but have been together for over 9 years. I was raised in church my entire life and have incredible parents. I got saved the summer of my Sophomore year of college. Then God called me to the ministry a semester before I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree. I have been serving as the Student Pastor at First Baptist Winona for the last 2 years.

Now that is enough about me let’s begin!

I am pretty positive that you can think of a time in which you immediately recognized someone by their voice. I remember this one time when I was on vacation with my family as a kid and I longed to hear my parents voices. The scenario is that my older brother had just gotten cut by something in the hotel so my mom ran up to the room with him and I stayed with my dad in the lobby. Sounds like a normal story right? The problem happened when I decided I wanted to ride the elevator by myself so I ran up in the elevator and then the door closed. At that moment I thought I had lost my dad forever!

So as a normal three year old I began screaming at the top of my lungs for my parents because in my imagination I felt as if I was going to the moon or possibly much higher. Then the screaming got much louder when a foreign maid gets into the elevator with me. I have a feeling she was trying to comfort me and calm me down but I had no idea what language she was speaking. As we began going down the elevator I could begin hearing my dad screaming my name. His voice began to comfort me even though I could not see him I knew he was not too far away. After what seemed like years, they were able to bring me back down to my parents and seeing them made me know that everything would be perfect again.

This morning we are going to look at the story about a man who could hear Jesus but could not see him. However the sound of Jesus coming his way brought about much excitement. Bartimaeus was a blind man that was healed by Jesus and this is the very last healing miracle in the Gospel of Mark.

Now lets begin reading from chapter 10:46-52.

Mark 10:46–52 ESV

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.

*Prayer*

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible due to it depicting the nature of salvation and how life changes once we place our sight and faith on Jesus. We have a literal blind man who has regained his sight once he interacts with Jesus. We begin the narrative with Bartimaeus begging as his occupation at the road in Jericho and then this large commotion begins to draw some attention from the disabled people. They began getting excited due to the large crowd coming their way.

Bartimaeus at the beginning of hearing the crowd was probably thinking he had hit the jackpot today financially, but that very quickly changed the moment he heard who was in the crowd.

In any of the larger cities during Biblical times there were many disabled or homeless people that would sit at the entrance or exit gates of the city in order to beg for money. Much like in bigger cities today.

Most of the time these people are quiet and hoping to bring about some sympathy from the more fortunate. Bartimaeus acts out differently.

This is where our first point comes to play.

1. Bartimaeus Screams Out

Mark 10:47–48 ESV

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!”

Bartimaeus goes against the unwritten rule of the disabled people during this time. He heard that Jesus was about to walk by him and he decided to make a fool of himself in order to get His attention.

Bartimaeus didn’t just gently say “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.....” Not at all!

Bartimaeus SCREAMED: “JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!!!!!!!!!” Repeatedly!

The other people surrounding him rebuked this behavior because it would turn away any source of income that they hoped to gain from the crowd of people. This makes sense because if you were in a crowd and a beggar came up to you screaming at the top of his lungs. You would most likely run away terrified.

If they sat there humbly and quietly begging then the outcome of the crowd will most likely be different.

Side note: Beggars should never scare away potential sources of income that is not a good business practice.

The crowd following Jesus probably got in on the rebuking as well because they though as if Jesus did not have time for Bartimaeus.

The rebuking did not stop Bartimaeus from calling out to Jesus. The word crying out is a repetitive screaming out for something.

Bartimaeus kept screaming for the Son of David to have mercy on him. He knew that the only hope for him to ever see again would come through Jesus Christ the Messiah. He knew that whatever money that he would get today by being silent and hoping for generosity would mean nothing if he regained his sight.

Bartimaeus went to the only person that could heal. He was exclaiming for Jesus to show God’s kind grace on him and heal him. The importance of Bartimaeus saying the “Son of David” rather than just Jesus brings about the messianic implications from the Old Testament prophesies about the king of the world will come through the lineage of David.

Bartimaeus being physically blinded actually saw Jesus more clearly than the people the crowd that was following him, because he saw the Messiah!

Bartimaeus got Jesus’s attention:

2. Bartimaeus Runs Out

Mark 10:49–50 ESV

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.

Jesus takes the time out of the busyness of life to call the Blind beggar to come to him. This is one act of many in which Jesus took time away from the crowd to pay attention to the one in need.

Aren’t we thankful that Jesus stops and pays attention to those who are the least of society.

If there was a time in Jesus’s ministry to neglect the bystanders it would be this moment. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to fulfill his earthly purpose. He was about to enter Jerusalem for the triumphal entry which means He was nearing the completion of his ministry.

As soon as Jesus responded to Bartimaeus the crowds demeanor quickly changed towards him. They went from rebuking him to calling him to come towards Jesus. The crowd went from quieting Bartimaeus to encouraging him to come to Christ.

When Jesus called out Bartimaeus ran towards him. He threw off his cloak which is significant because the cloak was his life. He would use the cloak to collect the donations from others passing by. The common practice of beggars is that they would layout their outer cloak to for people to lay their loose change on, this is very similar to how a homeless person today would set out a jar or hat to collect alms.

Essentially Bartimaeus was throwing away his old life style because of his faith that Jesus would heal him. Bartimaeus was all in with his faith that God would heal him. Little did Bartimaeus know was that Jesus would also heal him spiritually.

Whenever God calls us to salvation we must first choose him over anything else but then we can’t let our old life style hold us back. It would of been easy for Bartimaeus to carry his cloak with him to meet Jesus but that would not show complete faith that Jesus could heal him. Bartimaeus knew that whenever he ran to Jesus that his entire life would be radically different from that moment onward.

When it come to salvation so many times we want to try to clean ourselves up before we come to Christ… the problem is that we cannot clean ourselves up enough to come to Christ. Christ saves us where we are in our filth once we place our faith in him!

There is no way that Bartimaeus could regain his eye sight on his own but he knew the one who could. There is no way that you can clean up your life enough to be accepted by Jesus.

Bartimaeus threw his old life style away and “blindly” ran towards Jesus. He didn’t care what anyone thought about what it may look like because his focus was on the savior.

This would be an interesting sight to see a blind man sprinting in a crowd of people coming to Jesus. The embarrassment of what people may think of him did not deter Bartimaeus from coming to Christ because only he knew Jesus could heal him.

When Bartimaeus made it to Jesus, Jesus didn’t immediately heal him bur rather asked a crazy question.

3. Bartimaeus Answers Out

Mark 10:51 ESV

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.”

Bartimaeus is screaming that Jesus would have mercy on him and after he sprints over to Jesus, Jesus asks “What do you want me to do for you?” Obviously heal him. What kind of question is this?

Jesus wanted to address the true issue that plagued Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus could of asked Jesus for money or a job or anything but he asked him to recover his sight. We can also see that Bartimaeus could at one time see since he asked Jesus to “recover” his sight rather than give me sight.

Jesus didn’t ask the question because he didn’t know what Bartimaeus was going to ask, but rather for Bartimaeus to know what he personally needed. Jesus is God in the flesh and God is omnipotent meaning He knows everything. Jesus knew what Bartimaeus needed but he was making sure Bartimaeus knew what that was.

Bartimaeus addresses Jesus by calling him Rabbi meaning “My Master” this is not a normal greeting especially for someone you have never personally met. Bartimaeus stated what he thought of Jesus a second time, first as the Messiah and second as his Master.

When we come to Christ for salvation we must come to him with our main problem which is we are unworthy to be able to call on his name. We are sinners that deserve God’s Wrath but we are in need of God’s grace. A grace that we don’t deserve due to our sinfulness but yet God being merciful freely extends HIS grace to anyone who wants to accept it.

4. Bartimaeus Lives Out

Mark 10:52 ESV

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.

Jesus heals Bartimaeus because of his faith and his life completely changed. Bartimaeus who has been without sight for no telling how long immediately followed after the person who gave him sight.

We can speculate that Bartimaeus hadn’t seen nature or family or people for sometime is now able to see again. He could of easily ran off to see all of the beautiful sights in that area or went and saw his family again or even just looking at creation, but that is not what Bartimaeus wanted to seek. He followed after Jesus and stayed with the person who gave him sight and changed his life.

Church! There is so much we can learn from Bartimaeus’s example of his transformation. This is evidence of a life change that is followed by discipleship. Bartimaeus did not want to see anything else except his Savior.

This entire narrative can be seen as a person’s salvation experience. We are born spiritually blind. We may be interested in the things of God such as calling out trying to get his attention but until we decide to run after Christ we stay lost. If God is calling you to salvation I urge you to walk down and talk to Brother Ronnie. God is calling you to salvation where you are in your sin and filth. You must make the decision just like Bartimaeus made and run towards Christ. God saved him while he was in despair. God doesn’t require you to clean up your own life He saves you then He begins the process of transforming your life.

The next step is discipleship where a person begins following after Christ in their personal life. Bartimaeus literally followed Jesus learning and listening to his teachings. We should be doing the same thing throughout our Christian life.

The question to ask is: “Are you reflecting Christ more and more in your everyday life.” We need to begin taking the title of Christian seriously and live our lives as if we were little Christ.

There are many times we are hesitant when God calls us to something because we are comfortable and it worries us that God won’t follow through. We want to hold on to what makes us comfortable because its easy, but so many times when God calls us to do things he calls us to have a faith that is radical in following him.

Now I will hand it back over to Brother Ronnie.