Cheer up! Jesus is calling.

End of service notes

At the conclusion of my message today, I would like for everyone who is willing to join me at the front. As a church body, Branches used to have powerful moments of prayer at the end of service and I want us to get back to it. If you want prayer, I want you to come. I will wear a mask when I pray with you. And if you have a mask with you I would encourage you to wear one.

I have learned that when God’s Word has been delivered and someone is stirred in their spirit that is when God is ready to do something. There are people who want to receive the Holy Spirit. There are people who need the Lord to touch them. We want to give them the opportunity to respond and not in a way that all eyes are on them when they do. So will you help me?

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Mark 10:46–52 NKJV

46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 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 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

The day might have been beautiful. Sun shining, a day like today possibly. Birds singing, the sky bright, absent of any cloud that could bring with it the potential of ruin for a clear day.

Or perhaps it was overcast. Birds were in hiding, silently waiting, holding their breath to see if there would be that thunderous clap of the skies that brought with it a deluge of rain.

He might have thought about it as he navigated his morning routine readying himself for the day. Or maybe not, it didn’t much matter really. Regardless of the weather he had to go.

It was going to be one of the busiest days of the year. He could not afford to miss it!

A lot of potential! That is what this day had, a lot of potential. Which did not come around often enough.

So Bart got himself ready to leave the house early so he could get to the spot he had picked out. It was a good spot. Maybe the best spot. It was just outside the city, right there along the road side that headed to the next major city. That was the spot!

The major city this road led to was having a festival and Bart knew there would be a lot of traffic. Perfect for his business. His business did really well when there was a lot of traffic.

What was Bart’s business? It’s probably not what you imagine. You are only accustomed to seeing his type of business occasionally. It is not practiced as widely now as it was in his day.

In many ways it was easy. But, in just as many ways it was difficult. Complex, that’s the best description. Bart’s business was complex.

Bart had to mind the details. His clothes had to be perfect for his task. His voice had to be warmed up. His tools and skills had to be sharp. Bart was in the business of moving people. He was not a mover, but he had to move people. Move them to take action.

Everything depended on them taking action.

Most people didn’t know it, but there was a lot of unseen pressure in his business. He had to get attention from people who preferred to not be bothered.

Bart was experienced. He could get their attention, like the mall kiosk salesman peddling his wares that you know are not worth even the time you give to listen to his sales pitch. If you are like me, most of them you brush off with a wave and no thanks as you keep walking.

That’s exactly how a lot of people reacted to Bart. But he’d figured out how to get enough attention to be noticed and make a living.

However, Bart didn’t have anything to sell. That’s right, there was no product he peddled. Actually, you might say he was the product. Or rather it was his condition. Bart was blind.

But it wasn’t really Bart that struggled with seeing. It was other people. They could look at him, but they couldn’t see, they couldn’t understand. They didn’t take time to understand.

Blindness is not a condition that is as simple as not having vision. Blindness comes in degrees. Most people think that if you are blind you just live in darkness. But blindness varies from person to person. Some are totally blind and do live in darkness, while others might see undefined shapes, light and shadows, figures. But people assume that if you are blind then you must be totally blind.

People often made assumptions about Bart.

Some of the common assumptions in Bart’s day were:

he deserved his blindness.

God’s judgement on him for sin.

Judgement on his parents or grand parents for some past wrong.

He was worthless. He was helpless.

He was a drain on society.

Couldn’t benefit society.

For Bart, being blind in his time meant being a beggar. It was the only thing he could do.

Blind people were at the bottom of the social scale and could only beg. There was not much worse than being a blind beggar in Jericho. And Bart HATED IT!

But what could he do?

So he navigated haphazardly without help through the city to the spot on the road leading from Jericho to Jerusalem that would be full of pedestrian traffic, to sit and get as much attention as a blind beggar could gather.

Bart was never overlooked, everyone was aware that he was there. They would move away thinking he couldn’t see them, but he knew. He wasn’t overlooked, but he was ignored. That’s what he worked to overcome. BEING IGNORED!

He was ignored his whole life.

No one had even taken enough time with him to give him a proper name. I keep calling him Bart, but that isn’t his name. You know him, or know of him. You might think you know his name, but you don’t. You do know his dad’s name. Timeaus.

He was just known as “the son of Timeaus” or Bar-Timeaus. That’s what scripture tells us.

So undervalued and ignored that he never received a name.

You know what that’s like, being undervalued, overlooked, ignored. You were probably given a name, but you were undervalued, ignored, overlooked, told you would never, that you won’t, that you can’t.

Bar-Timeaus probably means his dad was blind too. She’s just like her mom, He’s just like his dad. Have their family curse. Same sins, same failures, can never overcome or change. The story will be the same.

But on this day for Bartimaeus, the years of experience he gathered of overcoming people who ignored his presence on a roadside would be to his benefit.

It was natural for him to call out to see what heads would turn.

So when he heard that Jesus was in the crowd. It came naturally for him to start calling out loud enough to be heard “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

It was a common phrase spoken often to Jesus.

The Canaanite woman who’s daughter was demon possessed said it to Him. Matthew 15

The ten lepers in Luke 17 said the same thing.

Probably countless others.

Because when you are miserable, you call for mercy!

So Bartimaeus called out “Jesus… have mercy on me!”

Someone tried to hush him. Louder he called. He ignored their warning to be quiet. He was desperate. He hated his situation. He had to act now.

When everyone tried to calm him, he called more desperately! Jesus! Have mercy on me!

Because desperate people don’t let the crowd keep them from Jesus.

People in misery call for mercy!

Psalm 4:1 NKJV

1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

From the beginning of time till now misery has called for mercy. You may be in misery, but misery is the object of mercy!

His mercy is for you! His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 106:1 NKJV

1 Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 107:1 NKJV

1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Jeremiah said of his mercy,

Lamentations 3:22–23 NKJV

22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

So Bartimaeus called for mercy! He called for Jesus!

When Jesus heard him, He called back to Bartimaeus for him to come to where Jesus was at. Asking for the blind to find Him.

But that’s just it, Jesus calls for us to show just how deep our faith goes. Are we willing to do what is difficult to respond to His invitation, Jesus calls.

The blind to see.

The deaf to hear.

The wounded to be healed.

The guilty to be pardoned.

The empty to be filled.

The tempted to be delivered.

The hungry to eat.

The thirsty to drink.

Jesus calls us out of our misery! Like Bartimaeus being called from his perfect spot for being a blind beggar.

Bartimaeus threw off his garment.

Mark 10:50 NKJV

50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

Bartimaeus sprang up and cast off his cloak.

That garment had been intentionally kept dirty, it had all the visible signs of the garment of a person who was destitute to elicit a certain response from people. Bartimaeus threw it off and left it with no guarantee that he would get it back. With not intention of returning to it.

If he had wanted to stay in the same circumstance he would have taken that garment with him. There was a law about how to treat the garment of a neighbor.

Exodus 22:26–27 NKJV

26 If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 27 For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

He threw off the garments of a life he was leaving behind.

Mark 10:52 NKJV

52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

Another translation says “your faith has made you whole”.

The word used is also the common word for “saved”, your faith has saved you.

Hebrews 12:1 NKJV

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

The same people who tried to calm Bartimaeus down and quiet him, when Jesus started calling for him said

Mark 10:49 NKJV

49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”

“Cheer up! Jesus is calling you.”

Get up, do what you need to do to get to Him. Jesus is calling you.