Whom say Ye that I am? The Miracle Worker

The Hustle of the Crowd — (Vs. 46)

Jericho — was a city that lay 5 miles west of the Jordan river, 7 miles northwest of the Dead Sea and roughly 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Jericho is also the lowest lying inhabited city on earth laying some 240 meters below sea level! From this point, rest of our Lord’s journey to Jersualem would be an uphill climb.

The old city Jericho had been destroyed and lay in ruins but Herod the Great had rebuilt a new Jericho, roughly a mile from it’s original location and it is said that this was the place of his winter retreat.

Jericho was on a major trade route on the way to Jerusalem and therefore was a very bustling city. Some say it was a lavish city and there were many wealthy people living within it’s walls.

This would help make sense as to why blind Bartimaeus might choose this road of all roads to make his abode. With the never ending traffic passing by, he would have more opportunity to ask for help and a much better chance of finding mercy from someone who had plenty of money, than maybe someone who had none.

Now, the Bible tells us here that Jesus is making His way out of the city and a great number of people are following with Him. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem one last time for the feast of the Passover.

If you look back at Verse 32 of Mark 10 you will find that Jesus and His disciples were in the way going up to Jerusalem. This was Jesus final destination but before He could get there, He must pass through Jericho on the way and perform one final task.

And as He passed through Jericho, no doubt word of His coming had spread and therefore a great crowd followed with Him to His final destination.

So, we see here, the place of our story, the people of our story and we are also introduced to the person of our story, the only one besides Jesus who is called by name…blind Bartimaeus.

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about this man other than he is the son of Timaeus and that he is blind and that he is a beggar.

Now, it would only stand to reason that the reason he is a beggar is because of his incapacity to see. It would be hard for Bartimaeus to move about without fail or complete tasks of normal work, for things weren’t as they are today in his day and time.

The roads weren’t paved, there were no sidewalks to walk upon. There probably weren’t service animals to help lead them and the work they were to perform wasn’t of such that a blind man would find of ease.

So, Bartimaeus did the only thing to support himself that he knew to do and that was to beg!

As I was sitting over here yesterday and I began to type that sentence, it came to me that Bartimaeus was good at what he did and the reason I say that, is it was his begging as we will see in a moment that brought him salvation and eternal life!

He did the only thing he knew how to do and in the end it paid off for him in a big kind of way!

So, we see The Hustle of the Crowd first off. Now, let’s look at The Hearing of the Crowd.

The Hearing of the Crowd — (Vs. 47a)

Here’s blind Bartimaeus, and he’s used to the traffic but this day, at this very moment, there seems to be much more than normal.

With that being said, that can only mean one thing…there’s something of significance going on!

So, he begins to ask the passers by what’s going on and upon his questioning he hears the best news he’s heard all day!

Someone tells Bartimaeus that the reason for all the commotion is that Jesus of Nazareth is passing through!

The miracles of Jesus had reached far and wide and although Bartimaeus may have never seen one in person, he had no doubt heard of the miracles that Jesus had performed!

Now, Bartimaeus may not have been able to see but his ears were working just fine, Amen!

Sometimes we Pastors wonder if it’s not right the opposite with some of the members of our congregation! Their eyes seem to be working fine but their ears aren’t!

As the ole trucker lingo goes, “you got your ears on” out there this morning?

You see, although Bartimaeus may not have been able to see, he could hear and he put that hearing to work and it was his hearing that led him to Jesus, Amen!

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God and praise God, upon hearing of the passing of the Word of God, Bartimaeus got busy trying to get in touch with God, Amen!

Which leads us to our next point, The Hollering of Bartimaeus!

The Hollering of Bartimaeus — (Vs. 47b)

Upon hearing that it’s Jesus of Nazareth that is passing by, immediately Bartimaeus begins to “cry out” the Bible says.

The Greek meaning for this word cry out is literally to scream!

Here’s blind Bartimaeus sitting by the side of the highway as Jesus walks by and upon hearing who it was that was passing by, he begins to scream out to Him!

“Jesus! Jesus! Thou Son of David! Have mercy upon me!”

Now there’s a couple things you need to understand here about The Hollering of Bartimaeus.

He refers to Jesus as the Son of David. Now, this was a messianic title for Jesus. This is the title that was used upon His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Bartimaeus is ahead of the game here!

He’s calling out to the only one he knows can fix his unfixable situation!

No doubt, he had seen physicians. No doubt he had tried everything he possibly could to no avail but then one day while sitting on the side of that highway he hears of a man named Jesus of Nazareth that had been performing miracles all over the area and I believe Bartimaeus said in his heart, “if only this man named Jesus would pass by my way! I believe He is the one and only Son of God and I know, I know if He’d just pass by my way, He could fix my problem!”

So, Bartimaeus believed upon Jesus before he ever even met him!

He believed without seeing, Amen!

Sadly, he had more faith that some of the ones who walked with Jesus day in and day out and had seen the many miracles he had already performed!

If you will remember Thomas, after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, the disciples were sitting there telling Thomas how they had seen Jesus and he said, “I won’t believe unless I can put my hand in his hand and my hand in his pierced side, then and only then shall I believe.”

A few days later they were all together again and Jesus appeared and said unto Thomas, “here I am, touch my hand and my side!” Thomas’ reply was simply, “my Lord and my God!” To which Jesus replied, “because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed!”

There’s an old saying that says, “seeing is believing” and although this may be the way the world operates, it’s not how God operates, for God demonstrates here through Bartimaeus, that believing is seeing and not the other way around!

So, we see The Hollering of Bartimaeus, now, let’s move on to the Hushing of the Crowd.

The Hushing of the Crowd — (Vs. 48a)

The Bible tells us here that upon hearing the hollering of Bartimaeus, the crowd begins to try and quiet him!

The Greek word for “Charge” used here is (epitimao) and it means “to censure or admonish; by implication forbid or to rebuke.”

They didn’t want this beggarly fellow causing a ruckus or bothering the Savior of the world, so they try to quiet him!

But what they didn’t understand is that this man, blind Bartimaeus, was one of the main reasons He came to this world to begin with for He said to the Pharisees in...

Mark 2:16–17 — 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Blind Bartimaeus had a physical sickness but he also had a spiritual sickness that needed to be healed!

He was lost and his condition is the perfect illustration for those who are lost today!

They are wandering aimlessly through this world in spiritual darkness! They may have 20/20 vision physically, but spiritually they are blind and in need of a physician and I’m here to tell you this morning friend, the only physician that can heal this kind of ailment is the Lord Jesus Christ!

And something else you need to notice about this passage is the similarities of the crowd to the world and it’s leader, that old adversary of God, Satan!

Here was a man who was trying to get to Jesus and the world was telling him no, hush, be quiet, don’t bother Him!

And sadly, that’s how the devil works! Lost people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and they want to call out to Him but the devil does something or puts someone in their way to hinder them from coming to God!

“Hush! You don’t need to call out to God! You’re just fine the way you are! No need of making a scene! You don’t want to go down to that altar and give your heart to Christ because that will make a scene and people will stare at you and whisper behind your back and snicker at you! There’s no need for all that! Just stay where you are! Just be quiet and leave things the way they are!”

That’s what the devil wants you to do! That’s what he wanted Bartimaeus to do but Bartimaeus understood that if wanted to get out of the situation he was in, he was going to have to do something about it and he wasn’t letting anyone or anything stand in his way!

He realized this may be his only opportunity to be saved and he was going to make the most of it!

What does he do upon hearing the crowds rebuke?

He cried out louder! As loud as his little voice would go he cried out to Jesus, “Jesus! Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me!”

He was determined to get to Jesus and as we will see next, his persistence paid off!

Look with me now at The Halting of the Savior!

The Halting of the Savior — (Vs. 49)

This is probably my favorite part of this entire story!

“And Jesus stood still!”

Friend, I believe Jesus is passing by this place today and I believe someone needs to cry out to Him for some sort of healing in your life!

Can I just say, if you cry out enough, your cries WILL be heard by the Savior and He will stand still for you too!

And Jesus stood still! Oh, how sweet those words are to my soul!

Jesus stood still and commanded that Bartimaeus be called.

Now, listen to this, pay close attention…Jesus called for Bartimaeus…do you see it…He called for Him…but Bartimaeus still had to come!

Jesus stopped for him. Jesus called for him. But Bartimaeus still had to put forth the effort to come!

And come he did!

They called him saying unto him… “Be of good comfort!”

Don’t you just love that! “Be of good comfort Bartimaeus, the Lord has heard your cry! Now, arise for he calleth to thee!”

So sweet!

Is Jesus calling you today? I believe He’s stopped by here on the corner of New Home Road and Short Mountain Highway, He’s stopped and He’s calling on someone to come.

Now, you have to put your faith into action and Heed the Call which is our next point.

The Heeding of the Call — (Vs. 50)

Upon hearing the Saviors call, Bartimaeus did what any person must do if they want to be saved…he came to Jesus!

The Bible says here that Bartimaeus cast away his garment, arose and came to Jesus.

The garment it’s speaking of here is very significant.

The garment was heavy outer piece of clothing used to shield the person from the rain and often times used as a pillow for the person if needed.

This would have been a very important item for a homeless person but the Bible tells us here that Bartimaeus casts it aside and arose and came to Jesus!

He immediately obeyed and left behind the only comfort and possession he had, for his new comfort now lie in Christ and he was about to receive the greatest possession one can acquire on this side of eternity!

Which is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ!

Bartimaeus heeded the call of Christ and my prayer this morning is that if God is dealing with your heart that you my friend will also heed that call!

You must come to Him if you want to be healed!

Notice, Jesus had called, but to this point Bartimaeus is still blind.

But he puts for the effort, leaves everything that is near and dear to his heart behind and comes to Jesus and he’s about to receive not only his sight but salvation!

Look with me at our final point…The Healing of Bartimaeus.

The Healing of Bartimaeus — (Vs. 51-52)

After standing still and calling for Bartimaeus to come, Jesus asks Bartimaeus what He can do for him. Bartimaeus replies by asking for his sight.

Jesus replies, “go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole!”

And immediately, he received his sight!

Listen friend, when you come to Jesus, and ask Him to save you, there’s not a probation period or a waiting period before your salvation kicks in!

It’s immediate, if you are sincere in your request!

If you are lost and here today and in need of salvation, I can assure you that if you will follow the steps of blind Bartimaeus, and call out to God and come to Him and ask Him to heal you from the sickness of your sin, He will do just that!

Closing

As we come to a close, I want you to see one last thing here in the scripture and then I want you to know one thing before we give the invitation.

Look at the response of Bartimaeus upon receiving his sight. Where did he go?

He followed Jesus in the way. Do you see that?

Go back to the beginning of that verse and Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “go thy way”, right?

The thing that I found profound about this is the fact that Bartimaeus’ way has now become Jesus’ way, Amen!

You see, when you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you leave “your way” behind and start walking “His way!”

One writer said it like this… “Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, is “sitting by the roadside” He is , in other words, sidelined or marginalized. The difference in his position “beside the road” at the beginning of the story and “on the road” at the end of the story signifies the difference between being an outsider and an insider, a bystander and a disciple.”

And the question I want to leave you with this morning is this…are you on the side of the road or are you on the road?

If you can’t say of absolute assurance this morning that if you were to draw your last breath in the next five minutes that you would end up in heaven, then friend your not on the way but rather on the side and you need to get up as blind Bartimaeus did here and come to Jesus!

His way needs to become your way if you want to be on the way to heaven!

Now to the thing I want you to know. Do you know what the most significant point to this story is?

The most significant point you need to know about this story is that fact that Jesus never passed by this way again.

This was the last time He would ever make it through Jericho.

Well, preacher what does that mean to me?

What if blind Bartimaeus had said, “you know what, the crowd is right. I’m sure Jesus will be by this way again and I’ll ask Him to heal me then.”

Where would Bartimaeus be today?

Friend, I believe Jesus is passing by here today and I believe He’s dealing with someone’s heart.

Don’t let the devil tell you no, there’s no since in doing it today, there’s always another time for friend there may not be another time for you!

Today may be the only day, the only time that Jesus stands still and calls out for you and oh how sad it would be, to miss that opportunity!

I got a blessing this week from talking with a customer of ours at work. We were talking about the Lord and everything that’s going on in the world and I made the statement, “there’s not one thing that can cause me to leave this world one second before God is ready for me to and she responded with this.... “there’s not one thing or one person that can keep you here one second longer when God’s ready for you to go!”

Friend, treat time wisely and understand that every second you have on this side of eternity is a gift from God and should be treated as such!

Don’t take one second for granted, for you never know when it’s going to be your last!

Jesus is passing by your way today…what will you do with the opportunity he’s giving you!

He’s a Way Maker and a Miracle Worker and I believe He’s wanting to do a miracle in your life today if you will let Him.

As we pray!