Spiritual Blindness

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.

Spiritual Blindness

One of the primary tasks in preaching the gospel is to heal those who are spiritually blind and open their eyes to the truth of the gospel. This second section within the gospel of Mark begins at 8:22 with the healing of the blind man following Jesus confrontation with the Pharisees and just before Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. As we conclude this section detailing the importance of discipleship, Jesus is confronted once again with someone who is blind. This time, we have a name and the location is near Jericho along Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem.

As we conclude this section of Mark’s gospel, we tackle the issue of spiritual blindness. This is something that comes up in another healing of a blind man in John 9. In this instance, we find Jesus healing a man who does not know who healed him along with the fall out within the Jewish community about declaring Jesus as the one who has done the healing. In the end, the newly healed man is kicked out of the synagogue because of his confession of Jesus, and the Pharisees are condemned by Jesus.

This entire issue of spiritual blindness is something that we are constantly dealing with in the church. There are many of who seem to be followers of Jesus yet live with blindness in our spirits because we are influenced by sin or led away from the faith because of situations in life. This kind of blindness can impair our relationship with God and prevent us from being the disciples that God has called us to be. We see this with the disciples all throughout this section of Mark. They continue to be spiritually blind because of their hardness of heart and focus on this life rather than the kingdom that is to come.

Today, we will learn what it means for us to live the kind of life that is open to the power of the Holy Spirit and leave behind a life of blindness and live in the light of Christ.

1. Our spiritual sight is contingent on our recognition of Jesus. (vs. 46-48)

John 9:39–41 ESV

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

Do we really know who Jesus is in our lives? At the beginning of this section of Mark, Jesus asks the disciples the question of who they believe he is. Peter’s answer is one that is emphatic but also comes with caveats. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. But he is the kind of messiah that the disciples have worked out in their own minds from the teachings of the Pharisees and others. Jesus is not the Messiah they expected.

Now, as Jesus is entering Jerusalem, the disciples and Jesus encounter a man who is blind named Bartimaeus. The readers of Mark may have been familiar with Timaeus and that is why Mark specifically identifies who he is. But this man knows that Jesus is coming and cries out to him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many of those in the crowd wanted him to stop. It was almost as if they were embarrassed by his outburst. But he just calls out even louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Why is this recognition of who Jesus is so important to the man’s sight?

One of the interesting things here is that although the man is physically blind, he is not spiritually blind. This is the only place in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus is identified as “Son of David.” There is nothing up to this point in the gospel that prepares us for this specific title. For Jewish people it would be functionally equivalent to Christ. The disciples were told at the time of Peter’s confession in 8:29 that they were to be silent about his identity. From what we can tell, they have honored that request from Jesus. What we know is that as Jesus is approaching Jerusalem is that the messianic aspects of Jesus ministry have become more apparent. In the next chapter, Jesus enters Jerusalem where he is given messianic titles.

Whether or not this man knew the theological ramifications of his outburst or not, the truth of the matter is that he knew that Jesus could do something about his blindness. He was a beggar on the side of the street unable to make a living for himself and was totally dependent upon the kindness of others. it is in the recognition of who Jesus was that the process for this man’s healing began.

Like the Pharisees of John 9, there are times when we ignore or deny Jesus and fail to recognize him. In doing so, we create a space in our lives that is oblivious to the blessings and power of God. Our spiritual blindness and lack of recognizing who Jesus is gives us a place to make up who Jesus is for us. In doing so, we make a Jesus who is not the one we see in the gospels but one that is more in line with who we are. It is not a Jesus that changes and transforms. It is a Jesus that we mold into our image so that we can live like we want and do what we want without feeling guilty about it. Not recognizing Jesus keeps us in spiritual darkness and prevents us from living out the promises of God in our lives. It is only in our recognition of the truth of who Jesus is, the Messiah and Son of the living God, who has laid down his life for our sin and reconciled us to God, that we can be all that God has created us to be.

2. Jesus calls us out of darkness and into light. (vs. 49-50)

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

At this point in the narrative, there seems to be a change of heart from the crowds who are following Jesus. At first they wanted Bartimaeus to be silent. Now, Jesus calls to him, and they encourage him to go saying, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” The response of Bartimaeus is one of great excitement. He throws off his cloak and runs to Jesus. In those two verses, there is a lot that we must unpack.

After the man has recognized Jesus, Jesus calls him to himself to be healed. The darkness that he has been living in is about to be gone, and he is about to see and be in the light. Just as Peter says to the Christians of Asia Minor in his first letter to them, 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” This blind man is called out darkness into the marvelous light of Christ so that the excellencies of Jesus can be proclaimed through him. The restoration of this man’s sight is a sign that Jesus is who he has claimed himself to be all along. He is fulfilling the prophecy found in Isaiah 42:7 that is quoted in Luke 4:18-19, “to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

But there is something here that needs to be examined further. The call of Jesus creates a response in this man that is significant. He throws off his cloak and springs up from the ground. When he is called by Jesus, he leaves behind all that was important to him before. The cloak of a beggar was more than likely one of the only possessions he would have had. It would have been his protection from the cold. It would have been the place where he kept all the money that he had been given so that he might eat. But he throws it off. So you can imagine when Jesus calls to him, there is such excitement in his heart that he just leaves everything behind. It is a reminder of what Jesus told his disciples in Mark 8:34-35 “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” He is letting go of his old life for the new life that he can have in Christ.

Jesus calls us to do the same thing. In Colossians 3:5-10 “5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Instead, we are called to live in a new way, Colossians 3:12-14 “12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” We must leave behind all that we have held so dear in our hearts because of sin in order for us to be the disciples God intends for us to be. The old life must be thrown off, and we must run to Jesus to embrace the new life. We must leave behind the darkness and come into the light of Christ.

3. Faith in Jesus is the remedy to our spiritual blindness. (vs. 51-52)

John 9:35–38 ESV

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Jesus asks the man a very specific question, “What do you want from me?” The man has a very specific response, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” Jesus heals the man with a word, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”

This brief conversation between Jesus and the blind man is one that we might find with the disciples not with a beggar along the road. The faith of the blind man seems to be stronger than the faith that the disciples have in Jesus at times. We remember the storm on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus tells the disciples in Mark 4:40 “He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’” They have had issues with faith for much of Jesus’ ministry with them even though they have seen and experienced such amazing and wonderful things. But this man has so much faith in Jesus’ ability to heal him that he leaves everything behind. Not only does he drop all his possessions, he also follows Jesus on the way. He doesn’t just sit in his healing and relish it. He gets up and follows Jesus wherever he is going. His faith is one that is unmatched except for the woman with the 12 years of bleeding.

Jesus’ response of the faith of the man making him well can at times be misconstrued. These words can make us thinking that if we just have enough faith that Jesus is going to heal whatever ails us. That if we come to him in faith with a specific request about what we want that suddenly Jesus will grant it. It gives the impression that if we follow a particular formula and say the magic words that God is going to do whatever we want. But to do so leaves us in our brokenness rather set free into new life.

I want to go back for just a moment to John 9. At the beginning of the chapter, we encounter the blind man who has been so from birth. The disciples ask a strange question, “And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” To which Jesus responds, “3 Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’” The disciples understood the blind man’s condition is some kind of punishment either for himself or for his parents. But Jesus is clear that what is about to take place in the man’s healing was something that has been designed by God from the beginning. It is for those who are around him to know that the light of the world has come.

There are times in our lives when our suffering or our infirmities can take us to a place of doubt and asking if God really does love and care for us. We can get this notion in our minds that we must lack faith, or we must not be good enough for God to heal us and leave us in the suffering that we are in. But that is not how God is. God loves us and cares for us no matter what we are going through. In the passage from John 9, the man didn’t believe other than going to the Pool of Siloam where it was believed that angels made the water move and would heal the first person to get into the water. His faith wasn’t in Jesus. It was in the properties of the water and angels. But after his healing and eventual removal from the synagogue, the man did believe in Jesus and worshiped him. He was healed of his spiritual blindness before he ever believed fully in Jesus. But once his eyes were opened to Jesus, he believed in him, and his life was changed.

Our sickness, problems, and suffering are not always the result of some action that we do. Sometimes it is. But no matter the circumstance, it is a possibility for us to grow in our faith in Christ and know that it is only through him that we have true life. Our faith will make us well. It may not always be the wellness or healing we expect. There are times when our suffering is a moment and time for us to lean into God all the more. It is a time when we must still worship and praise God. It is when we still must declare that it is well with our souls even when it may not be well in our bodies or circumstances. We are not made just for this life, but for eternal life. Jesus has come to open our eyes to the possibilities that await us when we put our whole faith and trust in him no matter what. He will heal our spiritual blindness and give us new sight to see the wonders of his love and grace that are always present for us. We will not always have a life that is perfect. There will be times when suffering and hurt and pain will be present, but with our eyes fully open and healed of our spiritual blindness, our faith can grow exponentially and we can be the disciples that God has created us to be.