Proper 25

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

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You know, if someone asked me to show them in the Bible what salvation looks like, at some point in my life I may have walked them through the so-called Romans Road, multiple passages in Romans that discuss sin, grace, etc.

And those passages are good, but walking someone through a logical flow chart of theological truths could end up communicating that being a Christian is about believing a logical flow chart of theological truths.

At this point in my life, if someone asked me to show them what salvation looks like in the Bible, I might just take them here, to this story.

And maybe we don’t think of it as a salvation story

Maybe we think of it as a miracle story

But I’d say these tight 7 verses show us a profound picture of what it means to follow Jesus.

Let’s observe.

One of the first and most important rules of reading our bibles, understand the context.

Passages don’t exist on their own in a vacuum.

Mark’s gospel was likely the first to be written down

It’s very action oriented to show what Jesus DID, rather than like John’s philosophical “In the beginning was the Logos...”

But the writers of the gospels made editorial choices to emphasize things

That is to say they would like put one story next to another to show the contrast

Like here, if we look at the story just before, it’s James and John asking to sit at Jesus’s right and left hand

This is what we talked about last week.

But if you’ll notice, in the two stories, Jesus’s first question is the same

To both James and John and Bartimeus, Jesus asks “What do you want me to do for you?”

James and John want power and status from Jesus

What does Bartimeus want? He wants to see.

Last week we discussed how Jesus shows James and John they are asking the wrong question.

Their perspective is off and their desires are off

Bartimeus however, is on the right track.

On top of that, this passage serves as a sort of conclusion of a chapter in Mark’s gospel

After this account is the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

So this is sort of the punctuation on all the teaching and miracles that preceded it in the story before we move into Jesus arriving in Jerusalem to be arrested and crucified

And the first thing that makes this story the perfect punctuation is that it involves a blind man

Blindness is a MAJOR theme in the scriptures

Not only does it represent an ailment, a hardship in our fallen world

It represents darkness, unknowing, confusion, and even hard heartedness

At least six times in Matthew’s gospel Jesus refers to the religious leaders as “Blind guides.”

This is where we get the idiom “the blind leading the blind”.

People who don’t know leading people who don’t know and they both fall into a pit.

So for chapters in Mark’s gospel Jesus has been proclaiming and modeling the kingdom to a mixed response and HERE, at the end of the section, we get an example of a man who simply wants to see.

He recognizes his blindness and knows Jesus is the answer.

That’s powerful literally and figuratively.

Having our blindness healed is a beautiful image of what it means to have our hearts and minds changed by the Spirit.

In my own story, I came to faith my freshman year of college

I fancied myself pretty smart with a lot of big questions that I couldn’t answer, which kept me from really believing

But one weekend in the fall of 1997, my experience was something like a combination of the proverbial scales falling from my eyes and, as John Wesley said, my heart being strangely warmed

It wasn’t like solving an equation is was like seeing for the first time

Like, “Has Jesus been standing here the whole time?”

“Have trees always been that color?”

“Have my motives always been that selfish? Culture always been that bankrupt?”

I was blind but now I see, at least in part.

We don’t gain omniscience, right?

Paul says in Corinthians that we see like we’re looking through a foggy piece of glass in the dark. But one day we’ll see clearly and see Jesus up close and face to face.

And in this life we continue to pray for clearer site

deeper self-awareness

more discernment and wisdom

and just stay close to Jesus so he can lead us

Another thing in this text, look how Bartimeus approaches Jesus

“Jesus, son of David” - which is a profession of faith in a sense “have mercy on me.”

How did James and John approach him?

“Hey teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

Bartimeus come in humility and faith and just wants mercy.

For once in his life he just wants mercy

He just wants to experience love and compassion

And you can see how he’s treated, they basically tell him to be quiet and go away

And it may be people carried the misconception that blindness was a punishment from God

So in the same way people today might treat the poor or a drug addict of unworthy of help, they just brushed him aside.

But that’s not how Jesus operates

He sees him.

He invites him to come.

And he shows him … compassion.

And he restores his sight which, as we discuss often, is a taste of the restoration of all things.

The miracles of Jesus bring these moments of the kingdom, where everything will be set right, to the here and now

And then don’t miss that last sentence.

What does Bartimeus do?

Go use his newfound site to pursue his ambitions?

No, he goes with Jesus on the road.

The road is going to the cross, incidentally.

But the point is that the right response is to GO WITH Jesus.

Faith is following.

So what better picture of salvation could there be?

It’s a man how knows he’s blind.

Desperate to experience love and compassion and freedom.

Crying out to Jesus in humility and whatever faith he can muster.

And Jesus responds.

And he opens the man’s eyes to see reality for the first time.

And his new site shows him the only real option is to go with Jesus, wherever the road takes him.