Mark 10:46-52: How Jesus Responded to Determined Faith

INTRODUCTION

As I read the gospels I notice that sometimes the people with the most faith are not always the people who are in Jesus’ circle of friends:

I think of the Roman centurion with the sick servant. Jesus said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!” (Luke 7:9).

I think of the Canaanite woman with the demon-possessed child. She refused to give up and ended up winning an argument with Jesus (Mark 7:29).

I think of the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Jesus said, “Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love,”…And he said to the woman, “Your faith has made you whole; go in peace” (Luke 7:47 and 50).

I think of the thief who died beside Jesus on a cross. He looked at tormented, despised, ridiculed Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).

I think of the centurion who was in charge of the men who nailed Jesus to his cross, who when he saw how Jesus died, exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).

The story I will read to you today is about a blind beggar in Jericho.

This story is unusual in that, unlike the other healing stories, we know the name of the one Jesus healed.

He is Bar-timaeus, which means “the son of Timaeus.”

The story happened when Jesus visited Jericho on his way to enter Jerusalem for his last week before his death.

Mark 10:46-52

And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 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!”

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; rise, he is calling you.” And throwing off his mantle, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

And the blind man said to him, “Master, let me receive my sight.”

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

I. Imagine yourself as one of the disciples. Picture the scene as if you were there. Here is what you see…

Jericho is surrounded by desert. But it is at an oasis, an earthly paradise. The fertility of its soil and its palm-groves and balsam plantations are legendary. It is a beautiful city with an amphitheater and palace surrounded by gardens. An historian calls it “a fairyland of the old world” (Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, p61).
But Bartimaeus saw none of these things—for Bartinaeus was blind!

It is a busy time of year, just before the Passover in Jerusalem. The road through the city is full of travelers. It is a good time for beggars to be out. People might be in a generous mood as they set out to go up to Jerusalem to worship at Passover time.

Here’s Bartimaeus bawling out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

People are shouting, “What a nuisance!” But the obnoxious man cries out all the louder.

But look! Jesus is stopping. He seems to welcome the interruption. He is calls the beggar. The beggar’s friends encourage him, and he leaps up, throws aside his coat and blunders through the crowd to Jesus.

Jesus says, “What do you want me to do for you?”

This time Bartimaeus doesn’t ask for money. He just says, “Master, I want to see!”

We don’t read that Jesus reached out to touch him. Jesus just says, “Go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

And immediately he receives his sight—but he doesn’t go his way—he joins right in with Jesus’s disciples as they continue their journey to Jerusalem, 15 miles away. Bartimaeus must have been among the crowd on Palm Sunday, waving his palm branch and shouting, “Hosanna!”

II. Let’s look a little closer at Bartimaeus.

A. Consider Bartimaeus’s plight.

As a blind man, Bartimaeus had no choice but to beg. He couldn’t survive any other way.

There was no social service network in those days, but every Jew knew that one of the most important responsibilities he had was to show mercy to the poor.

But when Jesus came along, he forgot about his need for money and thought only of his hope that Jesus would heal him.

B. Now consider Bartimaeus’ faith.

Bartimaeus didn’t know much, but he acted on what he knew. He shouted and kept shouting. He had to get Jesus’ attention.

He couldn’t come up behind Jesus and touch the hem of his cloak, as one sick woman did. He couldn’t run to Jesus and fall at his feet, as Jairus, the synagogue ruler did. He couldn’t send servants to talk to Jesus as a centurion did.

He had to get Jesus’ attention. And he did what he had to do.

He put his faith to work. He called out and kept calling out. He wouldn’t be quieted.

C. Notice how Jesus made a special point of telling Bartimaeus that his faith had made him well.

Jesus often told those he healed, “Your faith has made you well”—or it can be translated, “Your faith has saved you.”

Jesus wanted Bartimaeus—and everyone standing around—to know that it is by faith that we lay hold on the power of God.

Jesus often told those he healed, “Your faith has saved you.”

When Bartimaeus’s eyes were healed, his soul was healed too. He was now a follower of Jesus, a child of God.

D. We see Bartimaeus’ devotion to Jesus.

Bartimaeus joyfully followed Jesus on the way. Bartimaeus evidently became a well-known disciple of Jesus. Otherwise, why would his name be recorded with the story?

Mark was probably written about 30 years after the events it records, but even 30 years later that name stands out.

I think that Bartimaeus followed Jesus, not only into Jerusalem—but to the very end.

And after the resurrection, Bartimaeus must have been one of that company of believers that formed the community of faith that changed the world.

CONCLUSION

The story of Bartimaeus teaches us what salvation means.

Spiritually we are blind. We don’t know where we are going, and we don’t know how to get there. Jesus gives us sight. He is the light of the world.

Faith is the hand that reaches out to God to take the gift.

Bartimaeus believed in Jesus, he loved Jesus, and he intended to obey Jesus.

Let me read you an account in which a young blind woman describes her excitement when an operation gave her vision. This is an account from a book by a woman named Sheila Hocken from her book: Emma and I. (Emma was her seeing eye dog.) Miss Hocken writes:

“Then the bandages were off, and I still did not know the result, because I had my eyes shut tight. I heard Sister saying, ‘Come on, Sheila. Open your eyes. The bandages are off.’

“I gripped the armrests even harder and opened my eyes. What happened then was that I was suddenly hit—physically struck—by brilliance, like an immense electric shock into my brain and through my entire body.  This utterly unimaginable, incandescent brightness flooded my being like a shock wave. There was a white in front of me, a dazzling white that I could hardly bear to take in, a vivid blue that I had never thought possible. It was fantastic, marvelous, incredible.

“It was like the beginning of the world. I turned and looked the other way and there were greens, lots of different greens, different shades, all quite unbelievable, and at the same time there flooded in sound, the sound of voices asking, ‘Can you see; can you see?’

“But I just so overwhelmed and spellbound by the sensation that had seized every inch of me—as if the sun itself had burst into my brain and body and scattered ever molten particle of its light and color—that it took me some time to say anything. I looked back at the blue and said, “Oh, it’s blue; it’s so beautiful.”

When we read that we think of what it means to be a Christian.

 Before salvation we were blind. We were groping in the dark. We didn’t know where we were going. We were afraid. Life was dreary. Death was fearful.

But when Jesus came into our life, and light flooded in.

Now we know why we are here. We know where we are going. We know that the future is bright.

We know that when we walk through the “valley of the shadow of death” the Good Shepherd will be with me. He will hold our hand and lead us into the Eternal City, the New Jerusalem, where night is no more, and where every tear will be wiped away, and neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, but we will be forever with Jesus.

Then we will enter into the joy of the Lord.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I’m found,

was blind but now I see.