#45 A Blind Man Series

#45 A Blind Man

Series: Mark

Chuck Sligh

July 18, 2021

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation are available for this sermon by request at chuckcsligh@gmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

Much of the conclusion for this sermon is adapted from David Dykes’ sermon on this text on SermonCentral.com. Many thanks for his excellent observations.

TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 10:46.

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – You get used to sleeping in your own home, but when you go somewhere else, sometimes you can get yourself in a bit of a pickle. When we were raising support to go to the mission field, I went on a trip with two other missionary men and some nights we shared the same room in little mission apartments in churches.

Staying in a different room every night kept us off-kilter, or at least it did for me. Early in our experience, I jumped out of bed in a mission apartment we were staying in to use the restroom, which was not in our room, but down the hallway of a basement of classrooms. Forgetting I wasn’t home, I walked where our bathroom door was at home in the pitch-black and walked right into a wall!

Remembering only then I wasn’t at home, I felt around for the door and found one, only to walk into a closet where I bumped my head on a shelf. Feeling my way around the room I almost fell over a chair until I finally found the door to the hallway.

The men’s restroom was somewhere halfway down the long hall, so I felt my way down the hallway until I found the restroom. But when I came out, disoriented, I exited to the right instead of to the left from which I had come. All along the way it was pitch black and I couldn’t find a light switch for the life of me. I just couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong. I just kept checking doors to rooms and they were all locked.

Finally, I gave up and shouted, “Hey, guys, where are you?” No answer.I got louder—Crickets, and then louder still until finally a door down the hall opens up and a light comes on from inside the room and one of them says, “Chuck, are you alright?” Only then did I realize I had gone the wrong way down the hall.

We all had a good chuckle and went back to bed. Then I had the good fortune to be used as an illustration in church the next day!

Here’s the thing: I knew I had a problem; I called out for help until I was heard; and I was rescued. That story illustrates the story in today’s text in Mark 10:46-52. Mark tells us about a blind man who knew his condition and cried out to Jesus repeatedly until he got His attention, and Jesus turned on the lights and healed him.

Let’s read about this blind man and see what God would have us learn from this story:

I. FIRST NOTICE WITH ME A BLIND MAN’S NEED IN VERSE 46 – “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.”

Jesus and his disciples are on the inevitable path to Jerusalem where suffering, torture, death and resurrection await Jesus, and where failure, disillusionment, renewed hope and restoration await the apostles. They cross the Jordan river (see the bottom line on the map) and arrive at Jericho. This is not the Old Testament city of Jericho where God made the walls fall down. By New Testament times, Herod the Great had built a new city, which was about 5 miles from the Old City and 18 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Though only 18 miles, the road to Jerusalem was uphill all the way from Jericho, with Jerusalem 3,400 feet higher in elevation (or about 1015 meters).

As usual, at Jericho word spread that Jesus was in town, so a large crowd assembled. By the roadside, probably at the edge of the city was a blind man named Bartimaeus. Let’s call him Bart because that’s easier to say!

Not only was Bart blind, but he was also a beggar, the only way most blind people could support themselves unless born into a wealthy family. So Blind Bart had a great need: He was destitute and without sight.

Mark rarely mentions names of characters in his gospel. The fact that Bart is named is thought to be due to the fact that he was probably still living and part of the church of Jerusalem when Mark wrote his gospel.