"Holler For Jesus" Revised

“Holler For Jesus”(Revised)

Mark 10:46-52

By Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA

www.parkview-umc.org

There’s a song…and I think it’s by Bob Segar…the lyrics go like this:

“I feel like a number, I’m just a number…”

Well, I bet there are a lot of us who often feel this way.

We may feel as if we really don’t matter much.

We may feel like just another face in the crowd.

We may feel as if our lives don’t amount to much in this great big world!

There’s another song…

…this one by the Beatles.

It’s called Elinor Rigby…

The chorus goes: “Aw, look at all those lonely people…”

And there are a lot of lonely people.

And we don’t have to be truly just by ourselves in order to feel lonely…

…often, even in a crowd, there are a lot of lonely people.

Have you ever felt lonely in a crowd?

I have.

And this is the kind of situation that blind Bartimaeus was in here in our Gospel lesson for this morning.

He was a roadside beggar in a huge crowd of people and all the attention was on Jesus.

And Bartimaues began to shout: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

And this annoyed the crowd.

“Who does this blind beggar think he is? He’s a nobody. He doesn’t matter. He’s an annoyance. Shut him up!”

They told him to be quiet, “but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Well, the crowd may not have thought that Bartimaeus was worth much, but he sure was worth an awful lot to Jesus Christ, the Author of life!

Let’s all remember this whenever we feel “like a number.” …

…whenever we feel as if we don’t matter much…

…whenever we feel unloved, unwanted, and useless…

…let’s remember this every time the crowds tell us to be quiet!

Let’s remember that the most important person to ever walk this earth…

…the One Who Created this earth cares about us, loves us…each and every one of us…

…is intimately concerned and involved in every aspect of our lives…

…went to the Cross for each of us…

…suffered all the temptations and hardships of life on this earth for each one of us…

…but was without sin…

…and rose again…

…in order to save us!

That’s how important and loved each and every one of us are!!!

So, if anyone tries to stop you from calling out to Jesus, just holler all the more!!!

He’ll stop and listen.

No problem is too big or too small…

…for the most important creatures in His sight!

Remember the story of The Good Samaritan?

A man who was walking down a road was mugged by a group of robbers.

“They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.”

There he was lying on the side of the road and a priest happened by…but he was in too big a hurry to stop and help.

And then a Levite came upon the man, but he didn’t have the time or care enough to bother with him, so he passed by on the other side.

Well, unlike the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus did not pass by on the other side of the road as He came to Jericho and blind Bartimaeus began to holler for Him.

Look again at verse 49.

Now, to put this into a little bit of perspective…

…Jericho was just about 15 miles Northeast of Jerusalem…

…and this was where Jesus was headed.

Jesus’ mind was now set on the Cross, there was a whole procession following Him…Jesus was just about to enter Jerusalem on a colt…

…and a whole bunch of folks were going to wave palm branches and shout: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!…Hosanna in the highest!”

But here is blind Bartimaeus, a roadside beggar.

And this beggar was very important to Jesus, so important, in fact, that on His way to the Jerusalem Cross, Jesus stopped the whole procession in order to give him his sight back.

Jesus’ stopping said clearly, “You count.”

And that is one of the deep, permanent needs of humanity—the need for respect, the assurance that we “count,” that we are not just merely a number…

…one of many.

Bartimaeus was a man who had obviously heard about Jesus.

He had heard about the miracles Jesus had been performing…

…and here He comes…

…He may never come this way again…

…this was Bartimaeus’ big chance!

So, Bartimaeus hollered for Jesus!

He wasn’t going to let anything get in his way…

…get in the way of his opportunity for salvation!

We are all given the opportunity that Bartimaeus was given.