How Blind Beggars Get Healed

How Blind Beggars Get Healed

Shall we stand for the reading of the Word . . .

Mark 10 (NKJV) . . .

46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 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 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

Shall we pray . . .

Introduction

In 2007, I found myself in downtown Alexandria, Louisiana in the middle of a Jena Six protest. As I sat near the courthouse, grabbing some wifi to post a video to Youtube . . . the rap artist and actor, Ice Cube, emerged from a limousine . . . right in front of me. I didn’t recognize him . . . although he was RIGHT in front of me.

I just heard the crowd – the HUGE crowd – begin to go nuts. They were shouting, “Cube” . . .

I asked the lady next to me, “What’s goin’ on? Who is that?” She said, “That’s Ice Cube”, as if I was completely stupid! But even though I didn’t recognize him, at least I could see!

The fella in our story – this beggar – was BLIND!

Jesus was on his way out of Jericho . . . a large crowd was following him. It was noisy . . . tumultuous . . . chaotic . . . and this beggar HEARD the ruckus . . . but he couldn’t see. He was curious – no doubt – even inquisitive about its cause. Then he HEARD . . . at the center of all the noise . . . was Jesus.

In a sense . . . we are all like this blind beggar. We are all saddled with spiritual disabilities . . . we’re full of broken places!

But I believe It is the will of God . . . for the POWER of God . . . to HEAL those broken places! It is NOT the will of God for you to be “blinded and begging” the rest of your life!

But notice, however . . . and this is VIP . . . this is a game-changer . . . when it was all said and done, Jesus didn’t say to the healed blind beggar, “My POWER has made you well!” No! Jesus said, “Your FAITH has made you whole!”

Now we know it was Jesus’ power . . . but that blind beggar had faith that DREW FROM and RECEIVED the POWER of Jesus that healed his blindness – and took him off skid row for the rest of his life!

Let’s zoom in a little closer . . . I want you to see just how BROKEN this man really was . . . I want you to see how deep his wounds – his disadvantages – his disabilities went . . .

He was called “Bartimaeus”, but that was not his real name. “Bartimaeus” is made up of two words and means “Son of Timaeus. He was known as Timaeus’ son. In South Louisiana, we’d call him T-Timaeus or "Lil' Timaeus"! WE DON’T EVEN KNOW HIS NAME!

Here’s what nameless blind beggars do . . . here’s how blind beggars get healed . . . and it’s in the form of 3 DARES . . .

IT’S A TRIPLE-DOG-DARE . . .

1. They dare to CONSIDER . . .

This blind beggar had heard that the Messiah had come . . . God in flesh! And that Messiah had a name – Jesus. Wisps of these rumors had been circulating throughout all of Palestine. And then . . . he heard that Jesus was in the crowd . . . right in front of him.

The blind man in our story couldn’t VERIFY with his eyes that this really was Jesus. I mean . . . he had never seen Jesus. He had never seen any of Jesus’ miracles. He had never SEEN anyone healed by Jesus . . . he was blind!