I'm Not Blind Anymore Series

Mark 10 46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 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 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way

Our lesson series that we are on is called, the Greatest Comeback ever. We are on the road to redemption, the road to crucifixion, the road to resurrection, the road to Easter.

There are many great things that Jesus accomplished in the last two weeks before his crucifixion. There is no way that we could preach every detail or relay every message that he wanted to share in the limited time that we have together.

There was a tightrope walker, who did incredible aerial feats. All over Paris, he would do tightrope acts at tremendously scary heights. Then he had succeeding acts; he would do it blindfolded, then he would go across the tightrope, blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow. An American promoter read about this in the papers and wrote a letter to the tightrope walker, saying, "Tightrope, I don't believe you can do it, but I'm willing to make you an offer. For a very substantial sum of money, besides all your transportation fees, I would like to challenge you to do your act over Niagara Falls." Now, Tightrope wrote back, "Sir, although I've never been to America and seen the Falls, I'd love to come." Well, after a lot of promotion and setting the whole thing up, many people came to see the event. Tightrope was to start on the Canadian side and come to the American side. Drums roll, and he comes across the rope which is suspended over the treacherous part of the falls -- blindfolded!! And he makes it across easily. The crowds go wild, and he comes to the promoter and says, "Well, Mr. Promoter, now do you believe I can do it?" "Well of course I do. I mean, I just saw you do it." "No," said Tightrope, "do you really believe I can do it?" "Well of course I do, you just did it." "No, no, no," said Tightrope, "do you believe I can do it?" "Yes," said Mr. Promoter, "I believe you can do it." "Good," said Tightrope, "then you get in the wheel barrow."

The word believe, in Greek means "to live by". This is a nice story...makes you ask, how often do we say that we believe Christ can do it, but refuse to get in the wheelbarrow?

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. He knew he had a time crunch, he knew his friend Lazarus was in the tomb, he knew that he was going towards his own death. He was surrounded by a multitude of followers, there were people everywhere that needed something from him, that wanted something from him. I the midst of the roar of the crowd, a certain blind man sat by the roadway begging.

When he heard that it was Jesus.

He didn’t see Jesus, he didn’t feel Jesus, he hadn’t heard the voice of Jesus for himself, but when someone told him that it was Jesus. He couldn’t stay quiet, he couldn’t keep begging, instead he began to yell out, Jesus though son of David, have mercy on me!

Isn’t it amazing, Bartimaeus didn’t yell out, give me my sight. He didn’t yell out, give me some alms. He didn’t ask for food or assistance; he asked for mercy.

People were rebuking him; they were telling him to stay quiet. They may have told him that Jesus didn’t have time for a blind beggar. But when Jesus heard him,

Man, I could stop here and preach a message, when Jesus hears you. When you’ve been calling out and you think that he’s not listening. When you’re seeking mercy but the crowd stand between you and God. When Jesus hears you! But that’s not my message today.

When Jesus heard him, he told the people tell him to come to me. When these people who had been telling him to be quiet, when these people who were telling him Jesus doesn’t have time for you, heard that Jesus wanted him, they changed their tune. Let me tell you, the naysayers in your life, the people who have been talking down to you and about you, here that Jesus wants you, their words are going to change. Scripture says that when they told this blind man that Jesus wanted him, he through off his coat and ran to meet Jesus. Throwing off his coat was no small ordeal. His cloak was important, Bible scholars believe blind Bartimaeus may have spread his cloak in front of him as a kind of catch all for any coins that were tossed to him. If that were the case, then his cloak was a tool of his trade. Without his cloak, he would have difficulties collecting the alms that were given to him.