Text: “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked Him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” (Mark 10:51)
There is no question that we have many people in the world who are physically blind. Sometimes we know the reason they have lost their sight and other times it is unknown.
There are people, who have sight, but the images are not clear and things appear as shadows. There are children who are born blind because some part of their optical system did not develop.
On the other hand, there are people in the world who have perfect 20/20 vision as indicated by the eye chart, but are blind as to what is going on around them. They are so concerned about their own life and their own needs and wants that they are oblivious or unaware of the people around them. Both you and I know some of these people.
People in this group tend to stick together and associate with those who think, act, do, and live the same lifestyle. Fortunately for us, Jesus is not like this.
Jesus is not impressed with things of the world as some people are. He is not interested in what people possess, but He is interested in what they need. He is not interested in only the upper crust of society, but He is interested in all His children regardless of whether they are rich or poor.
Jesus reaches out to those who have small or big concerns. He is not blind to what is going on in the world. He is not blind to the sinful nature of mankind. He sees what is going on in our life. He sees what we are going go do before we ever do it. Jesus is not blind.
Some people are impressed with large crowds of people which follow them and listen to what they have to say or observe what they are doing, but Jesus is different. He doesn’t object to multitudes of people following Him, but He is interested in and ready to assist individuals in their time of need.
There are times when we, you and I, have been approached by someone in need or someone who wants to talk to us, but we put them off because we have something else to do. We may be in a hurry and choose to ignore their cry for our attention. That’s the way many of God’s children treat other people, but we need to thank Jesus for showing interest, compassion, understanding and love for us when we approach Him with some concern on our mind. Jesus is not blind.
Jesus was in Jericho and was in the process of leaving the city with His disciples and heading for Jerusalem. He was being followed by a multitude of people who knew of Him or who were curious about Him and what He was saying.
In Jesus’ day, it was very common to see beggars sitting along the streets. Jericho was a resort city with many people coming and going, so naturally, it was a profitable place for beggars. Today, we call those people “panhandlers”.
Imagine, being in the crowd and seeing Jesus and His disciples moving out of the city. Crowds are not usually very quiet, so imagine them being quite noisy. Now imagine one little lonely voice crying out for help. Could you have heard this voice? I don’t think so. At times, we don’t even hear when people are talking directly to us because we are not tuned in.
If we were like Jesus and followed in His footsteps, our attention could turn from the noise of many to the voice of one. With Jesus, there is no crowd too large that He cannot hear a single voice, a single cry, a single request for help. We are so fortunate and yet we are so blind.
Jesus is not blind nor is He deaf. His attention is given to any person who desires it. Jesus does not sleep or slumber, but He is always on duty. He always has time to care for the needs of His children. He is never in a hurry, because He considers you the most important and most precious.
As Jesus, His disciples and the crowd moved along the road, one lowly little voice cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47) Wow! What a beautiful request, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
He did not ignore that request. He did not say something like we might say, “I’m sorry fellow; I am on my way to this big important meeting of CEO’s at the Convention Center and I don’t want to be late.” No! Jesus didn’t do anything like that. “Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called” (Mark 10:49).
Jesus was aware of Bartimaeus’ just as he aware of each of us. He knew about the blindness just as he knows about our spiritual blindness. In the very early days, blindness was thought to be due because someone had sinned, but Jesus proved that to be false. John recorded the incident as follows:
“And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” Jesus responded with these words: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:2-3)
God’s mercy is upon each of His children and Jesus proves it by reaching out to everyone in need. The blind, the deaf, those with cancer, the lame, and any other person in need can call upon the name of Jesus and He will lift that burden from them and give them healing according to His Word.
The crowd surrounding Jesus warned the man to be quiet. They thought, just as some people think today, that the needs of some are not important as the needs of others. This man doing the yelling was blind, poor, lowly and was not worthy of Jesus’ time or His attention, so they told him to be quiet.
The people did not understand that each of God’s children are important to Him and deserve what He has to offer. Jesus said, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). Our requests must be in line with God’s Word.
In other words, this is not like a blank check that we just fill in, but the request must be in line with the principles of God’s kingdom. With a very strong faith and belief, our prayer request will more likely be granted because it will follow God’s guidelines.
Bartimaeus was sitting on the lowest rung of society’s ladder, but this did not make any difference to Jesus. It does not make any difference today. Jesus values every person and is concerned about the needs of each person.
When people are crowded together, as in some of our larger cites in this country and throughout the world, people problems multiply. In some of these areas, sickness runs rampant because of the living conditions. In an effort to continue to survive, people in these areas do things they would not normally do. When they are lonely and destitute the devil takes over and sin occurs.
When people are at the bottom of the ladder, facing problems and issues beyond their control, they will do abnormal things. Some will destroy themselves through violence, drugs, alcohol, or some other means.
Other people who are very low and facing issues which they know they cannot handle, but realize there is help available, will be like Bartimaeus and shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
There are people who have issues in life but fail to recognize those issues. They are blind to the fact the leader of the world has taken control of their life and leading them down the road of destruction. This is not physical blindness, but it is spiritual blindness. Jesus knows about these people and He is standing with arms outstretched ready to receive them if they will only seek Him.
I want to share a story with you that someone sent me.
Story:
Back in the 50’s there was a well known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Stuart Hamblin who was noted for his drinking, womanizing, partying, and who knows what else.
On of his bigger hits at the time was “I won’t go hunting with you Jake, but I’ll go chasing women.”
One day, along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblin had him on his radio show presumably to poke fun at him.
In order to gather more material for his show, Hamblin showed up at one of the revival meetings. Early in the service the preacher announced, “There is one man in this audience who is a big fake.”
There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblin was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction) but he was having none of that.
Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up drunk at the preacher’s hotel door around 2 in the morning demanding that the preacher pray for him!
But the preacher refused, saying, “This is between you and God and I’m not going to get in the middle of it.” But he did invite Stuart in and they talked for about 3 hours. As they talked, tears began to flow from Stuart’s eyes, he began to sob, and then he got down on his knees. His eyes were opened, his blindness to his spiritual needs was healed and he cried out to God, “Jesus, have mercy on me!”
Stuart was one man called forth by the Holy Spirit and set free from his addiction to worldly endeavors which were leading him down the path of destruction. He now saw the Light. His life was changed. His old ways were abandoned causing him to lose his radio show because he would not permit a beer company to sponsor his radio show.
Being a new Christian, he tried his very best to write music that would glorify God, but he had only one that was really accepted. That song was entitled, “This Old House” which was written for a very close friend named Rosemary Clooney.
Stuart struggled to make ends meet, but times were extremely difficult for him. One day one of his dear friends by the name John asked him this question: “Is this religion you now have really worth all you have given up?” With out even thinking about it, Stuart responded with “Yes.”
John asked him if he had difficulty struggling with this new life that did not include drinking, womanizing and attending wild parties. Stuart replied with these words: “It is no big secret. All things are possible with God.” John indicated that those words sounded like a song.
Stuart then wrote the song, “It Is No Secret.”
The chimes of time ring out the news
Another day is through
Some one slipped and fell,
Was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength
Your courage to renew
Do not be disheartened
I have news for you.
Chorus:
It is no secret what God can do,
What he has done for others,
He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open,
He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do.
There is no night, for in His light
You’ll never walk alone.
You’ll always feel at home wherever you may roam,
There is no power can conquer you,
While God is on your side.
Take Him at His promise,
Don’t run away and hide.
Chorus:
It is no secret what God can do,
What he has done for others,
He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open,
He’ll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do...
Stuart Hamblen’s friend John was John Wayne and Billy Graham was the preacher who Stuart visited in the early hours of the morning.
Bartimaeus called out with the words, “Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me!” Stuart got down on his knees and said, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” What Jesus did for these people He can do for anyone who asks. It makes no difference what rung of the ladder one is on according to society because as we have learned, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Satan is at work today just as he was in the days of Bartimaeus. We may blame the crowd for warning Bartimaeus to be quiet, but in reality, it was Satan at work in the hearts of those people. As we know, Satan works in such subtle or clever ways that people do not realize they are being used. He works the same way today.
There are people in the world who are unhappy, miserable and hurting because of their lifestyle due to some addiction they have. Many of them know there is help just a prayer away, but their friends, under the influence of Satan, keep telling them this is their fate.
These friends are thinking about themselves and not about the person seeking God’s help. The friends are blind because Satan has caused them to live according to his standards which are in direct opposition to God’s standards.
Bartimaeus kept calling out to Jesus and Jesus heard him. People who keep calling out to Jesus today will get the same response from Him as did Bartimaeus . Bartimaeus had faith and he had hope. This was his opportunity to put that faith into action. All of us have been given “….a measure of faith….” (Romans 12:3) and it is up to us to exercise that faith.
Jesus tells us that “….if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).
A mustard seed is extremely small. A small amount of faith can achieve that which seems humanly impossible. The mountain Jesus is talking about is any obstacle, obstruction or issue that tends to prevent us from doing something or conquering a problem we are facing. When we exercise our faith, put it into action believing that Jesus is still in control and what we want to accomplish is in accordance with His will, it will be done.
We said Jesus was leaving Jericho and heading for Jerusalem. Stop and think for just a moment. Jesus would not be traveling this way again. Jesus was on His way to the place where He would pay the sin penalty for each and every one of us.
Did Bartimaeus know this? I don’t believe he did. Bartimaeus had one chance to reach out to Jesus, get His attention, and present his request. Can you see now why Satan was working through the crowd to prevent this from happening?
No human being knows how many days of earthly life they have. Those who have not accepted Jesus as their own personal Lord and Savior may miss the opportunity. In this case, Jesus is not traveling by or moving away, but people choose to ignore, or pass up the opportunity to reach out and ask Jesus to come and dwell in their heart. Each person must take the first step and say, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” as did Bartimaeus.
Jesus will do for each of us what He did for Bartimaeus when He stopped, stood still and called him forth. He healed the blind, the paralytic, the demon possessed, the mute, the lame, the epileptic and he raised the dead. Since He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, He can do the same today. Nothing is impossible for Jesus.
Conclusion:
Jesus is with us because we have invited Him to live within our heart. He wants to live in the heart of all His children, but He will not force His way in. Salvation begins with the cry, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” Jesus is not passing by us, but time is passing and running out for each one of us.
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). He wants us to live life on the highest possible level. As we live for Him, He lives for us. When we dedicate our life to Him by following His example and His Word, we are building up treasure in heaven.
Jesus said we are the “….salt of the earth….and….the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). If we are the “salt of the earth” everything we do should exhibit a positive effect upon all those around us. If we are the “light of the world” then we should shine forth to show others what Jesus is like.
Jesus is not blind, but many of God’s children are. Physical blindness is a reality and spiritual blindness is real. One who is physically blind can spend eternity in Jesus’ kingdom, but one who is spiritually blind and misses the opportunity to ask for healing will not be permitted entrance into the room prepared in the heavenly mansion.
Bartimaeus called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus called him to come forth, healed him and then said, “Go your way, your faith has made you well” (Mark 10:52). Every one of God’s children has that same opportunity today.
Amen.
