“Offer of a Lifetime”
Mark 10:46-52
2009-11-15, KCC
Now and then I receive emails, international in nature. These messages tell the stories of corporations that held random draws and they drew my name, to be the recipient of millions of dollars. Another type message was a promotion that a well-known automobile dealership was giving away thousands of dollars for a promotion campaign. It was an offer of a lifetime and I should not delay. To borrow a Newfoundland saying, “I might have been born in the night but it wasn’t last night!” I clicked delete and moved on with my day.
I suspect you’ve received your own lifetime offers. You’ve heard it said, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
There is one offer that is legit. It’s not a hoax. Still, we need to pinch ourselves to believe it but it’s for real. Jesus makes an Offer of a Lifetime! It goes beyond customs, status, politics, religious definitions and age. He calls to us as he did a blind man named Bartimaeus. “What do you want me to do for you?” (10:51)
Suddenly our minds are racing! How does one answer a question that is wide open to possibilities? There does not seem to be any restriction or protocol outlined with this question.
Since blind Bartimaeus received what he asked for, -- sight – (verse 51), maybe we can learn how to respond to the same offer that Jesus gives us.
In getting to the end let us start at the beginning where we observe
1. Bartimaeus demonstrates persistence in crisis
Verses 47-49a
Media specialist James Caan, was offering advice to one who struggled to break into the industry. His advice will serve us well in persistent attitudes. Caan said, “There’s no secret to securing the break that you seek – persistence, persistence, persistence. It’s not unusual to hear of people sending out more than 100 letters a month to organisations in the hope of securing a role. So it’s a tough industry to break into…I find that it’s people with passion for what they do that make businesses work. Don’t let your enthusiasm waver.…If you hear of someone sending out 100 letters, make sure you send 101.”
The mob that pressed around Jesus could not silence Bartimaeus. He would only be satisfied with a response from Jesus. Was his persistence a lesson suggesting Jesus wouldn’t hear him; or if he didn’t plead hard enough Jesus would ignore him? That is difficult to accept because Jesus hears the heart of all who need him. Bartimaeus’ persistence was his response to the circumstances that would prevent him from reaching Jesus. People hushed him in an effort to make him be quiet. Maybe there was a sense of embarrassment that the dignified not be troubled with the disgraceful or beggarly. Maybe the SON fed so much into the crowd’s wants and desires with his revolutionary and liberating message that they did not want it interrupted by the dark cloud of another desperate, needy person.
Sometimes we have to be persistent to get Jesus’ attention. Not because he’s deaf, uninterested or removed from us but because things and people prevent our coming. The job is not working out or the children are a worry or the ailing parent needs increased care and the money keeps running out. We don’t see a way out or hope is very slim. In these times we may need to persistently keep repeating our needs and making our requests known to God (Phil 1:4). Circumstances and people can convince us we should be quiet.
We must be persistent. Bart would not be silence. “But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (48) Then the unbelievable happened as recorded in verse 49 in the New Living Translation! “When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.”! This is an astounding statement. Jesus, bombarded with hundreds of people on their way to Passover in Jerusalem likely didn’t hear him at first. Being shrouded in human flesh Jesus was subject to human realities – realities like not hearing a call for help. It was a time when scores of people lined the streets and would throng the priests and teachers to listen and receive from them as they walked. It would have been the case here with Jesus. The only difference is this radical rabbi was stirring the pot of religious order and power. He was challenging the status quo of religion’s politics and power and its domination of the people. Therefore, hearing this rabbi was a favored experience and no doubt, those crowding him exceeded anything the other leaders could ever have imagined.
In this mass exodus through Jericho, twelve miles outside Jerusalem, Jesus heard that insistent call – “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (47-48) Somehow, this voice refused to be turned away. So, “when Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.”
Jesus called Bartimaeus to him. Bartimaeus was so sure this was a unique opportunity that when Jesus called for him Bartimeaus threw off his outer garment. Throwing off his outer garment was a courageous act, a risk-taking venture and a statement of faith that things are about to change. His outer garment was his security from the cold, his tent where he had no shelter and likely his only possession. Yet, to be sure nothing hindered his progress in getting to Jesus he threw aside his security, his shelter, his possession. His heart screamed, “Act man or you could lose the opportunity!”
Persistence requires risk. Sometimes the barrier to receiving is our inability to accept because we already clutch too much. We need to learn the art of persistence. We must not allow circumstances and crowds to shut him out. The shouting may have more to do with making ourselves wake up to Jesus passing by rather then about getting his attention. Jesus pays attention when a call for mercy rings out from hearts that believe that the next breath itself depends on a favorable answer.
If you call above the clamor and noise of life, with a heart that means business, he will STOP!
2. Bartimaeus was precise in his call
Verse 51b “I want to see”
A parent-child scenario will help us understand what precision means.
The child asks, “May I have some money?” The parent grants the request and gives the child five dollars.
“That’s not enough! I need more than that!”
The parent asks, “Well, you didn’t say what you wanted it for or how much you wanted. You just asked for money.”
“Well, I need enough money to catch a movie with my friends and buy a combo for the movie.”
“Oh, so what you really need is twenty dollars. Here’s twenty dollars.”
Bartimaeus was not blind (!) to understanding that he must be precise. To merely stop with the call, “Son of David, have mercy on me” Bart could never be sure what Jesus would do for him. One does not respond to the question of Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?” with an answer that says, “O, well I don’t know. What are my options?” Being precise Bartimaeus pleads, “I want to see” (51). He cuts to the chase, gets to the point and puts his whole desire, exposed, in front of Jesus.
Maybe one of the greatest deficiencies next to not being persistent in prayer is not being precise when we pray. There are far too many “bless us Lord” prayers. What does that mean? It is non-specific. What exactly do we want God to do when we say, “bless me today”? How would we have God bless us? Do we need more patience, more money, or a dose of courage?
3. Bartimeaus was purposeful in his prayer
b. His request concerned his need
Verse 51b “I want to see”
He could have said, “Jesus, I want a deluxe camel. I have always owed a camel with one hump. I never had a chance to own one with two humps. The neat thing, Jesus, about a two-humped camel is the ride is smoother. You can rest down between the humps and it does not hurt as much when the camel runs! Not only that, as you know the hump is the camels water reserve. Well, I have to fuel up the one hump to often. Do you know how tough it is on my old limbs getting up and down on that thing? I need a ladder now it’s so hard! And the price of water these days, well a two-humped camel is every driver’s dream! I’m just not getting the mileage out of my one-hump that I use to!”
There is nothing to say that Bartimaeus could not have asked for a camel; or a new house; but it is also possible that Jesus could have turned down his request if the request were inappropriate. Surely, the desire for sight was a legitimate request. Society, even families, considered such people – the blind, beggar or diseased worthless, if not a disgrace to himself, his family, and his society. Such people could not work and begged to survive.
Be careful of people who say the reason you do not drive a posh vehicle or have a luxurious house is that you lack faith or have not asked for it. We must exercise caution that we do not waste precious moments with God in prayer expending our energy on all the things we want. The apostle Paul tells us of his experiences of God’s faithfulness. In Philippians 4:19 he assures us, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
This, in part, describes what it means to pray “in the name of Jesus.” It is not a catchy phrase we attach to our prayers, that somehow validates what we have to say. It is recognition that what I have prayed about and prayed for is with the same spirit and heart that Jesus himself would have prayed; that my focus is not self-centered or gain worthy for me. It is for the glory of God, for the honor of his Kingdom and in the spirit of pure, unselfish response to the situations that prompt me to pray. It is with the character heart of Jesus that I come to God as I do.
Why do you want what you ask for? Motivation affects response. We learn this lesson from Solomon when God made him king of Israel as recorded in 2 Chronicles 1. He made sacrifices to God for which God was pleased. “7God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
8Solomon replied to God, “You have been so faithful and kind to my father, David, and now you have made me king in his place!...10Give me wisdom and knowledge to rule them properly, for who is able to govern this great nation of yours? 11God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for personal wealth and honor or the death of your enemies or even a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people, 12I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. And I will also give you riches, wealth, and honor such as no other king has ever had before you or will ever have again!”
Even today history speaks of Solomon as the wisest man of all times and there has never been any wiser either before or since Solomon.
b. His response to answered prayer was consecration
We mustn’t let the word consecration lose us. It simply means dedication. In verse 52 Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “Go your way…” The suggestion is he should move out to face life with his new-found sight. Jesus didn’t place an expectation that Bartimaeus would somehow alter his priorities or life. What is interesting however is Bartimaeus’ response. Verse 52 says, “He followed Jesus”. When God intervenes it impacts us, or so it seems there should be a change that occurs. Essentially Bartimaeus turned Jesus’ question around. By following Jesus he was saying to Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus used his restored sight to follow Jesus. It is no surprise to think that Jesus knew this would happen. Could this help us understand why Jesus answered the prayer in the first place?
George Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) was the son of a British Baptist preacher and at the young age of 13, he preached his first sermon. He had no formal training for the ministry but his relentless devotion for the studying of the Bible made him one of the leading Bible teachers in his day. In speaking about followers of Jesus Morgan was quoted as saying, “When our convictions are yielded to Him completely, He is able to give Himself to us in all His fullness. Until that is so, He cannot trust us. How true it is that we often miss the joy and strength of our Christianity because, by withholding ourselves from Christ, we make it impossible for Him to give Himself to us in all the fullness of His grace and truth.”
Bartimeaus knew that, which speaks of why he followed Jesus.
WRAP UP
- “What do you want me to do for you?”
- Be persistent
- Be precise
- Be purposeful
- Focus on need
- Consider your appropriate response when God answers
