THE BLIND MAN
Mark 10:46-52
By Cleavon Matthews
June 2004
INTRODUCTION
The significant city of Jerusalem is the destination. On the pathway to this pericope of passion is the historic ‘city of Palm trees’ Jericho. This is not the original city of the Old Testament. It is two miles south of the original built by horrendous Herod the Great and home for his winter palace. Jericho is approximately five miles west of the Jordan River, six miles north of the Dead Sea, and twenty-one miles Northeast of Jerusalem.
Traveling with the Lord is a constricting crowd. In the midst twelve men closely follow him: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. The Lord previously called these men to be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons (3:14-15).
In Mark this event is the final healing miracle of Christ. Jericho is a Judean city. It is also home to over twenty thousand priests and Levites when they are not on Temple duty. This setting is ironic because the ‘Light of the World’ had come to town and the religious majority is still in darkness! Bartimeus has a physical blindness, which is symbolic of their spiritual blindness. John said, “In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (1:4-5).
I.THE DISABLING PROBLEM
Mark 10:46 “Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging.”
Bartimeus is sitting by the roadside begging because he has a problem he can’t solve. Like so many men he had a disabling problem. Men are not exempt from the plaguing problems of life. His problem was blindness. Blindness was not an uncommon problem at this time. So disabling was this problem it reduced him to a life of begging on the streets of Jericho! He had no other healthy alternative. No other options. It was either beg or be hungry. Beg or starve. Beg or be thirsty. Beg or die. No social security check. No disability funds. No unemployment. No trust fund. No wealthy benefactor. Bartimeus was sitting by the roadside in Jericho. Blindness was a awful burden to carry.
• No blind descendant of Aaron could serve as a priest in offering sacrifice to God (Lev 21:16-24).
• Not even blind animals could be offered as sacrifices (Lev. 22:22).
• No stumbling block was to be placed in the way of the blind (Lev 19:14).
• Anyone who misled a blind person was cursed (Deut 21:18).
We needed to do this series of Muscles, Money, and Maidens: A contemporary biblical look at men because our world and our church have men with problems. Typically our problems are related to either or muscle or power, money, and women. We need some help. We need some guidance. We need to be delivered. We need to stop faking and start finding because men have problems too…
Tempers they can’t taper
Anger they can’t assail
Lusts they can’t leave
Addictions they can’t abandon
Pasts they can’t pardon
Relationships they can’t reconcile
Guilt they can’t gash
Assignments they can’t accomplish
Spouses they can’t satisfy
Children they can’t contain
Bills they can’t beat
Money they can’t make
Habits they can’t handle
Challenges they can’t conquer
Scenarios they can’t subdue
Mistakes they can’t manage
Thoughts they can’t thwart
Ambitions they can’t achieve
Dreams they can’t divert
Bartimeus has the right equipment but he doesn’t have the empowerment! He has eyes but he can’t see! Our world is filled with men who have the right compartments but lack capability. They have potential but no power. They have muscle but no might. They have the equipment but not the empowerment! This is so often the story of the Gospel.
• Man with palsy in Mark 2:1-12
• Jairus in Mark 5
• Man of Gad-a-renes with the unclean spirit in Mark 5
• The deaf and mute man in Mark 7
• Father of the boy with a dumb and deaf spirit in Mark 9
God gave you the equipment and He must give you the empowerment! He gave you the equipment to be a man! He gave you the equipment to be a Husband and a father. He gave you the equipment to live a good life.
Perhaps the reason so many men are sitting by the roadside of life is because they lack empowerment. What’s missing in your life is not a personal trainer. You don’t necessarily need more protein. Your primary need is not external power but rather internal power! You will have mountains in your life that muscles can’t move. You will have problems in your life that arms can’t lift and legs can’t bear. Some problems demand a spiritual empowerment rather than a physical empowerment!
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to cut your grass but you may need it to stop smoking grass
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to change your oil but you may need it to change your circumstances
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to make a baby but you may need it to parent a baby
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to get married but you may need it to stay married
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to make money but you may need it to keep some money
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to fight but you need it to forgive
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to speak but you need it to speak grace unto the hearers
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to pray but you need it to have your prayers answered
• You don’t need spiritual empowerment to die but you need it to make it into heaven!
You need a Divine power at work in your life. Before the apostles could take the Gospel into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth they had to wait for power from on high! God knows you need a different kind of empowerment. So in His grace He makes His power available to us. “Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
II.THE DETERMINED PERSISTENCE
Mark 10:47-50 “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus stopped and said, call him. So they called to the blind man, cheer up! On your feet! He’s call you. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.”
Bartimeus had a determined persistence. One commentator said Bartimeus ‘provides an example of one who understood who Jesus was, responded immediately to his call despite discouragement from others, believed in him, and followed him as a disciple.’
This is certainly true but Bartimeus is also an example of a man with a determined persistence!
I am drawn to him in large part because He used what he had! He didn’t have sight. He never saw the face of Jesus. He didn’t see the Master turn water into wine. He didn’t see the Lord feed the five thousand. He didn’t see the Savior cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, or calm the sea. But what Bartimeus had he used! It’s kind of like the fictional story line of the Daredevil. Or maybe it’s more like the late and great Ray Charles or Emily Dickinson. They were people who inspite of their blindness maximized what they had!
Bartimeus had sound and speech! Bartimeus ‘heard’ it was Jesus of Nazareth! The Scripture says “so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Paul said “For we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). The prophet Isaiah said, “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength” (40:28-29).
Bartimeus had the gift of sound! He heard it was Jesus of Nazareth! Like James he was swift to hear (1:19). He heard it was the miracle working Messiah! Immediately upon realizing it was Jesus he and according to Matthew (20:30) another blind man began to use the gift of speech! Bartimeus began to shout or cry out to Jesus! He called the Lord ‘Son of David.’ This is significant. ‘Son of David’ is a Messianic Title!
• 2 Samuel 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever
• Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a Branch shall grow out of his roots
• Psalm 89:29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven
Then Bartimeus used his gift of speech to shout ‘have mercy on me!’ We need to understand his speech is based on his sound. He heard one of the marks of the Messiah would be the opening of blind eyes! Remember when John was in prison he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one or should they seek another. Jesus said, “Go and show John again those thing which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:2-5).
The form of the Greek text suggests Bartimeus was persistent in his shouting and crying out to Jesus. He kept on shouting ‘have mercy on me!’ Bartimeus was desperate. Bartimeus was tired of begging. He was tired of sitting by the roadside as life passed him by. He was not going to let this opportunity escape his grasp. He uses everything he has to get the Lord’s attention!
Bartimeus turned his problem into an asset. His survival depended on the ability to beg! Therefore he perfected the gift of begging! If he didn’t have any other skill he had the skill of begging! Sometimes it is our problem and limitation that causes us to garner other abilities. Three texts in Proverbs seem to be reflected in this text.
• Pro 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?
• Pro 18:16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men
• Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof
As Bartimeus is shouting to the Lord there is an unsympathetic crowd telling him to be quiet! The Lord isn’t bothered about you. Why don’t you shut up? You’ve always got your hand out for something. Be quiet your disturbing us! You must learn how to put the crowd out of your mind. You can’t allow the crowd to stop you. You can’t allow the crowd to keep you from calling on the Lord. The crowd isn’t concerned about your soul. The crowd isn’t concerned about your blessings.
Thank God the Lord is able to hear above the crowd. The text says Jesus stood still! The Master stopped to the procession. This is certainly a picture of Divine grace. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. He is on His way to die for the sins of the world. No one is going to show Him any mercy. His disciples are going to forsake him. Judas is going to betray Him. In Jerusalem the Lord will be spared no pain, agony, or suffering. But when He heard Bartimeus, the Lord stood still! The Lord will stand still when he hears the sincere cry for mercy! The Lord will stand still when he hears the cry for help from the lips of the hurting!
He stood still and called for Bartimeus! Now the same crowd that was just telling him to be quiet is now saying ‘be of good comfort, rise, he calleth, thee.’ It must have been a cry of distress because the word means cheer up! When Jesus commands you to be called no one can stand in your way!
Immediately Bartimeus jumped to his feet and cast off his outer garment! When you come to Lord you need to take off those old garments. “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Col 3:8-9).
III.THE DETAILED PLEA
Mark 10:51-52 “What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”
This is the same question Jesus asked James and John just a few verses ago (v36). These men wanted positions of power. They wanted to sit at his left and his right. But Bartimeus didn’t want power, he wanted mercy! He wanted the Lord give him something according to the word. He didn’t want power, He wanted pity!
No longer does Bartimeus call Him ‘Son of David’ which was a national messianic title. Now he calls him ‘Rabboni.’ This is a personal acknowledgement of faith. Some men call on God according to what they have heard other folks call him. Some men pray the prayers they have heard other men pray. Some men preach sermons they have heard other men preach. Some men are riding the coat tails of somebody else’s faith! But let me tell you something. You need a personal faith! You need a personal relationship with the Lord.
Unlike so many men the blind man knew exactly what he wanted! Some men don’t know what they want. But Bartimeus wants to see. The Greek text suggests he is asking to see again as if he had been able to see at one time!
He received his sight. His faith healed him. Healed is the Greek word sozo. It means to be made whole. Bartimeus was made whole externally and internally. The text implies this because he followed Jesus along the road. Only a true disciple would follow Jesus!
CLOSING
The aim of this series is to encourage men to follow Jesus along the road of life!
When the Lord saw Simon Peter and Andrew casting their nets into the sea he said to them follow me, and I will make you fishers of men!
When the Lord found Philip he said come and follow me!
Jesus said My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me!
Jesus said to his disciples if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me!
John heard a voice saying ‘These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth’ Rev 14:4
Every man needs to follow Christ!
Follow Christ in your problems
Follow Christ in your pains
Follow Christ in your predicaments
Follow Christ in your conflicts
Follow Christ in your burdens
Follow Christ in your obstacles
Follow Christ in your seasons of distress
Follow Christ in the sunshine and in the rain
Follow Christ in your vocation
Follow Christ in your home
Follow Christ in the Church
