Introduction
“No mercy” is a popular slogan seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts. Sports fans like to display it. No mercy for the other team! My guess is that pro wrestling has helped to popularize the concept with its tough guy/bad boy image of wrestlers who mercilessly attack one another.
One will also see on t-shirts worn by Christians the slogan, “know mercy.” That is the kind of slogan Jesus would approve as seen by our text.
Text
46 Then they came to Jericho. This is the last leg of the journey to Jerusalem. Jesus and his disciples have crossed over the Jordan and are about eighteen miles northeast of the city. They have now joined in with a crowd of pilgrims who are traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover.
As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging.
Begging is a common sight. Palestine is a poor country and most of the handicapped are reduced to begging. One of the pillars of Jewish righteousness is to give alms to the poor. Bartimaeus is sitting along the road, probably calling out something like, “Alms for the poor! Alms for the blind!” He certainly has positioned himself well along the road that pilgrims take to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. They are in a good frame of mind to do righteous acts on their way to the temple of God.
But Bartimaeus becomes really excited when he hears who is among the traveling crowd.
47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
We are going to come back to this statement, but first note Bartimaeus’ excitement and persistence.
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Many rebuke him. “Quiet, will you!” “Hey, hold it down!” The procession, by the way, in all likelihood is noisy. Bartimaeus would have to shout to be heard. This is a large Jewish crowd of pilgrims heading to the Passover festival in Jerusalem. Such a pilgrimage is not a quiet somber affair. Lots of people are talking and shouting, and very likely they are singing. Indeed, at least fourteen psalms are designated as “Songs of Ascent,” i.e. songs to be sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.
Let me read the words of one of the songs (Psalm 123).
1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.
Picture the scene now. A group starts singing: I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. Maybe even blind Bartimaeus joins in. Wouldn’t he love to see God’s throne – the temple in Jerusalem? He hears someone comment, “Look, that is Jesus of Nazareth with his disciples.”
“Jesus of Nazareth!” Bartimaeus says to himself. “The same Jesus who heals everybody?” More voices join in the song:
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress…
“Hey, wait a minute,” Bartimaeus calls out. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Shh, quiet. We’re singing.”
…so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Will you please be quiet!”
Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt…
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Will someone please hush up this beggar!”
We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant…
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Then Jesus stops. “Call him.” Suddenly people are nice to the guy. So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”
Look at Bartimaeus’ excitement. 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. All right! Jesus has heard him! Here is the moment he has dreamed of ever since he heard the fantastic stories about Jesus’ healings and miracles.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
Actually, the word used to address Jesus is closer to “Master.” Isn’t this a touching scene? Bartimaeus stands before Jesus in darkness, hearing the voice of the one he had dreamed about. He hears Jesus speaks again, and by the time Jesus completes the sentence, he sees the face of his healer.
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
That must have been one happy man! A minute ago he was sitting alongside the road begging for coins and food from the Jerusalem pilgrims. Now he is walking with them to the holy city, following the Son of David who has healed him. What glorious sights await him!
Now, let’s go back and see what Mark would have us learn. This is a nice story, but why does Mark, in his short gospel, include it with all the other healing stories? By the way, this is the last one. No more healings after this in Mark’s gospel.
As we know, the name of the blind man is Bartimaeus. Compare his name to the names of the other people Jesus healed. You can’t, can you? The only other name Mark gives is Jairus, the father of the girl raised to life. How do we know Bartimaeus’ name? Jesus doesn’t ask. It is probable that he becomes a true believer and is known in the church.
It also could be that Mark uses Bartimaeus’ name to highlight the name given to Jesus – Son of David. The Greek, by the way, reverses the order of words for Bartimaeus. Mark actually says, “The son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus.” The NIV translation gives the impression that Mark is merely explaining the meaning of Bartimaeus’ name, when just as likely he is simply identifying which son of Timaeus. (Perhaps Timaeus is a prominent figure in the church as well?) This is the same word order Bartimaeus uses in calling out to Jesus. He really calls out, “Son of David, Jesus.” The son of Timaeus calls out to the son of David.
Clearly, Mark wants us to take note of that term. Again, Bartimaeus is told that Jesus of Nazareth is walking by, but instead of calling out to Jesus of Nazareth, he specifically addresses him as Son of David. Indeed, the second time he calls out, Mark records only the term “Son of David.”
How many other times is Jesus given that title in the gospel of Mark? None. This is it. He has been called the Son of God and the Son of Man, but not Son of David. What does the phrase signify? That he is the Messiah. In chapter 12 Jesus will ask how is it that the religious teachers teach that the Christ (i.e. the Messiah) is the son of David? That the Messiah is the Son of David is the orthodox teaching of the day. Does Bartimaeus believe Jesus is the Messiah? Why not? Matthew tells us that others were making the same speculation. 22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” (12:22,23).
Where does King David fit into the picture of the Messiah? In promise and prophecy: Through the prophet Nathan God promised to establish David’s throne forever. One of the songs of ascents that the pilgrims sang spoke of this:
10 For the sake of David your servant,
do not reject your anointed one.
11 The LORD swore an oath to David,
a sure oath that he will not revoke:
“One of your own descendants
I will place on your throne—
12 if your sons keep my covenant
and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit
on your throne for ever and ever” (132:10-12).
Eventually the throne of David did end because the nation of Judah ended. But the Jews kept alive the hope that the Messiah would come and re-establish Israel as a great nation. He then would sit on the throne, and therefore, must be a descendent of David. They pointed to the prophecy of Isaiah:
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this (9:6,7).
And now it seems the Son of David is marching to Jerusalem to be established on his throne.
Note next what Bartimaeus calls out for – mercy. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! This is actually a rare word in Mark’s gospel. Only one other time is the word used: in 5:19, when Jesus tells the man from whom he had cast out many demons to go tell his family how the Lord had mercy on him.
But, as rare as it is, the word, nevertheless, drives straight to the heart of what Jesus is about – bestowing mercy. As John the Baptist’s father prophesied at John’s birth:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
69 He has raised up a horn
of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant (Luke 1:68-72).
Why has Jesus come? Out of God’s mercy. He has remembered the promise he made to Adam and Eve that from their seed will come one who will crush the head of Satan. He has remembered his covenant made with Abraham that he through Abraham will bless the peoples of the earth; he has remembered his covenant made through Moses to redeem his people and make them a holy nation; he has remembered his covenant with David to establish his throne forever. He has remained faithful to these promises despite the fact that Israel was faithless to him, just as he remains faithful to the church despite our faithlessness.
Jesus has come not because he owed us a favor, but because God is merciful. Jesus himself is merciful. Listen to him:
13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
“Don’t you understand what I have come for?” Jesus is saying. “It is not to judge. It is not to check on who has shaped up; it is to heal the sick. I have not come to condemn sinners; I have come to save them. I have come to show mercy.”
Lesson
Do you see now what this story of healing a blind man is really about? It is a living parable of Jesus saving sinners. You and I are the blind man. We are beggars on the side of the road, sitting in darkness, trying to simply get by.
We are blinded by our own sin. Some of us are blinded by our addictions – perhaps to alcohol or drugs or sexual immorality. We are blinded by our cravings to satisfy our desires. Some of us are blinded by our ambition, greed, and pride. All we can see is the glory of this world and we lust after it for ourselves. Some of us are blinded by our pain. Our sufferings fill us with self-pity and bitterness and despair. Perhaps we are sick or handicapped; perhaps we are oppressed by others and locked in dismal circumstances. Whatever it is, our suffering becomes our dark world. Some of us are blinded – and this is the most serious one of all – by our self-righteousness. We honestly think we don’t need mercy. We are doing very well, thank you. In fact, we ought to receive good things from God considering how good we are being. Whatever the case, we are but blind beggars.
What we need to do is follow Bartimaeus’ lead and call out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Jesus, the Messiah, the true King, have mercy on a sinner such as I.” We need to confess our blindness and our utter dependence on Jesus’ mercy.
That is so difficult to do, isn’t it? First of all, it requires that we admit how miserable our condition really is. We have trouble with that. Yes, yes, we will admit that we are sinners; after all, that’s part of being human. We’ve made our mistakes, but essentially we have good hearts. And, indeed, that is why God should show us mercy. We are doing our best.
The Bible does use the term mercy in that way. Mercy is an act of kindness we show to someone who is helpless. We ought to show mercy to a good person caught in a bad situation. Thus, we show mercy to the down-and-out, to the weak and small. We volunteer in “mercy ministries.” The parable of the good Samaritan illustrates that kind of mercy.
But mercy is used in another way as well. That kind of mercy is shown to enemies and the wicked. That is the kind of mercy shown when a victim forgives his attacker, or when one holds the power of punishment, even death, over a wicked man who deserves it, and yet the one with power withholds it. It is this kind of mercy that God has shown to us in Jesus Christ. We are the wicked; we are God’s enemies; and yet, it was while we were God’s enemies that Christ died for us (cf. Romans 5:6-11).
To ask Jesus for mercy is to acknowledge that you deserve condemnation. To ask him to redeem you is to admit that you had sold-out to sin, whether your sin is scandalous or hidden within a cloak of morality. To ask Jesus for mercy is to admit that your problems are not caused by bad luck, bad circumstances, bad upbringing or genetics; it is to admit that you are my problem.
Can you own up to that? Most people can’t, and I think their repulsion at the idea is what makes New Age religion so inviting. Mercy is not an idea in that movement, because…well, what is the need of it? Our problem is not sin; there is no such thing. Our problem is our failure to recognize our divinity. Our problem is that we keep getting hung up on the idea of sin and needing mercy. But really, is tossing out the concept of mercy a more enlightened way of thinking?
The second reason asking for mercy is so difficult is that it requires admitting how helpless we are. This is even a greater problem for some people. We might admit that we really are bad and don’t deserve forgiveness, but we are going to change. We know we’ve messed up, but now we’ve learned our lesson. We are going to get right with God.
“Oh! That will be interesting to watch,” is God’s reply. “I thought I was the only one who could take care of that problem.” Well, yes, we need God’s help, and where would we be without Jesus, but we going to do our part. That is as ludicrous to God as Bartimaeus saying to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy on me since I’ve partially healed my eyes.”
Do you know what Bartimaeus did right? Jesus tells him: Your faith has saved you. What Bartimaeus did right was to believe that Jesus alone could heal him. He believed in Jesus the Messiah. He didn’t come up to Jesus with promises. “Jesus, Son of David, I am going to be a good man now; have mercy on me.” All he said was, “Have mercy.” No “have mercy because I’m working hard on being good, because I’m going to start coming to church, because I’m going to kick this bad habit; just “have mercy.”
Jesus does not show mercy because of our promises or our good efforts. He shows mercy because he is merciful. I said earlier that the most serious form of blindness is self-righteousness. That was the problem of the Pharisees. These men were good, moral people. They did not succumb to addictions and bad habits. They went beyond the norm in obeying the law of God. The apostle Paul, in demonstrating just how diligent he had been in living a moral, upright life before knowing Christ, said, “I was a Pharisee.” For us, the word is synonymous with hypocrite. In Jesus’ day it was synonymous with being morally upright. The very fact that they seemed to be doing well made their blindness worse, because they were blind even to their own blindness.
Jesus shows mercy to those who ask for mercy. To those who say, “Thanks, but I’m doing fine,” he leaves them to themselves. And that includes those who say, “Thanks, I could use a little help,” or “Thanks, let me just take care of a few things first,” or “Thanks, but I need to prove myself first.” His mercy is only for those who say, “Have mercy.”
Remember this, Christians. The terms don’t change once you are saved. Don’t try praying to Jesus, “Lord, I’ve been trying to live a good life for you; help me out.” Say the same line you had to say the first time: “Have mercy.”
Oddly enough, and yet so wonderful, it is when we acknowledge that we have no hope save in the mercy of our Lord, that we can have the greatest peace and the greatest assurance that we will be heard.
