This sermon was delivered Gordon McCulloch to the congregation at Holy Trinity in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 28th October 2018; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Psalm 34:1-8, (19-22) Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:46-52
“Please join me in my prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O
Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
1. Introduction
This morning our sermon is based on our Gospel reading … nothing new you may say as I have done so many times before, but honestly, it would have been far easier for me to use the Old or New Testament readings or even the psalms today because our gospel message is very difficult to teach with authority; … as I for one, am no expert on the subject of divine healing; and not many people are.
Yes I know a lot of the theory from scripture, and more … but it is the putting it into practice that I and most other Christians struggle with. Yes many of we Christians acknowledge much relief from those who do pray for us, so I certainly encourage them; please, please, please keep of praying for us we certainly need it because we believe in the power of pray, and that is one of the reasons that we are here this morning.
Now I truly believe in divine healing, and I have witnessed it personally, and I want to share that with you, to give God the glory. … About 30 years ago, I went forward for healing at a service to get rid of my insatiable thirst for alcohol … yes alcohol was getting a grip over me; I went forward and that prayer was answered. It was not answered that night, but within a week I was totally free from alcohol, and it remained that way for many many years. … In fact it was answered in such a positive way that I can now drink freely, but and it is so good, because if I never drink again, it would not bother me. … Now I have joked or have even been flippant about my drinking in the past, particularly in my sermons, and I believe the reason I do so, is because I have been completely freed from its influence; and I praise God for that and I still pray that others become free in the same way, because I am still very grateful and I communicate this regularly. On a contrast, I stopped smoking myself, with sheer will power, and have done for over 10 years, the difference here is that if I have one cigar, just one, I would start smoking again and be hooked. God is therefore the only true healer.
I will give you another story, about ten years ago, I had serious problems with my neck, unbelievable pain, it was agony to try and turn my head, so I went the doctor who referred me to hospital, who took all the x-rays, to prove that they was problems, and they concluded that I would need surgery, but surgery without guarantee … you know what I am taking about. … Again, I went forward at a healing service, and again, I receiving divine healing. I was cured completely, or as completely as my age would allow, and I have never had problems since. … I mean, I still remember showing some people all the pills I was taking; you know the anti-inflammatories and the pain killers, and then not knowing what to do with them … eventually I threw them all away. Again, praise God; … and there have been other occasions also that I did not deserve, so I am a great believer in the power of prayer, and I certainly encourage all those prayer groups, because they do work, and people do value their efforts.
However … and it’s a big however, and I am sure you will identify with me with this, that there are many times when our prayers have not been answered in the way we have wished … leaving us disappointed and down and we ask ourselves why. … An example of that is as you know; I waited until the very last minute before I agreed to the two operations I received for my false knees, and I still ask to this day why, because I received more prayers for my knees than anything. … This is where we become unstuck … we all have faith … and that is why we are here today.
2. Our gospel reading today
So I hope you see why today’s gospel reading is so difficult to speak confidently about, because even though I do know it works, I am no authority in answered prayer. … Today’s passage outlines a process we should go through, to receive answers to our prayers, it’s a sort of template … so please bear with me as I give you an exposition of today’s reading, as it relates directly to healing, and please let me know if there is anything I have missed. Our template unfolds with verse 46 of Mark where he says: “As (Jesus) and his disciples, and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside”. …
This verse introduces us to Bartimaeus … a man with problems, serious problems … he was a poor blind beggar, he was used to sitting at the road side … and I am sure he had other problems as well … but this did not stop his determination to change all this, it was as if he knew Romans 8:37, that we “are more than conquerors through him that loved us” … as we will read later, but there is much to be gleaned from the actions of Bartimaeus … because we like him … have various limitations of one kind or another, and we too need to rise above them to allow God to work in our lives.
3. Bartimaeus took the personal initiative.
Next, verse 47 says, “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” which makes it clear that Bartimaeus took it upon himself to call upon Jesus … Bartimaeus took the initiative … and there is more to this than you think, because … he could have waited for a more convenient opportunity or even opportune moment to cry out, … he could have waited in turn as I am sure there were many others wanting to receive healing or … he could even have waited to see if Jesus would call on him … but no, as soon as he heard Jesus was near, he cried out and he went for it. …
You see, the problem was that he was blind, and he was desperate, and he was not going to miss this opportunity to encounter the great man himself because … he must have heard of his reputation, the healings and miracles he had performed, and this had given him hope … great hope, and here was this Jesus coming towards him. So we can understand Bartimaeus wanting Jesus for himself, and I for one don’t blame him because this was his one and only chance, as Jesus was leaving the city for good. … So what did Bartimaeus do? He did the only thing that he could do … he called upon the name of Jesus. ”he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
So nothing unusual for us there, we have heard all this before as we are familiar with Romans 10:13 which states, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" … and aren’t we all part of “whosoever” … so when things get tough, really tough, our only hope too, is in Jesus … and when we call upon him in true faith and repentance, we can expect to receive marvellous blessings through his grace; blessings we do not deserve.
4. It is our responsibility to call.
Again, we have all heard this before, but did you notice, this passage make it clear that it is our responsibility to call? … Here we read that Jesus was near … but we also see that Jesus didn’t react until Bartimaeus called … and that is what Jesus wants from us, he wants us to call upon him, with a determination that we may receive. … And we can only do that if we like Bartimaeus recognise or own helpless state, and that is a state where we have used up all our resources; a state where we can only rely upon him. …
In Bartimaeus’ situation, God chose to provide him with the healing for his blindness … for us, we will probably ask for something else, but regardless, the responsibility to act … rests with us. And we all know people who say, “well it is obvious I am not well”, eh sorry, “it is not”. …
James 5:14 states more simply, "Is there any sick among you? Let him call (or ask) for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him." Sadly, God’s people many times do not receive all that God has for them, because they refuse to take the initiative to call upon the Lord. Isaiah is bluntly, saying in the 6th verse of his 55th chapter - "... call ye upon him while he is near." …
And although Bartimaeus faced problems in trying to reach Jesus, not being able to see him or where he was at, or where he was going, or whether he had stopped or not … Bartimaeus could only hazard a guess as to where Jesus was by the reactions of those around him … but he still wasn’t going to miss this opportunity … he cried out in faith and this gives us a wonderful illustration of salvation here.
5. Bartimaeus had to complete with the crowd
Anyway, to move on … Bartimaeus second obstacle was those around him … because we don’t get the impression that there was anyone going to help him here. … Verse 48, “Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And from this we see the crowd actually dismissing him, telling this poor soul to “shut up, and get out their way”. … And I always wondered “what if he did get out their way”? … He certainly wouldn’t have received his healing … meaning, we too can be very easily influence by the crowd, … you know, going with flow … but to the “flows” ends and not our own … and we are all guilty that to an extent, and we need to be careful that if we listen to the crowd to much, we too could miss out on the glories of God.
6. Bartimaeus was Persistent
No, Bartimaeus was determined … he had a problem, a serious problem, an incurable problem, a problem he knew that only Jesus could re-solve and he was going for it … he wasn’t going to let any crowd deny him of that, and so he “cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He was persistent … he was determined to receive his heeling … and the bible tells us too that God takes pleasure in giving us the kingdom and its fruits, but he tests us to see how much we desire it, or our persistence in obtaining it.
7. Jesus and the crowd respond
To move on to, verse 49, “And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called”. … Notice Jesus stopped, he stood still, and you could say he froze for a second … in concern for this man over the crowd whom we are sure were also crying out for help. …
And then … the crowd suddenly responded to Jesus, the verse continues "and they call the blind man, saying unto him … be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee”. …Now this is surprising, this is the same crowd who told him to “shut up” and minute ago, are now calling Bartimaeus to Jesus saying “be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee”. … We see here how fickle the crowd can be, the exact same crowd that we sometimes listen too as well. …
8. Bartimaeus asks that his sight be restored.
Anyway Bartimaeus responded immediately, but humbly … verse 50, “And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus”. So we must ask, why did he cast away his garments? … This in itself is strange but it symbolises that we are not to approach Jesus clothed in our own self-righteousness, but with humility after all he knows us thoroughly anyway, then we can ask for forgiveness and other things as well.
And to back that up, verse 51 goes onto say, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? … And you see here that it must have been obvious what was wrong with him, yet Jesus still asked, what is it that you want, the emphasis being put on the seeker, meaning that we too must be clear to Jesus on exactly what we want … and I find that point very interesting.
9. The seeker tells Jesus what he wants.
Anyway, verse 51 continues, “The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight”. … This therefore is an act of boldness, faith and of grace … boldness to call on Jesus when no one around wants to hear, … and then faith to ask for the ability to see … and then grace when we don’t deserve it, and have nothing at all to offer in return. … And that is the way we are to pray, in faith with boldness through grace … because verse 52 continues, “and Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight”. … Jesus demonstrated this grace and immediately the man received his sight, and was made whole.
It is thus clear from this passage that we do not have to be spiritual giants for God to move on our behalf. We simply need that confidence or boldness to ask Jesus with faith through grace. … Matthew 17:20 says, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard see, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
10. He Followed the Path of Jesus (v. 52)
Finally, verse 52 finishes “… and he followed Jesus in the way”. Bartimaeus’ next course of action was to follow Jesus which I am sure he did, in fact, I am sure he was more devoted to Jesus than all the others in the crowd who had told him to “shut up and get out their way”, and there is a lesson for all of us in that. …
I certainly believe in divine healing and I am sure you all do as well, but I do not believe we see enough of it, or allocate more of our resources into making it happen. Yes we have dedicated prayer warriors in our church, which we are all grateful for, but we need more, but the first steps are in the simple acts of asking and believing before we can expect to see divine healings or divine answers to our prayers in some shape or form. … And … without this stepping out in that faith, our walk with God will be seriously limited.
11. Add an extra text
I want to finish with Mark 11:24, one of the most powerful scriptures in the bible for further inspiration, which says, “Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”. I mean, we strongly believe in many passages of the bible. Why not this one? Why not start putting our faith into action, faith that conquerors all. Amen.
Let us pray,
Father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he died a horrible death that “by his stripes, we are healed”.
Father we come before you with problems. We come before you knowing that only you can help us … and we know that we don’t deserve your help … but by the death of your son on the cross for us, we can boldly ask you whatever we will.
Father we now ask that you may help us, whether it be forgiveness for our sins or a particular sin … a cure for healing … restoration for a shame or guilt … acceptance for being rejected somewhere … money to overcome poverty … or help with any other problem we are facing ...
Father Jesus came to this earth and died that we may receive answers to those prayers, so we ask in his almighty name for those answers, answers that will be used to glorify you.
Father we ask again in Jesus almighty name, Amen.
