SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY
Mark 10:46-52 - October 16, 2005 - Pentecost 22
Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
This morning we are going to look at a miracle that Jesus had performed. It is important to re-mind us of the purpose of Jesus’ miracles. Certainly, as Jesus performed miracles, they were very beneficial to the ones who were given healing. The lame could walk, the deaf could hear, and this morning the blind man could see again. The underlining purpose of every miracle of Jesus was to re-veal to the people who were gathered there that, indeed, he was the very Son of God. Jesus was more than just the son of Mary and Joseph. Jesus was more than just a carpenter. Jesus was God’s own Son and had the power to do anything and everything he so desired.
In today’s text when we hear Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, cry out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Time and again the Lord Jesus did just that, show mercy. It was part of Jesus’ ministry to show to the world the power of God through his teaching, preaching, and miracles. The physician Luke writes in the book of Acts: "...God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and...he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). In each miracle we are reminded how God was with Jesus. In each mira-cle we see not only how God was with Jesus, but Jesus was with mankind. In this way Jesus shows his power to us. We always need God’s help. We want to use the words of blind Bartimaeus as our words, our theme this morning:
SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY
I. As believers we cry out for help
II. Jesus provides His divine healing
I. WE CRY OUT FOR HELP
As our text began, we are told: "Then they came to Jericho." Jericho was a city outside and close to Jerusalem. If you read chapter 11 of Mark, you will read about Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Very soon they would enter Jerusalem for the last time for Jesus before he was put to death. Very soon they would come to those high festival of the Passover. Very soon Jesus would face his death on the cross. But then, Jesus also is resurrected. Before Jesus’ death and resurrection is Palm Sunday. Our text takes place before Palm Sunday, so what do we see? "As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Ti-maeus), was sitting by the roadside begging." We see that Jesus was still quite popular. He had a large crowd following him. The disciples were with Jesus. They traveled together. We know that by Good Friday that crowd had dwindled down to only a few. But now Jesus was still at the height of his popularity.
They walked by a man called Bartimaeus. We are told he is blind and a beggar. Sadly, at that time those who were blind ended up as beggars. They had no training for the blind for different jobs. So they were relegated to the side of the road in poverty and begging depending on the mercy of those who passed by. Jesus was passing by and "When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus, but hadn’t seen him as he was blind. Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus’ miracles. He knew even more than that; be-cause as you listen to those words, there are two descriptions given to us. The crowd recognized him as Jesus of Nazareth: the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary and Joseph. But did you notice what Barti-maeus called Jesus? Bartimaeus calls him Jesus, Son of David. Maybe he could not see physically but spiritually he had some divine insight. He recognized in Jesus that he was God’s Son. He recognized in Jesus that he wasn’t just a miracle worker, but that Jesus could also help Bartimaeus as he had helped others. Bartimaeus recognized in Jesus that he came to remove the sins of the world.
What happens? Bartimaeus cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." "Many re-buked him and told him to be quiet." They didn’t want this beggar along the side of the road to disturb Jesus. They didn’t want to interrupt their journey into Jericho. They were having a good time in the company of Jesus. When they "told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ’Son of David, have mercy on me!’" Bartimaeus did not give up. He cried out for help again. He said, "Son of David, have mercy on me!’"
This is a good model for us. Each day we can get up and say, "Thank you Lord for another day of blessing." Each day we can get up and say, "We praise you O Lord for your divine grace, mercy, kindness and love." But also each day when we get up we could say, "Have mercy, Son of David!" For we know as we begin each day we are going to sin against God. Each and every day we are going to disappoint our heavenly Father. Because of our unholiness we are going to disappoint our holy God. "Have mercy, Son of David! Help us," and our loving Lord listens. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of David. You may remember David, one of the greatest leaders and kings of Israel. Yet in the midst of the height of his greatness, he committed adultery, murder and could not see his sins. The Prophet Nathan came along and told him and pointed out his sin. David’s reaction was repentance. His reaction was Psalm 51: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to hour great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:1,2). What beautiful words. David had committed great sins, at least in our estimation of sins. But David says, "Cleanse me; wash me," because he saw the wickedness of his ways.
We live in a world that is very wicked. There seems to be no concerns at all for what is accept-able or not acceptable in our society. Anything and everything goes. Evil is okay. We have an impor-tant task to look at what is good and right and what is not good and right. What the Lord looks at what is good and right and what the world considers good and right, are not the same. We are reminded then that we need to say to the Lord, "Son of David, have mercy. Help us to distinguish the wicked-ness, and help us to see, seek and pursue that which is good." The Lord listens. In Isaiah: "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). The Lord invites us back day after day and says, "Come. I forgive you." The Lord invites us to turn from our wicked ways and see in him forgiveness.
The difficulty is to be persistent in pleading to God for mercy. Persistence is closely connected with prayer, of course. We see the beggar Bartimaeus on the road--not very high standing, socially. When he cries out, the crowd tries to make him be quiet. He doesn’t, because he knows Jesus can help. Sometimes we ask God for mercy; and if we don’t get the answer, we might forget and blame him for not hearing us. The Lord says we need to come back and ask for mercy every day. We need to come back and see the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
We have examples in Scripture. We think of Abraham pleading for the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. He started out with a high number, if there were fifty righteous people to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. Then it was forty and then less and less until finally he realizes that there were less than ten in Sodom and Gomorrah who were righteous. We think of Moses pleading for the Children of Is-rael every time they rebelled. Moses came and asked for mercy over and over. These are examples for us. Jesus himself, when he came to the hardest point in his life is a great example. In the moments be-fore his betrayal, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane in the dark and could have easily walked off and not carried out the plan of salvation. Remember Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and three times returning to the disciples, they were sleeping. Jesus could have left them sleeping and left the Garden. But instead Jesus asked God for mercy. Jesus asked, he who was the very Son of God and knew God’s will and was God himself. Yet, Jesus came to pray for God’s mercy earnestly. Luke 22 says: "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44). Sometimes we don’t have mercy, because we do not ask. At times we are not very persistent.
The Lord says to us, as Bartimaeus reminds us, we can cry out anytime, many times, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" We can cry out for help, for sight. Then the promise, the blessing we have is the miracle that we see here--that the Lord Jesus Himself provides us with divine healing.
II. JESUS PROVIDES DIVINE HEALING
Bartimaeus probably never, ever thought that he would see again. When Jesus was near Barti-maeus could not stop from crying out for help even when the crowd tried to stop him. We look at what happens: "Jesus stopped and said, ’Call him,’." Jesus had heard Bartimaeus, and he wasn’t going to pass him by. Jesus said, "Call him." We see in the next part of this verse that the crowd already has an inkling of what is going to happen: "So they called to the blind man, ’Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.’" They realized if Jesus is willing to stop for this blind man, he is going to do something. Even though the same crowd said to Bartimaeus, "Just be quiet and don’t say much." Now when Jesus says to call him, the crowd says, "Get up and be of good cheer. The Lord is calling you."
What do you think Bartimaeus does? Of course, he gets up. We are told: "Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus." His cloak was his outer covering that kept him warm. It probably was like his home, too. They didn’t have cardboard boxes back then, but they had big cloaks that they could cover up with at night. Bartimaeus jumps up and throws his cloak aside. This was his cloak, which was probably his only possession, his only blanket of security. Bartimaeus knows he has Jesus in front of him. There was a simple exchange: "’What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked him." We heard this last week when Jesus talked to James and John who came before Je-sus with a bad request. Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" "The blind man said, ’Rabbi, I want to see.’" Of course Bartimaeus wants to see. Of course, Jesus is going to give him back his physical sight.
"’Go,’ said Jesus, ’your faith has healed you.’" He believed before and now he was healed by Jesus’ word. His reaction: "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road." Bartimaeus could see, and now that he could see he didn’t have to sit at the side of the road anymore. He could walk on the road. Now because he could see, Bartimaeus could follow Jesus. All simply be-cause he called out, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Here we have Jesus, the very Son of God, and the Savior of the world, asking him what he wants. Bartimaeus wanted to see. Jesus said that his faith has saved him.
When we started out in this world, we were just as blind as Bartimaeus was. We were as pov-erty stricken as he was a beggar. We are born into this world, though cute and cuddly infants; but in-side we are born as enemies of God, full of sin. It is sin inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and passed down to every generation unto the very end of time. So it is that by a miracle just as as-tounding as this, the Lord Jesus through the power of his Word and the Sacrament of Baptism changes us. The water with the God’s word changes us from blind Bartimaeus who was a beggar, changes us into seeing believers who are filled with the riches of God’s grace. He who is the Creator of the world performs this divine healing for and on and in every believer. Paul writes in Corinthians: "For God, who said, ’Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). That is astounding that you and I who were born as enemies of God, that you and I who were born blind; now purely and only by God’s divine grace, the Creator of this world, are now made God’s children. Our lives are drastically changed. We were all like blind Bartimaeus. We were blind, but now we see.
It is true that we might not always see the same reaction as Bartimaeus in our life today. It was a long time ago that we were baptized at an early age. Yet, should our reaction be any different? Our reaction in the present is different. Sometimes that miracle which happened to some of us many, many years ago, we may not remember as well in the here and now. What does the Lord say to us? He says: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)" (Ephesians 5:8,9). Goodness, right-eousness and truth. That is the power of God in his miracles, isn’t it? That miracle of faith causes you and I and believers throughout the world to live lives as children of light in goodness, righteousness and truth. As we live and dwell in this world and look around us, there are many who do not live in goodness. There are many who do not care about righteousness. And truth is sometimes very hard to find. So it is up to us, as believers who once sat in darkness, who now sit in the light of the glory of God to live in goodness, righteousness and truth.
Like blind Bartimaeus we jump up and throw away the cloak of earthly security to follow Jesus and his heavenly promises. Jesus has healed us. He has provided divine healing. It is true that as we age and as we grow in years, what happens? Our parts get used up. We don’t hear as well, see as well, we have more aches and pains. This is part of aging, part of living and dying here on earth. Day after day the Lord renews us. Day after day the Lord provides us with what we really need. We need heal-ing for our sins, because our sins can darken our souls. Our sins can destroy that which God has pre-pared for us; but instead, even though we do not deserve it or earned or cannot buy it, what does the Lord do? We are told in Colossians: "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians l:13,14). Our loving Lord has bought us back from the sin and the power of death to live with Him forever.
So we need never feel ashamed to cry out, "Son of David, have mercy!" Instead in that way the Lord shows his great power. In that way the Lord shows us his love when we cry out, "Son of David, have mercy!" We realize that without God we have no mercy; without God we have no future. We are like blind beggars who have been given sight. "Son of David, have mercy on us!" Daily we cry out for God’s help, his sight, his healing and mercy. Then the Lord graciously and abundantly, day after day, provides us with his divine healing for our souls. Paul writes in Romans about God who says,: "’I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy" (Romans 9:15,16). God saves us. He shows us His mercy in spite of ourselves, and our reaction we cry out day after day, "Son of David, have mercy." Amen.
ALSO: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (2 CORINTHIANS 4:16).
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Pentecost 22(ILCW-A): ISAIAH 45:1-7; 1 THESSALONANS 1:1-5a; MATTHEW 22:15-21
