Transcript

Pastor Brian Bill tells this story: I remember vividly an experience I had when I was about 8 years old. My bedroom was down in the basement, which I liked because I got to be away from my sisters and have some privacy.

The only thing that was tough about this was that it was really dark at night.

I was normally pretty adept at finding my way around in the dark and used to like the challenge of finding the bathroom in the middle of the night by just feeling my way past my dad’s workbench, the furnace and the woodpile.

One night however, I woke up and got out of bed in order to use the bathroom. But, without realizing it, I had gotten out of the wrong side of the bed.

Instead of finding the door, I was on the other end of my room, frantically searching for the light switch or the door. I started to panic. I couldn’t figure out who moved the door on me. It must have been one of my sisters!

The more I searched the more upset I became. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. I started screaming at the top of my lungs for my mom and dad.

Eventually they came running down the stairs, opened my door and turned the light on. I’ll never forget how glad I was to see them.

I was in the dark and I knew it—I was blind. I couldn’t get out on my own. I knew I needed some help and I knew my parents could help me—I had belief. I knew I had to scream and shout in order to get some help—I was bold.

In this episode, we will look at a man who was blind, had belief in Christ, and was bold.

Physical blindness in the Bible pictures spiritual blindness. The deliverance from blindness by Christ in His earthly ministry was an illustration to Israel and to all, that Christ is the Light of the world, the only way to God, the One who delivers from us from spiritual darkness, and the kingdom of darkness and brings us into the light of life.

Outside of Christ, we are blind spiritually. We can’t see the truth. We wander aimlessly in life. We are lost, in danger, and headed for disaster.

We each need to be delivered from our spiritual blindness by Christ so we can see, and so we are delivered from the disaster of the blackness of darkness forever in hell.

In this portrait of grace, we will learn about a man who was delivered from his physical blindness, which pictures what Christ can do for anyone in their spiritual blindness.

Mark 10:46: “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.”

Here we’ve come to the time for the Lord to go to Jerusalem to be the fulfillment of the Passover as the sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world, and to accomplish why He had come to the world. The Lord knew it was time.

A few verses earlier we find the Lord telling His disciples: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him…and shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again.”

Knowing all this, verse 32 says that as they went to Jerusalem, “Jesus went before them.” He went out of love for the world, and thus He walked faster and in front of them all. The Lord is now on the way to Jerusalem, and the last stop is Jericho.

Verse 46 says, “And they came to Jericho.” You likely know the story about the battle of Jericho. The Israelites marched around the city, once a day for 6 straight days.

On the seventh day, after marching around its walls 7 times, they blew trumpets and shouted, and the walls miraculously fell down.

Jericho had a well-known history to the Jews. It had recovered from those darker days and was a flourishing place during the Lord’s time.

The city of Jericho was the last stop before an arduous 2986 foot climb in about 23 miles to reach Jerusalem.

Coming to Jericho, the disciples and a great crowd is traveling with the Lord.

For this crowd that was following Christ, their Passover excitement was elevated and intensified because Israel’s King was on His way to Jerusalem, from where the Messiah would rule in His earthly kingdom.

Along the road leading out of Jericho on the route to Jerusalem sat a blind beggar. This was a strategic spot for a beggar. This road was a very common and popular route to ascend to Jerusalem.

If you want to be a successful beggar, you go where the people are, where the crowds are. And he knew where to sit. In the days prior to the Passover, the beggar had access to thousands of Jews walking up to the city and the temple.

Blindness is what made him a beggar. We don’t know how he became blind, and we don’t know when.

In first century Palestine, blindness meant to be subject to abject poverty. The blind lived dependent on the mercy, charity and generosity of others.

Beggars spent their days sitting by the highways and byways, just waiting for someone to give him a piece of money or a piece of bread.

Mark tells us that the blinds man’s name was Bartimaeus.

“Bar,” in Scripture is a Greek prefix that means ‘son of…’ Peter’s name was “Simon Barjona” (Matt. 16:17), or the son of Jona. Other “Bar” names in the Bible include: BARnabas, BARtholomew, BARabbas, BAR-Jesus.

In verse 46, we find that this blind man was Bartimaeus or the “son of Timaeus.” Timaeus was his father’s name.

Names were given for reasons back then. The word “Timaeus” means unclean, polluted, corrupt, filthy. And I think you get the picture. Bartimaeus means “the son of an unclean man.” The son of a filthy man. The son of a corrupt man.

So Bartimaeus was blind. He was poor. He was a beggar. He was the son of a filthy, corrupt man. He was dependent, and had to live off the generosity of others.

People walked by him every day; most of them ignored him or threw a few coins in his beggar’s cup. Others didn’t even see him. To many Bartimaeus was a nobody.

Matt Woodley writes: When I was seventeen years old, I was playing in a basketball game against our arch-rival. I was assigned the task of guarding their best player, an arrogant, hot-headed, condescending point guard.

Every time he came down the court, he would dribble up to me and whisper, “You are nothing, man. You’re nothing. And ‘nothing’ can’t guard me.”

I’m happy to report that I shut him down, and had a good game against him. But after continually hearing “You’re nothing,” you start to believe it.

Bartimaeus was beaten down by life. He was a nothing to many. But he was not a nothing to Christ. Every single person is important to Him. And when He saw Bartimaeus, He was moved with compassion toward him.

When you think of his life, your heart goes out to Bartimaeus. And not only did he have the social stigma and the humility of being a beggar, but he also couldn’t see the beauty of creation around him, and the things we take for granted seeing every day.

Mark 10:47-48: “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Sitting on the road going out of Jericho, a crowd passed Bartimaeus. This group had a certain excitement and buzz because they were traveling with the Messiah to Jerusalem.

Bartimaeus was sitting there begging, and he could feel their energy. He was blind, but his hearing was heightened, and he could hear the commotion of the large group. Luke 18:36 says, “And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.”

Bartimaeus hears the crowd with Christ going by and he’s curious, and he asks, “What’s happening? What’s going on?” And in Luke 18:37 somebody responded to him and “they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.”

And as quick as he heard this, he immediately began shouting out to Christ. He knew this was his only chance, his only hope, and he needed to act quickly.

There is a grave danger in any delay in response to Christ. When one hears the gospel, it may be your only chance. We are not promised time on this earth.

We could be in eternity any day, at any moment. If you haven’t trusted the good news that Christ died for your sins and rose again, you need to act with the same urgency as Bartimaeus, and act immediately, and act now, and believe right now before it’s too late.

And it was a good thing that Bartimaeus sought the Lord that day because the Savior never passed that way again.

Bartimaeus’ heart began to race, when he heard the name “Jesus of Nazareth.” It seemed almost too good to be true.

The response to Bartimaeus’ question only referred to the Lord from the earthly place where He grew up, that Jesus was from Nazareth.

That’s like someone saying it’s, “So-and-so from Wisconsin.” That tells you that they probably like brats, cheese and the Green Bay Packers, but it doesn’t tell you everything about them.

Bartimaeus knew that Christ was much more than just a man from a small mountain town in the north in Israel, from Nazareth in Galilee. He had a far different and clearer perception of who this is. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to yell out to Him and he doesn’t say, “Jesus of Nazareth,” he says, “Jesus, Son of David.”

He cried out, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me,” repeatedly and loudly. He was yelling this at the top of his lungs.

The Greek word for “cry out” is “krazo,” which doesn’t need much explanation. He went crazy, and began yelling in a crazed fashion.

One commentator explained it as “the instinctive shout of ungoverned emotion, a scream, an almost animal cry. The word well shows the utter desperation of the man.”

Bartimaeus wanted to make sure he was heard over the noise of the crowd, the talk of the people, and all the disturbances of motion and commotion of a group of people.

The man’s desperate need overwhelmed any sense of pride or any measure of restraint. With his only hope about to pass by, he made a spectacle of himself. And it didn’t matter.

He shouts, “Jesus,” the name He was given at birth meaning “Savior,” because He would save His people from their sins as Matthew 1:21 says.

And Bartimaeus called Him, “Thou Son of David.” This was the most common Jewish title for the Messiah. The Messiah/King was to be the heir of David’s throne, according to 2 Samuel 7. The Messiah would receive an everlasting throne and Kingdom that had been promised to a Son of David.

David’s greater and greatest son would be the King who would bring the fulfillment of all the promises both to David and to Abraham and would establish a kingdom on the earth.

The angel told Mary in Luke 1:32,33 about the One she would give birth to, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”

Calling Him Son of David, Bartimaeus believed in Jesus Christ as Israel’s Messiah, and by the Messiah according to Isaiah 35:5: “the eyes of the blind shall be opened.” This was his belief and hope and the reason that he excitedly called out to Him.

Bartimaeus acknowledged that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah. There’s irony in this, because the nation of Israel was blind to the presence of their Messiah in Jesus Christ, but a blind man saw more than they did, and had true spiritual sight!

Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord “Have mercy on me.” Over and over again, this cry of desperation poured out of this man.

He knew he wasn’t deserving of anything, so he cried for mercy from Christ. And he knew that he needed mercy because there was nothing he could do on his own.

When Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord, the people surrounding him didn’t say, “Good going Bart! He can help you. Call out louder!” But instead, they rebuked him.

Showing how he was typically treated in society, his cry elicits no sympathy from the crowd. They were annoyed by him, and wanted him to quiet down. Verse 48 says “And many charged him that he should hold his peace.”

Many were sternly telling him, forcefully telling him to be quiet. “Quiet down!” was their response. To them he was a nuisance. He was an outcast.

You might find when you are bold enough to cry out to Christ, not everyone is going to be excited for you. Like this crowd shows, there may be people who will even rebuke you and discourage you. Public opinion is typically not good to follow.

If Bartimaeus had listened to public opinion, he would have remained blind.

And you got to love Bartimaeus, because he’s scrappy. He’s got grit and determination. Everyone shushed him and he ignored them all. Their attempts to rebuke him had no effect on him; he just cried out loudly all the more.

There’s only one way to understand this man. He believed everything he heard about Christ. He had heard enough to believe He is Israel’s Messiah.

So he refused to be silenced. He needed mercy and he was willing to fight for that mercy and he knew that Christ is merciful, and that He is able.

He couldn’t see Christ. Those who did see Him saw that He was not clothed in royal robes, did not carry a scepter, did not have a throne, but Bartimaeus saw who He was.

His heart had seen the light before his eyes ever saw the light. His heart had seen Christ before his eyes ever saw Christ.

Mark 10:49-52: “Mar 10:49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

“And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”

The story turns in verse 49 and the focus is on Christ. “And Jesus stood still.” That stillness is an amazing picture of the care of God. Cries for help and mercy elicit a response from God Almighty. God STOPS when we call out to Him in our need.

Our loving Savior heard the loud cries for help and He stopped, and said, “Call him here. Don’t silence him. Bring him to me.” In Luke 18:40 it says Christ “commanded him to be brought unto Him.” And I like to think that He commanded the ones telling Bartimaeus to be quiet to bring Bartimaeus to Him.

He commanded it, the people jumped, and they went over and called Bartimaeus and said to him, “Take heart, cheer up, stand up, He’s calling for you.”

Now all of a sudden they change their tune! Christ’s response to the man changes their attitude. At first, the crowd tried to keep him quiet, but when Christ stopped and called for him, the crowd changed, and encouraged him and spoke kindly to him.

Bartimaeus’ response was to jump up, throw off his outer garment so it would not trip him, so he could get to Christ as fast he could, as he was guided to Him.

When he came to the Lord, verse 51 says, “Jesus said, What do you want Me to do for you?” The King of king and Lord of lords, God incarnate, becomes a servant of a blind beggar here.

The Lord had just told His disciples that “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister…” (v. 45). They saw this in action here.

They say, “Beggars can’t be choosers” but Christ gave Bartimaeus a choice!

Christ asked the man the question to give the man the opportunity to express himself and give evidence of his own faith, as his response would reveal his heart and show what he really believed Christ could do for him.

He responded by addressing Christ as “Lord,” fully believing in the power of Christ as Lord to do what only God can do. He knew who Christ was and He also knew what Christ could do for him. Do you know who Christ is and what He can do for you?

He is the God-Man, the only way to God, the one Mediator between God and man, and if you trust Him as your personal Savior, He will save you completely from all your sins.

Knowing who Christ is, Bartimaeus then asked the Lord to meet his most pressing need. With confidence and clarity, he just said, “Lord, I want to see!”

A simple, short, and specific prayer. Often simple, short, specific prayers are all that is needed. There’s no magic formula with prayer. God just wants to hear your heart.

The heart of Bartimaeus and the heart of the Savior is seen in this account.

“What can I do for you?” asks the Savior. And then you see the compassion, love, kindness, and mercy of God, as the King of kings does what the beggar asks him to do!

Matthew 20:34 tells us that Christ was moved with compassion and then reached over and touched his eyes, Luke 18:42 added that Christ said, “Receive thy sight,” and immediately his eyes were opened and healed, and he could see, perfectly.

And the wonder of light, brightness, colors, shapes, scenes, all suddenly burst upon him.

And when this man opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful God. One day, we will see His face in heaven.

Christ commended the man’s faith, to which He attributed the man’s healing, “thy faith hath made thee whole.” But there was a double meaning here. “Whole” is the Greek word which speaks of being “saved.” Christ said that his faith had saved him.

This encompasses not only the physical healing but also the salvation from his sins. The healing was obvious in the fact that Bartimaeus saw, 20-20 instantaneously, and his salvation is indicated in that he “followed Jesus in the way,” and he joined the crowd with Christ and started toward Jerusalem with all of them.

He had received mercy in being able to see physically, and he received mercy in the spiritual sight of his salvation.

And it was his faith in Christ as Israel’s Messiah and God’s Son that saved his soul. Those were the terms of salvation under the gospel of the kingdom. Today, under the terms of the gospel of grace, we are to trust that Christ died for our sins and rose again.

Christ told him he could go his way after seeing, but instead of going his own way, he went Christ’s way, and followed Him. Now he could see spiritually and his heart had been touched because of Christ’s love and care, he knew that that’s the way he should go in life.

Our Savior here was on His way to the Cross. He was being obedient to death, even to the death of the Cross, and yet He stopped to serve a blind beggar on the way.

Bartimaeus went from blindness to sight, from darkness to the light, from sitting and begging to walking and following. This miracle demonstrates that as Christ can give sight to those who are physically blind, so too He can give spiritual sight and deliver those who are in spiritual darkness into the light of salvation.

We are all Bartimaeus. Like Bartimaeus we are all spiritually blind and spiritually bankrupt beggars. Bartimaeus means “son of an unclean, filthy, corrupt man.” And we are all sons and daughter of a spiritually corrupt, unclean father. We are spiritually unclean children of spiritually unclean parents all the way back to Adam.

But along the road in our lives, in our spiritual blindness, when Christ passes by and we hear His saving gospel, in our desperation we need to cry out to Him for mercy.

Bartimaeus cried out for mercy for Christ to save him. And we need the mercy of God to save us from our sins. Ephesians 2:4 says that “God…is rich in mercy.”

When we trust that Christ died for our sins and rose again, Titus 3:5 tells us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His MERCY He saved us.”

Like He asked Bartimaeus, Christ asks each of us, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And in trusting Him as Savior, we say to Him, “I want to see,” believing He is able to deliver us from our sins.

As Christ was moved with compassion toward Bartimaeus, He will be toward us as well, and will tell us, “Receive your sight.”

And immediately we will see and be delivered from darkness into the light of salvation, and we are made whole spiritually.

All of this is possible because Christ continued down that road out of Jericho, and went all the way up to Jerusalem, all the way to the cross, and all the way out the other side of the empty tomb.

The kindness and mercy of the Savior touched the heart of Bartimaeus and he followed the Savior. And likewise, our salvation in Christ should likewise touch our hearts and lead us to follow the Lord out of gratitude for His infinite kindness and mercy toward us.