“Was Blind But Now I See!” Mark 10:46-52
SCRIPTURE INTRO:
People can learn from good
examples and from bad examples.
Many people say—I will never do the things
my dad did, or my mom did.
That was wrong. I’m going to be different from my parents.
That’s one way of learning by example—and
that’s very powerful.
The power of learning by bad
example is not just seeing the negative consequences,
it’s being aware of
those tendencies in yourself, and fighting them.
Do you realize that so far
in the second half of Mark,
that all of the
examples of following Jesus have been bad examples?
After Jesus says: The Christ has come to suffer and die to set
things right—
and if you are
going to be my disciple, you have to take up cross and follow me.
All of the examples of following him are bad
examples.
We’ve seen over and over in
8-10 that the disciples did a terrible job.
Argued over who was
greatest, jockeyed for position—filled glory vacuum.
They tried to keep the little children away
from Jesus.
They tried to cast out the demons without
praying.
And we have the rich, young
man unable to even take the first step to follow Jesus.
He was unable to see his need for Christ and give up
his idols.
As you read these examples
you say—Yes, I see myself in that person.
Yes, I have that tendency to avoid Jesus, I have that idol, and so on.
I need the Holy Spirit to help me follow
Christ.
Well, today we have a good
example of what it means to follow Christ.
It’s a miracle story, the healing of the
blind man, Bartimaeus.
Remember, as I’ve told you before in our
study of Mark.
Miracles of Jesus are more
than healings, they are parables.
Intended to teach deep
spiritual truths that point to Him.
Read passage
INTRO: Helen Keller was born and raised in Tuscumbia, my
home town.
And she grew up in First
Presbyterian Church, my home church,
where her father
was a deacon.
She was both deaf and blind,
but once said this specifically about her blindness:
“It is better to be blind and see with your
heart, than to have two eyes and see nothing.”
As Christians, we would all
heartily agree with that.
In fact, we sang this very morning:
“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to
see you.” and
“Be
Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.”
And after the sermon we’re
going to sing Amazing Grace,
and that great line
in the first stanza:
“Was
blind but now I see.”
So Helen Keller had it
right—spiritual sight is the important thing.
But there is a very sad
irony in her words—
because Helen
Keller’s heart was just as blind as her eyes.
She abandoned the Christian
faith as an adult and instead of the Gospel,
she followed the
teachings of a popular cultist of the day:
Emmanuel Swedenborg.
I hope that won’t be true of
any of you.
What a contrast with Bartimaeus.
This was a man who saw
clearly even while he was blind.
As one preacher put it, what he lacked in
eyesight, he made up in insight.
He saw himself and Jesus Christ clearly.
And Jesus’ healing of this
man was more than a physical healing—
it was an enacted
parable of what had already happened in this man’s soul.
How good is your spiritual
vision?
Can you see as well with your heart as you
can with your eyes?
Let’s use the story of Bartimaeus as a vision test.
I want to ask three questions about your
vision that
with be the three
headings for this sermon.
1. How well can you see yourself?
2. How well can you see Jesus?
3. How well can you see the way?
MP#1 How well can you see yourself?
The story begins with a
blind beggar named Bartimaeus.
When Bartimaeus
heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by he began to shout:
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
When people around him told
him to shut up, he was making a nuisance,
he shouted all the
more: “Son of David, have mercy on me.”
What did Jesus do when he
heard this cry for mercy?
He stopped, called the man, and healed
him.
In order to understand the
significance of Jesus’ response,
you have to
remember Jesus’ state of mind before this encounter.
Jesus was becoming more and
more preoccupied with his approaching crucifixion.
Think of the clues we’ve
seen so far in Mark about Jesus’ state of mind.
He tried over and over to
talk to his disciples about what was coming,
not just to teach
them, but because it was on his mind, it was troubling him.
He wanted to talk about it. He needed to talk about it.
It wasn’t enough for him
just to be able to pray about it.
He wanted the sympathetic ear of other
people.
But he didn’t get that sympathetic ear, the
disciples were clueless.
We tend to forget the human
nature of Jesus, forget all the little clues
in the gospels that
the knowledge of what was coming was overwhelming Jesus.
So as the crucifixion got
closer, and now it is just one week away,
and as Jesus
started on this final trip to
Luke says he set his face resolutely to
Have you ever been
preoccupied with a very heavy matter?
Maybe a deadline that is
approaching, or an unresolved problem.
Your children chatter away, but don’t hear
them.
You make small talk, but your mind is a
thousand miles away.
Jesus was like that, but the
weight of what he was facing tons heavier.
He was in this huge crowd of
pilgrims is going to Passover.
And he was the big topic of conversation—but
Jesus not feeding off the crowd.
Because he knew that they did not know why
he had come,
and were hoping for
a political revolution.
There were also lots of
beggars—this was one of the biggest routes into
Bartimaeus not the only beggar.
Probably many asked Jesus for money.
But he didn’t hear any of them.
Jesus was in his own
world—but in the midst of all of this noise,
and his own preoccupation—he heard the cry of this man:
“Son of David, have
mercy on me.”
And it stopped him in his
tracks.
Because this was the cry
of a man who saw himself clearly.
A cry for mercy means you
know you don’t deserve kindness.
In fact, mercy is compassion shown to an
offender.
Bartimaeus cry for
mercy was a recognition of his sin and need for
Christ.
If there is one theme that
we have seen over and over in Mark—
theme of whole
Bible, God responds to people who know their need of him.
In Chuck Colson’s
autobiography he vividly describes the moment
when he saw himself
in need of God’s mercy.
At the time the Watergate
scandal was crashing down, on him.
Thought that was the real problem of his
life, but friend shared Gospel,
and he started to
see him self clearly for the first time.
This is what he wrote:
“That night, when I sat
alone in my car, my own sin, not just dirty politics, but the hatred and evil
so deep within me, was thrust before my eyes, forcefully and painfully. For the first time in my life I felt unclean,
and worst of all, I could not escape.
He realized it was not just about his
political problems—
just like Bartimaeus knew it was not just his eyesight problems.
Colson saw himself as a man in need of
Christ—this is how he finishes.
In those moments of clarity,
I found myself driven irresistibly into the arms of the living God.”
Do you see yourself as a
person in need of God’s mercy?
It’s hard to see yourself that way.
If you have a problem, you
want to compartmentalize it.
This is just a problem I’m having with my
money or my marriage or business.
Lord, if you just help me with this problem,
that’s all I need.
When you think that way, you
are not seeing yourself clearly.
You are seeing yourself as ok in most areas
of life, but just this problem area.
Jesus passed by many beggars
that day who thought problem
was just that they
didn’t have enough money to buy bread.
But Bartimaeus
saw clearly that his physical blindness, and his financial poverty,
were just outward
pictures of his desperate need for the mercy of Christ.
That is how you must see yourself—every
day—as a blind beggar,
crying out for the
mercy of Jesus as he passes by. How well
do you see yourself?
MP#2 How well can you see Jesus?
So Blind Bartimaeus
called out to Jesus for mercy.
And Jesus stopped, and called him and asked
him a question:
“What
do you want me to do for you?”
Does that question sound
familiar? It should.
If it doesn’t, then you skipped church last
week!
That is the exact question,
word for word, that Jesus asked James and John.
Remember they came to Jesus privately and
said,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever
we ask.”
And Jesus said, “What do you
want me to do for you?”
They said, “Let one of us sit at your right
and other at left in your glory.”
Jesus denied them. You don’t know what you are asking.
But when he asked this same
question of Bartimaeus,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Bartimaeus said: “Rabbi, I want to see.”
Jesus gave him what he asked for.
“Go.
Your faith has healed you.”
Why did Jesus answer Bartimaeus’ request and not the disciples?
That is a very important question.
Is it because Bartimaeus had faith and the disciples didn’t?
No, they had faith in Jesus.
They really believed that he could give them
what they asked for.
Was it because the disciples
were wanting something that would give them glory,
but Bartimaeus was wanting something that would give Jesus
glory?
That’s certainly true. That’s part of it.
Remember Jesus sat them down and talked
about true greatness.
But I think there is
something even more profound.
The miracle of giving sight to the blind was
a miracle reserved for the Messiah.
There are no blind people healed in the Old
Testament.
There are no blind people
healed after Jesus, by the Apostles.
There are two people struck blind, who later
regain their sight.
But not a single person in
the Bible, born blind and healed, except by Jesus.
We read earlier in service, those great
prophecies in Isaiah.
When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
He did not cry out, Jesus of Nazareth, have
mercy on me.
He cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me.
He used the great Messianic
title—Son of David.
He was affirming that he believed Jesus was
the Messiah.
And as a Jew, he would have
known the great prophecies—
that when the
Messiah appeared, one of the things that he would do
would be to open
the eyes of the blind.
Bartimaeus made this request of Jesus knowing that this was
exactly
that the Messiah
had come to do. He came to heal the
blind.
Contrast that with James and
John’s request.
Let us sit at your right and left hand in
your glory.
In asking that, they thought Jesus had come
to set up a political kingdom.
Unlike Bartimaeus,
they did not see clearly what Jesus had come to do.
Later on they saw it clearly, but not then.
Now, let me tell you where
this comes home to us.
Seeing Jesus rightly means
that you ask him to do for you the things
that he came to
do. And what did he come to do?
He came to pay for your sins
so that you could be forgiven.
He came to live a perfect life, so you could
be right with God.
He came to give you the Holy Spirit so you
can have life in him, fight sin,
and live a holy
life, know the assurance of your salvation.
In other words, the big
things Jesus came to do are spiritual.
That means you can’t see
Jesus as the one to fulfill your agenda for happiness.
Can’t say, Jesus, this is what I want you to
do for me!
Jesus, this is the list of things that makes
my life worthwhile,
Happy
marriage, children, no financial worries, good health, fulfilling work.
Jesus has his own agenda, and
it’s mostly spiritual.
Yes, he answers prayers in tangible ways—
he heals our bodies,
he restores relationships—but his first work is in you.
It’s to raise the level of
grace in your life.
Seeing him rightly means asking him to do
for you
what he has
promised to do. When
you ask for those things, always answers.
James Boice,
liver cancer, how pray. Pray that Jesus
glorified in my death.
MP#3 How well can you see the way?
So Jesus healed Bartimaeus. And then
what happened?
“He received his sight and followed Jesus
along the road.”
And here I’m going to gripe
about the New International Version,
and say that the
good old King James Version is much better—
because you need a
more literal translation to get the depth of this sentence.
KJV says that Bartimaeus “followed Jesus in the way.”
And that is what it is
literally, the Greek word “way.”
Which is a word that is
charged with significance.
What were Christians called
before they were called Christians?
Book of Acts tell us—they were called those
“who belong to The Way.”
In Gospel of John, Jesus says: “I am the Way.”
And throughout the Gospels,
at various times Jesus
is said to make his
way to
And so when Bartimaeus followed Jesus in the way—
it was not just on
the road to
It was certainly that, but it was much
more—he followed Jesus for life.
If you think I’m reading too
much into this, consider this detail.
Bartimaeus is one
of the only people healed by Jesus who is actually named.
Which almost certainly
means that this man was known in the early church.
And there is one more detail
about Bartimaeus following Jesus in the way
that adds a depth
to it—in verse 50. When
Jesus called him.
People said, cheer up, on
your feet, he’s calling you it says:
“Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his
feet and came to Jesus.”
The beggars cloak was his only
possession.
He slept in it at night,
during the day he spread it out to catch coins people dropped.
He threw it aside—and he did not return for
it—but followed Jesus in the way.
When you read this, you
can’t help thinking again of the rich young ruler.
How he was unable to sell everything and
follow Christ.
And because he was unable
to see his idolatry, unable to see the way.
So he went away sad.
But Bartimaeus
saw the way clearly,
and left behind
this symbol of his old life,
that comforting possession,
and followed Jesus.
When I think of that I think
of my old seminary buddy Charlie Baldini.
After he became a Christian, decided to go
to
When he walked out of his
apartment in
he intentionally
left behind his huge collection of Grateful Dead records.
Because that was a huge part
of his life and identity—in his before Jesus days—
following the
Grateful Dead around, being part of that scene.
And so he left them there and followed Jesus
in the way.
Being a Christian is not
just saying I believe in God, I believe in Jesus.
It’s following Jesus in the way.
And what is the way? It’s the way of the cross.
That’s where Jesus was
going, that’s where Bartimaeus followed him.
At the end of the week, Bartimaeus
saw the crowds turn ugly,
and he saw Jesus
bloody, carrying the cross to the place of the skull.
And perhaps he saw the
crucifixion itself, and the agony of Christ.
Can you imagine what that
did to this happy man—
to see the one who
had restored his sight, hanging on the cross.
But we can hope that Bartimaeus was one of that crowd
of over 500
believers who saw
Jesus again after his resurrection.
What does this all this mean? It
sounds frightening. The
way of the cross.
It simply means this—that following Jesus
means death to everything
that stands in the
way of loving him and obeying him with your heart.
It means leaving behind
those old cloaks—those old rags of your old self
that are so
comforting to you. Old
habits, old attitudes.
Even old dreams and plans.
It means fighting sin and
fighting to glorify God.
It means dying to self
pity.
So that if the Lord leads you through a
testing time,
you don’t say—I
don’t deserve this—but you see it as a chance,
to share in the
sufferings of Christ.
Do you see that the way of
following Jesus is the way of the cross—
but it’s the way of
true happiness. It’s the only path to
happiness.
Bartimaeus saw
that clearly, and he is a great example for all of us.
CONC: How well can you see?
How clear is your spiritual vision?
Several years ago I had the
blessing of getting Lasik surgery.
I was extremely nearsighted. Unable to do anything without
glasses/contacts
After a lifetime of
wearing those—amazing not only to be free.
But to see so much better
than I ever did with those things.
Will
strike me at odd times. Standing in Lowes one evening this summer.
It was dusk, all the neon sign for
businesses lit up—Wow.
Used to never see it that
way.
Strange little habits—find
myself reaching for bedside table—glasses.
Just the other day, getting ready for bed,
realized washing hands—Why?
My habit before taking out
contacts.
Vision is a great
blessing—though not blind, close to it.
Make it your prayer, make it your cry, that Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,
would help you to
see. Many of you see already—
but we need vision
sharpened—see self, Jesus, way of cross more clearly.
Perhaps
some of you who at this moment in true darkness.
Christianity just a
religion—just motions.
Or it’s just morality—doing the right thing.
Or it’s just experience—hoping to feel good
things.
Have never seen that it is
the cry of a sinner for mercy—
and that it is
Jesus Christ coming to you personally,
and healing you,
and calling you to follow him.
If that’s you, want to see
for the first time, like Barimaeus—
As we sing Amazing Grace, ask Jesus to have
mercy on you,
and he will stop,
and call you, and give you sight.