The Story of Bartimaeus
Mark 10v46-52
Part 1 - Jesus Stops for a Blind Beggar
9th April 2021
Mark 10v46-52
Then they came to Jericho. 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.
When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!"
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of
David, have mercy on me!"
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you."
Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."
"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you."
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Jesus was near the end of His journey to Jerusalem. He knew that when he got there, the Jewish elders, chief priests and scribes would have Him arrested, falsely tried, whipped and executed by crucifixion. He'd told His disciples this several times, and he'd reminded them in verses 32-34 of this chapter.
In verses 35-40 we read that James and John had given Jesus trouble, trying to persuade Him to give them more honour and glory than they merited. This had made the other disciples indignant.
When you're deliberately walking towards torture and death, it's not helpful when your friends are squabbling amongst themselves. Jesus had led them, taught them, set an example for them, for three and a half years, but they were still so very worldly in their thinking. They wanted power and glory for themselves. He told them, not for the first time, of the value of humility. He said:
Mark 10:42-45
Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise
authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all."
And then He said:
Mark 10:45
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many."
That would very soon come to pass.
The last major town on Jesus's road to Jerusalem was Jericho. Jesus, accompanied by his fractious and proud disciples, and followed by a large crowd, led them through the dusty, bustling streets of the town and, as they were leaving, a beggar cried out. He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
What would Jesus do?
Many people – the Bible doesn't tell us if they were disciples or onlookers, but I suspect they included both – told Bartimaeus the beggar off. They told him to be quiet. They thought he wasn't important enough for Jesus to be bothered with him. Yet, for some reason, they thought they were important enough. They didn't realise, at least not then, that we're all blind beggars really.
We can't see the truth until God shows us. We all need to cry out "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Not only before we've found saving faith in the blood of Jesus, but from time to time afterwards, we all feel blind and poor. We all need to pray that simple prayer sometimes, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!". We all get to the stage sometimes when we know that without the mercy of God we'll never recover. Whether it's a matter of our health, or our finances (like Bartimaeus) or whether our hearts have been broken by loss, or abuse, or cruelty, or indifference, or whether we've done something so awful that we struggle to accept that we're truly forgiven, we can identify with that poor blind man sitting by the roadside begging. We've all been there.
We all need to cry out sometimes, "Lord Jesus, please don't pass me by! Lord Jesus, do you care about broken, unemployed, lonely, disabled people like me? Lord Jesus, only say the word and I will be healed! Lord Jesus, don't be like the crowd! I've known enough rejection already! Please don't you reject me too! Lord Jesus, please don't pass me by!" We're all broken-hearted sometimes. We're all blind sometimes. We're all lonely sometimes. We all feel like we have nothing of value to offer sometimes.
To his great credit, Bartimaeus didn't listen to the people who told him to be quiet; he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was there. He knew that Jesus was the Son of David – the Messiah, the rightful King of the Jews. It says something of Jesus's fame by this time that even blind beggars knew who He was. But it seems the elders, chief priests and scribes didn't know who He was. God chooses whose eyes will be opened, and whose will not.
Bartimaeus knew he needed Jesus's mercy. The religious leaders just wanted Jesus to be quiet and leave them alone. Bartimaeus desperately wanted his eyes to be opened. The religious leaders desperately wanted their eyes to remain closed. The elders, chief priests and scribes had a lot to lose. Bartimaeus knew he had nothing to lose. Often people need to get to rock bottom before they'll cry out, "Jesus, have mercy on me".
What about you? Do you want to know the truth about Jesus and about God? Or do you want God to leave you alone?
Matthew 19:23-24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is
rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
There was blind beggar sitting by the side of the road and shouting. What would Jesus do?
He stopped.
You might think that Jesus had enough to deal with. He knew where he was going, and He knew what would happen when he got there. He knew He would endure spiritual and physical agony that we can't imagine. He knew He'd be betrayed by one of his friends and abandoned by the others. He knew he would have to continue to fight temptation and refuse to sin under the most extreme provocation. You and I would understand if Jesus chose to focus on His own needs, just this once. But he didn't.
Whatever you're doing, whatever pain you're going through, nothing is more important than God's mercy. Nothing is more important than helping a blind beggar. The next beggar you meet might be financially poor and disabled, or he might be spiritually poor and disabled. Either way, business can wait. Our agenda can wait. We were blind beggars once. Perhaps we will be again. The most important person in the world is the one in front of you, whether He's a king or a beggar.
We'll continue with the story of Bartimaeus next week.