LET ME SEE AGAIN

20240317 Let Me See Again

Mark 10:46-52 NET.

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.” ⁵⁰ He threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, let me see again.” ⁵² Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the road.

We have been studying the commands of Christ as they were given initially – in the context of the life of Jesus and his disciples. The commands were not given as bullet points. They were not listed like the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone for us to memorize and seek to understand how they apply to our everyday lives. No, the commands of Christ come to us as part of historical narratives. They come encased in stories that give us the context in which the commands were originally given. Those stories help us understand how we should obey Jesus.

In today’s story, the only command we hear from Jesus is not given to us. It was given to a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. Jesus tells him to go – that his faith has healed him. Interestingly, the first thing Bartimaeus did after he regained his sight was disobey Jesus. Jesus told him to go, but he continued following him on the road. We can understand this disobedience, though. After all, the first thing this blind man saw was Jesus. He didn’t want to take his eyes off Jesus. Who could blame him for that?

Today, I want us to look at this blind man who showed up on the side of the road in Jericho. Then, I want us to look at him again. Then, I want us to look at him a third time. The Holy Spirit has much to teach us by this man’s example.

Bartimaeus, the nobody (46).

A blind beggar was sitting by the road. It was not an uncommon sight. He had heard that Jesus was heading to Jerusalem, so he stationed himself at a point along the journey where he hoped he would be noticed. He was used to not being noticed. He was a nobody. People saw him every day and filtered him out. Every generation has nobodies like that that you notice by the visual signals. Unkempt, hand out, hat on the ground with a few coins in it. A cardboard sign saying anything will help.

Most of us drive by these nobodies today. We hope we don’t get caught by a red light, so we must suffer the indignity of being stared at until the light turns green. Our windows remain up. We look straight ahead. We breathe a sigh of relief when we get to move on.

It was somewhat like that on that day as Jesus and the crowd following him left Jericho. Most people had been familiar with running the gauntlet as they left the city. Stationed along the road would be a line of nobodies — like servants getting ready to receive an important dignitary. Each of them would hope to be noticed by a famous person. All the nobodies were hoping for a coin or two from the crowd.

Yet this nobody did not have his hand out. He did not have a hat on the ground. He could not see the crowd, so he had to judge its location by the sounds it was making. Bartimaeus had only one way to be noticed. He had a voice, and he was determined to use it. He had heard that the famous person was none other than Jesus from Nazareth. So, as soon as he heard the approaching crowd, he let loose with, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

“Shh…” they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet”, they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Silence,” they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Shut up”, they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” This nobody had become a somebody by becoming a noisy nuisance. This commoner had become a royal pain. He was the one who was blind but everyone else had been blind to his existence. But he had cured their blindness with the annoying sound of his voice.

He had also accomplished his intended purpose by getting the attention of the one man in the crowd who was not blind to his existence. Jesus stopped, and the crowd – like cars at a red light – took turns stopping behind him. Jesus had a purpose for this event. He was now going to heal this man. But healing was only the sign. It showed who Jesus is. He verified Bartimaeus’ assertion that he was the coming Messiah. His healing also showed his character – that he had compassion for the hurt, the sick, and the oppressed.

But this miraculous event contained more lessons than those. The man Bartimaeus himself provided some lessons to the crowd, to the disciples, and us today.

Bartimaeus, the lesson in equality (49).

By choosing to heal this nobody, Jesus provided a visual aid to the previous lesson he had taught his disciples. Last week, we got a glimpse into the hearts and minds of James and John as they requested top billing alongside Jesus in the coming kingdom. Jesus had told them that leadership in the kingdom has nothing to do with who is higher on the totem pole. Citizenship in the kingdom is not broken up into upper, middle, and lower classes. The parable Jesus had taught about the vineyard workers stressed that all the workers in the kingdom would get paid the same wage. The payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). We are all citizens in the kingdom – a kingdom in which there “is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female — for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Knowing that we are equal in Christ should lead to a reorientation of how we think about other Christians. The Apostle James (in his epistle) warns believers not to show prejudice against others based on how their income. He warns us not to make distinctions, preferring the wealthy, prominent people instead of the poor, lowly ones. He says that favoring one group over another violates the command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Bartimaeus is the visual aid for that principle. He had nothing to offer except his needs. Yet Jesus stopped the train for him. The lesson for all of us is the lesson we read about in the Michael Connelly novels: everybody counts, or nobody counts.

But as I said last week, the church has a terrible track record regarding obeying this command. Instead of showing love for one another, we have made the kingdom about submitting to the people higher on the totem pole. The only thing the church seems to want to teach about submission is that wives should submit to their husbands according to Ephesians 5:22. But we ignore the previous verse, which tells all of us – husbands included – to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21). If only the wives are submitting to their husbands, that’s a hierarchy – something that Jesus taught against. But if we all submit to and serve each of us, that is the kingdom of God. If only wives submit to their husbands, that is not equality. That’s the way of the Gentiles. But if each member submits to one another, that’s the body of Christ.

It is so easy to ignore the Bartimaeuses. It is easy to brand this group as lesser-than and put them at the bottom of the list. Knowing your place and deferring to the strong is comfortable. On that day as they left Jericho, nobody wanted to stop for the nobody. But Jesus did. He listened to the man that everybody else wanted to silence. He stopped for the man whom everybody else wanted to pass by. The lesson for all of us today is that everybody is Bartimaeus. Everybody counts, or nobody counts.

When we pray together as a congregation, do you sometimes want to pray something, but you stop yourself? Maybe you do not think that you are eloquent enough. Perhaps you think you should let the leaders pray, or let the elders pray, or let the men pray. When the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, do not be intimidated. God wants you to pray. He has opened the doors of heaven and bids you to approach his throne. He has a miracle he wants to perform, and he wants you to initiate that miracle with your prayer. Yes, you. Little, meaningless, nobody you. It is through prayers like yours that the heroes of the faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead raised to life! Every Christian has the power of God within. We share His Holy Spirit equally. That is an important lesson we learn from this used-to-be nobody, Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus, the lesson in evangelism (52).

The final lesson we learn from Bartimaeus is explained by the fact that Mark lists his name. Usually, names are given so that the readers can make a connection between the story and people they may currently know or know about. It appears that Bartimaeus not only chose to follow Jesus into Jerusalem, but he also followed him as a church member. His name would be recognized as an early Christian. Like Zaccheus, his encounter with Jesus transformed his life. He not only gained his physical sight, but he gained salvation as well.

So, the lesson for you and me from that fact is that we should not discount anyone as a possible convert. Jesus implied the same thing in his parable of the banquet when the household master told his slaves to go out into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, the disabled, the blind, and the lame. When they did that, and there was still room, he instructed them to go to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in.

To follow Jesus’ implied instructions here – as having to do with evangelism – we need to reorder our lives. Most of us have a set pattern of living that involves regular interaction with only a few friends and relatives. We are not going to fill the banquet hall living like that. The people we need to invite are not in our social networks. They are not comfortably sitting in here. They are out there. They are like Bartimaeus. We need to bring Jesus to them and to do that, we will need to go where they are.

Whole people groups are ready to give their lives to Jesus. They are just waiting for some missionaries to go where they are and share Christ with them. Whole sections of our town are ready to give their lives to Jesus, but they are not going to casually decide to show up for one of our church services. We have to bring Jesus to them.

LORD, give us the insight to notice the nobodies, the compassion to treat them fairly, and the drive to bring Christ into their lives. He has a miracle he wants to do in their lives. Please give us the wisdom not to stand in the way.

For further study:

Ortlund Dane C et al. Mark: A 12-Week Study. Crossway 2013. p. 56.

Perry Edmund. Confessing the Gospel Mark Preached. National Methodist Student Movement 1957. p. 108.

Plummer, Alfred. The Gospel According to St. Mark. Cambridge: University Press, 1920. pp. 131-132.

Rawlinson A. E. J. St. Mark. 6th ed. Methuen 1925. pp. 148-149.

Riley Harold. The Making of Mark: An Exploration. Peeters; Mercer 1989. pp. 126-129.

Robertson, A. T. Studies in Mark’s Gospel. New York: Macmillan, 1919. p. 125.

Vann Jefferson. The Coming King: a new translation and commentary of Matthew’s Gospel. Piney Grove Publications 2023. pp. 203-204.