Will you know it when it is your last chance to call upon the name of the Lord?

The True Son of David and One Last Healing

(Mark 10:46-52, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 22, 2019)

[46] And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. [47] And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” [48] And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” [49] And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” [50] And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. [51] And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” [52] And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

“As He Was Leaving Jericho”

Just prior to the healing of blind Bartimaeus, Jesus was teaching his disciples about what it would mean to be first in the kingdom of God. Leadership in the church would be very different than holding top positions in the world of the Gentiles all around them. Men like Peter, James, and John were not to be narcissists who “lord it over” other believers. They were to serve those around them. Their inspiration in this new lifestyle would be Jesus, the king of the church, who came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The people groups of the earth and their various cultural practices are not our guiding lights for Christian behavior. We see Jesus in the Bible and increasingly know him in our lives. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we look at situations differently as we grow together in faith working itself out through love.

Jesus was leading his disciples through Jericho in order to go to Jerusalem. There he would give his life as a ransom for many. Along the way, his strange entourage of friends and followers met a man that the kingdoms of this world would have considered weak and insignificant, known to us by his blindness, his begging, his location by the side of the road, and his father's name. We are reminded of the disciples' question in John 9 about the blind man they encountered there: “Who sinned?” Was it the blind man or his parents? Jesus had different eyes and a different heart and he was looking for the glory of God to be displayed in healing.

The Outrageous Faith of Blind Bartimaeus

In verses, 47 and 48 we learn more about Bartimaeus as he speaks. He has faith. He cries out to be heard above the sound of the crowd. He does not want to miss what will truly be his last opportunity in this life to regain his sight. He has heard of Jesus of Nazareth, and now he hears that this very man is passing by his spot on the side of the road as he travels to Jerusalem. This man's one singular moment of opportunity has come. He yells out repeatedly, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

What makes Jesus the Son of David? We know that according to his divine nature, Jesus is eternally the Son of God. According to his human nature, he is the child of a humble Mary, who was married to a carpenter named Joseph. Those who had known him growing up in Nazareth would have known him to be Bar-Joseph, just as surely as the beggar by the side of the road was known as the son of Timaeus. Where then does this title “Son of David” come from. 1000 years before Jesus was born, God promised the chosen King David that he would build from him a dynasty that would lead to the coming of an eternal king. This promise, recorded in 2 Samuel 7, became part of the biblical expectation for a Messiah King who would save Israel. Jesus, speaking about Psalm 110 in another place, was able to build on this expectation. Bartimaeus is simply saying that Jesus of Nazareth, whose mother and father were both of the lineage of King David, is the one promised king of Israel, and he calls to him for mercy. The people all around him try to stop him from calling out to Jesus, be he simply will not be stopped.

Jesus Heard and Healed

Jesus hears the cries of this desperate, pitiful, insistent man, and Jehovah in the flesh stops walking. This is good news. Then he gives an encouraging instruction, “Call him.” Suddenly the man has a new dignity in the eyes of the crowd. They speak to him with more tenderness because Jesus, the Son of of David, Son of Mary, Son of Man, Son of God, has taken notice of him. “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”

The man is very eager. He throws off his cloak. He leaps up. And He comes to Jesus. Do we have that eagerness for Jesus? Is he the object of our hope? Would his nearness make a difference to us? Would we risk everything to have him notice us in our need? Would we yell out to him even when others told us we should stop it? Would we leap up if he called our names? Bartimaeus comes to Jesus.

Jesus says, “What do you want me to do for you?” He does not give a super spiritual answer. He is honest and plain: “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” Jesus' answer is similarly straightforward: “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And just like that, this child of Timaeus, this man of faith, immediately recovered his sight. And what did he do? He followed Jesus on the way. On the way to where? Back on the road to Jerusalem, the cross, the empty tomb, and ultimately to heaven, from which he reigns until the trumpet sounds, and he comes again, and the faith becomes sight.

THE POINT: Jesus, the promised Son of David, and the king of a new resurrection world, willingly traveled to a very different kind of enthronement.

A blind man by the side of the road had faith in a messiah king who was going to Jerusalem to die. Faith can be foolhardy and quite harmful. We have to ask ourselves this important question: What am I trusting in? Do you seek fame and fortune that perishes? Put your faith in Jesus and the resurrection kingdom that only he can bring.

Applying these verses:

1. The object of our ultimate faith must be someone more than ourselves and far better than the rulers of this world. Not all trust is good. Neither is all skepticism. Consider the story of Narcissus and narcissists and be skeptical. See Jesus' miracles and believe.

2. What kind of leader is Jesus? What kind of kingdom is heaven? The blind receive sight from the slave of all on his way to heaven's heights via the cross. This is the deal.

3. Put your faith in Jesus and trust him to deliver to his Father a kingdom that only he can bring. This was a last chance healing. Will you know it when it is your last chance?

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 119:65-72 – Affliction and the Word of God

New Testament Reading—Romans 5:1-11 – We rejoice in our sufferings