January 27, 2002

9/29/02 — T 18 INI Mark 10:46-52

Do you see Jesus with the eye of faith? Before you answer let me tell you a little story about the teenager who lost one of his contact lenses while playing basketball in his driveway. After searching for sometime, he told his mother the lens was nowhere to be found. But Mom went outside and in a few minutes she returned with the lens in her hand.

“I really looked hard for that, Mom,” said the teenager. “How did you manage to find it?”
“We weren’t looking for the same thing,” she replied. “You were looking for a small piece of plastic. I was looking for $150!”

Mom was looking for something she needed, and couldn’t afford to lose; but her son was only looking for a piece of plastic which he thought could easily be replaced.

Something like this is described in our text for this morning. A great multitude followed Jesus and His disciples out of the city of Jericho. Many of them did not see Jesus; but Blind Bartimaeus did.

DO YOU SEE JESUS AS BLIND BARTIMAEUS DID?
I.

This healing miracle is recorded also by Matthew and Luke. It’s the last recorded miracle of Jesus before His entry into Jerusalem. This is an important event because it shows how blind the Jewish nation was to the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. In spite of the fact that He had been preaching and performing many miracles for nearly three years, the Jews continued to deny that Jesus was the promised Messiah from David’s line. Even though He walked and talked and worked right before their faces, they did not see Him as He was!

But the blind man did see Jesus! For when he heart that it was Jesus of Nazareth coming toward him, “He began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Why did this blind man call upon Jesus as the “Son of David”? Of course he might have heard of the wonderful miracles and powerful preaching of Jesus. But others had also seen and heard Jesus with their own eyes and ears without really seeing Him as their Savior. The reason blind Bartimaeus “saw” Jesus when the others did not, is found in his plea: “have mercy on me!” He saw Jesus not as just another great teacher and leader, but as his only help and salvation!

II.

Now what did the “many” see in Jesus? That is shown us by their reaction when they heard Bartimaeus cry out to Jesus for mercy. They kept on warning him to be quiet! “Hush up!” They said. The majority of the Jews wanted to preserve the dignified grandeur of the march on Jerusalem. They loved the ceremony of it all! They were very religious people who were doing what they could to serve this great teacher and prophet. They finally brought blind Bartimaeus to Jesus only because Jesus had commanded them to do so! They regarded Jesus as one who ought to be served but not as the One who had come to serve them. That’s why they could not really see Him as blind Bartimaeus did.

The same spiritual blindness exists today even among the very religious. Most religious people believe that “service saves,” not a “Savior.”   Some churches falsely teach that “faith is love.” The result is that their people actually believe they are being saved by their “love-works” of service!
We often hear radio ministers proclaim:   “Commit your life to Christ as your Lord and Master!” Sounds so good, doesn’t it? But this again makes “service” the basis of salvation in the minds of sinners.

Many years ago a popular religious figure in America gave some advice to people looking for a church. He said that a person should not ask what a church can do for him, but rather, “which church he can serve best”!   So we are finding more and more religious people who care a great deal about attending church somewhere, and being active in church programs somewhere.   But these same religious people care very little about whether the pure word of their Savior is taught anywhere!

The great crowd of people look for Jesus Christ, the way the boy looked for his contact lens -- as if Jesus, like the plastic lens is replaceable! And they never really find Him at all! But may we se Jesus as blind Bartimaeus did, as necessary and irreplaceable. For it was to Bartimaeus that Jesus said: “What do you want me to do for you?”
Here Jesus addresses the blind beggar as a servant would speak to his master! He contradicts the whole world of religion! For Jesus does not say, “What have you done for God today?” Rather He says, “What can I do for you?” In the verse prior to our text, Jesus explains: The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for man.” (Mk. 10:45)

III.

Now, some may say that if a person sees Jesus as His Savior, and thinks that his own service counts for nothing towards his salvation, then he will go his own way and care nothing about loving and serving others. Not so! When Bartimaeus asked in faith that he might receive his sight, Jesus said: “Go your way: your faith has made you well.” Did Bartimaeus go his “own way”? Not at all! We read that as soon as he had received his sight, Bartimaeus “followed Jesus in the way.” (V. 52)

No law-preacher, calling himself an “Evangelist” had to come out of the crowd and say to the beggar, “You have accepted Jesus as your Savior, now you must accept Him as your Lord!” No Pentecostal-Charismatic type had to shout from the crowd, “Now receive the baptism of the Spirit so that you may serve your Lord better!” The Holy Spirit had created a saving faith in this blind beggar’s heart. Only after seeing his need for his Savior’s service did Bartimaeus become his Savior’s servant! This is the very nature of the true faith that sees Jesus.
Now let’s apply this lesson to ourselves. Do we see Jesus as Blind Bartimaeus did? If we are able to pick out the sins of others, and think much of our own goodness, then we will see Jesus no better than the Jewish crowd did. Bartimaeus begged for mercy in Jesus’ name! If any of us thinks that his relationship to Jesus is based on service in the church and the community — a kind of “deed creed” — then we don’t see Jesus, no matter what others see in us.

If we think that we can somehow make up for the sins of our tongues and our loveless treatment of others by our service in the church or by the love we show our friends, then we may seem to be very religious, but we don’t see Jesus.

I know as well as you do, the faithless fears, the worries and doubts, the discontentedness, covetousness, lust and others sins which war against our souls. If we try to pay for our sins and shortcomings by trying harder to be outwardly “religious,” and good,” we will only fail before the all-seeing eyes of God. Why? Because unless we see Jesus as our only Savior — first and always — and beg for mercy in His name, there is no spiritual wellness in us — no strength at all!

But Jesus is calling for you and me, even as He called to Bartimaeus, so that we might flee to Him and His forgiving mercy, that we might see Him as He truly is — our precious Savior!
God made the world out of nothing and to the extent that we think we are something, He won’t make anything out of us! But to the extent that we see nothing in ourselves but sin, we will see Jesus as Bartimaeus did. We will be healed and walk in the way of Jesus!

Blessed are the nothings, who through Christ Jesus are made to be something! Now YOU “be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling YOU!” Amen.