Mark 10:32-52 - What The Blind Man Saw

Well, it's the beginning of a new week, and hope that your Monday is off to a great start so far. We are continuing in the Gospel of Mark, and we are in Mark Chapter 10 right now.

Jesus has been going through, He's been making it clear that entry into the Kingdom of God is through the basis of faith. It's simple belief, it's not works, it's not buying your way in, it's not simply avoiding bad things.

It is through believing in God, and specifically believing in Jesus. And that's where the narrative resumes in verse number 32. It says, they were on the road, Jesus and his disciples, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them.

The disciples were astonished, but those who followed him were afraid. So here, as they're going through, Jesus has just told them, hey, the rich aren't guaranteed entry into the Kingdom of God.

And in fact, it's difficult for them to, because they don't have belief in God for their life, for their religion, like their faith is in their possessions and their riches.

And he even told them, as we saw at the end of last episode, that those that encounter Jesus, those that do follow him, will find great riches in following God. I use the phrase riches very loosely. They will find great reward in following God.

But one of the things that Jesus mentioned was, you will also find difficulty. You'll find persecutions, just as Jesus encountered difficulty after difficulty with people and the ruling classes, and all of these things.

He says, don't expect a fundamentally different existence than that that I've lived. So the disciples are astonished, they're a little bit afraid, and they don't really understand everything that Jesus has just said.

It says, taking the 12 aside again, he began to tell them the things that would happen to him. He says, see, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death.

Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days. And after that statement, nothing is mentioned as far as their response to this.

Here again, this is the third time here in the Gospel of Mark that Mark has highlighted for us that Jesus is telling them exactly what's going to happen.

And yet there's not a wonder, there's not an awe that says, wait, you're going to defeat the grave? All of this is going to happen, and yet it's not going to accomplish what these leaders and politicians and religious leaders want it to do?

How is that? Why is this going to take place? Instead, what we see in verse number 35 is in response to Jesus proclaiming his resurrection from the dead.

It says James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you. And so that's quite a bold statement, quite a bold ask. In verse 36, he says, What do you want me to do for you?

He asked them. They answered him, Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in glory. Jesus said to them, You don't know what you're asking.

He says, Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? So he basically tells them, You guys don't understand what you're asking for.

To be with me in my glory is to be at my right and my left hand on the cross through my crucifixion, through my suffering.

And he tells them the cup that he's going to drink, the cup of God's wrath, the cup that would take all the sins of the world, all the sins of humanity onto himself. He says, are you able to take that on yourselves?

Verse number 39, we are able, they told him. Jesus said to them, you will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with. But to sit at my right or left is not mine to give.

Instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared. He says, yeah, you'll undergo some persecution, even as we look back, as we learn in the Book of Acts, that Herod killed James the son of Zebedee.

And John, as we would look at church history, he endured great persecution, was even at one point boiled in oil, but survived and was exiled to an island.

And so here Jesus says, yeah, you're going to undergo some persecutions and some difficulties just like I am. Here James is one that would be killed by the same kind of Roman government that Jesus was.

So he says, yeah, you'll go through some of the things that I'm going through. He says, but I can't give you to sit on my right or my left hand.

And even as we think about what we would read in Acts with what Stephen says, that he says, I see Jesus at the right hand of the father.

So here these sons of Zebedee are asking, hey, can we take one of those spots that's like reserved for God himself? And Jesus goes, no, you guys have no idea what this would entail. So no, you can't have that.

Yes, you will experience things that I experience. He says, but you don't understand. This is the Christian life.

Your following Jesus is not a life that says, I want honor, I want glory. All the glory and honor is to go to Jesus. Verse number 41, when the ten disciples heard this, they began to be indignant with James and John.

So they go, what? You would ask that? Come on, what do you guys deserve?

You can think probably Peter's like, hey, who better to sit at the right hand of Jesus than me? You guys think you're the ones that will get this?

Verse 42, Jesus called them over, the ten disciples, and said to them, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them.

He says it's just regular for the Gentiles that the people in charge treat those under them as lesser than. They treat them unkindly. They treat them as just people to accomplish their own ends.

Verse 43, Jesus says, but it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. He says in God's economy, in God's kingdom, those that are great are not those that tell others what to do.

It's those that serve others. It's not the people that say, hey, here's this great thing that we're going to be doing or here's this goal I want us to accomplish. It's the people that are actually helping out.

It's those setting up tables. It's those giving water. It's those providing for food.

It's those that give their clothing. It's those that sit with others in sadness and sorrow. That's what's great in God's eyes.

What's great in God's eyes is not necessarily the biggest church that a person can amass and great orators and speakers. God loves the people that will care for others, that will send them a text, a call, a letter, and say, hey, I'm praying for you.

I love you. Is there anything that I can do for you? It's the people that when it comes time for things to be done, no job is too lowly or too demeaning for them.

They say, hey, however I can serve others, whether it's God's people or people out here in the world, I'm willing to do it. Just give me any job to do and I'm all for it. As a pastor, that's something that I want to consistently keep in mind.

It's why when there's things happening, whether it's with music or big activities that the church is doing, outreach things, I want to try and remember to be faithful to say, okay, how can I help out in this circumstance?

Not just what can I get from people, not just how can this activity bless me, I want to look at how can I be a blessing to others. Verse 44, whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all. God says who's important in his economy?

It's not the great people, it's the servants. The servants are the greatest. Verse 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.

Here he says, why I came to this earth was not so that people would give me accolades and praise and worship me and make me king.

He says, I came to serve, to give sight to the blind, to cast the demons out from the oppressed, to give food to the hungry, to love those who were unloved.

He says, I came to give my life as a ransom for many, that people were dead in their sins, they needed forgiveness, they needed someone to take their place and to give them a place of reconciliation with God. And he says, that's why I've come.

I've not come to be great. He says, I have come to better the lives of others. And that ought to be our call as well, that we love others.

We love others who can't do anything for us. We do things for others that they can't do for themselves. We come alongside those that are hurting and in need.

And whatever God has equipped us or gifted us to be able to do, we'd say, hey, I'm all in on this. It might not be particularly helpful if someone has, you know, a plumbing need.

If I try and go over and help, I might not be able to be a great help with that. But if someone says, hey, you know, I just need my lawn mowed. I need this or that.

I want to be happy to join in and to serve others and to love others however I can. And then Jesus gives a real life example of what this looked like for him to care for others, for him being a servant, loving and caring.

Verse 46, it says, they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd. So here he's being respected.

There is great adulation being given to him that people want to hear him. People want to see what he will do. It says, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.

This is someone that cannot financially support Jesus. This is not even someone that can see Jesus and be amazed by him. It says, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Many warned him to keep quiet. Hey, be quiet. Don't bother him.

It says, but he was crying out all the more. Have mercy on me, son of David. Here, this is a Messianic call.

As we will see in two chapters, the Pharisees and scribes did not understand what this blind beggar did. He says, I know who Jesus is. I've heard about his miracles.

I've heard about his teachings. And who he is is the descendant of David. He is to be the king over all Israel.

He is the one that God promised of his throne. There will be no end. He is the one that is to be head over all of Israel.

And here, he doesn't call out and just say, Lord, help me. Give me my sight back. He says, have mercy on me.

He realizes, God, like, I don't deserve your help. I've not done anything to earn it. He says, I want your mercy.

I want what I do not deserve. Here, he recognizes what the rich young ruler didn't, that when Jesus told him, hey, why are you calling me good teacher? There is none good but God.

And teeing it up for the man to understand that he is God and that he needed to put his faith entirely in him.

And the rich young ruler went away and the disciples were so concerned about their own status before God and their glory and their high horse. After Jesus proclaimed, hey, I'm going to rise from the dead. I'm the son of man.

None of them got it, but this blind beggar did. So verse 49, Jesus stopped and said, call him. So they called the blind man and said to him, have courage, get up, he's calling for you.

He threw off his coat, jumped up and came to Jesus. Man, what an encouraging thing. They say, have courage, get up, he's calling for you.

Today, if you're maybe one that you don't know Jesus is a Savior, maybe you've been putting it off, maybe you've been tuning in to these podcasts and you've been hearing so much about who Jesus is and the faith that he calls you to have, to trust in

him entirely, to turn from your own way and from your sins and from your self-reliance and self-righteousness and to turn to him entirely. Have courage, get up, Jesus is calling for you today.

Maybe you are saved and you've been trying to go through this Christian life and you've just been struggling because you've tried to make it all about you. Can I encourage you today?

Jesus is calling for you to give up your own way and to turn to him, to come to him. He will never ever cast you out if you come to him and you say, Jesus, I'm sorry. I don't know how I'm going to make it.

I can't heal myself. I can't give my own sight back. I can't get my own spiritual sight back.

I need you. Jesus is the one who can make the difference. Verse 51.

Then Jesus answered him, what do you want me to do for you? Rabboni, the blind man said to him, it's here the Hebrew word for my Lord. It's not just rabbi.

It's not just teacher. He says, my Lord, I want you, the blind man said to him, I want to see. Verse 52.

Jesus said to him, go, your faith has saved you. He says, it's not that you spoke loud enough. It's not that you were so deserving because of your righteous actions that saved you.

He says, it is faith. It's believing that who I said I am, who you have heard from others about what my status is. He says, you believed in the son of David.

You believed in me as the Lord. You believed in me as the good teacher. And he says, because of all of this, he says, your faith has saved you.

It's not good works. It's belief in Jesus. And it says, immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road.

Here, all the way through, what Pharisees and scribes couldn't see, what Pharisees and scribes couldn't see, what the richest politicians of the days couldn't see, what his own disciples couldn't see, this blind man could, that Jesus was the Messiah.

He was the one that would come and rescue us. He was the one that we didn't deserve it. We didn't earn it through our righteous actions.

We didn't earn it through our political status. We didn't earn it through our possessions or our generosity. We didn't earn it through being with Jesus long enough.

We didn't earn it through giving up things. Through simple faith, we have received Jesus. And Bartimaeus saw it.

And I want to encourage you today, don't be like all of the other people in Chapter 10, that though Jesus was clearly stating to them who he was, they couldn't see it. Today, do you see it? Do you realize God doesn't owe you anything?

You need his mercy. Do you realize today, even as a Christian, even as a Jesus follower, that you have not earned anything with God? It has been his grace, his love that he has lavished on you.

He does not owe you anything in your life. You don't deserve to get something from God. You don't deserve good times or great health or anything.

If you have anything from God, it's because he loves you so much and has given it to you freely. That's what Bartimaeus asked for.

He said, My Lord, the one that is in charge of me, the one who, whatever you say goes, he says, God, I'm asking for this. I'm asking for your mercy. And Jesus gave it to him today.

In whatever situation you find yourself, realize that you can turn to your Lord, to your God, and he will answer you. He will forgive you. He will empower you.

He will help you. It's who he's promised to be. Have faith that he will work when we ask.

Have here the sight of the blind man.

Tomorrow, we're going to be looking at Mark 11, and Jesus' triumphal entry and the sorrow that we experience as we see what we'll look at actually this Sunday, actually this past Sunday at Tabernacle, that he came unto his own, and his own did not

receive him. But to many as did receive him, to them he gave the right, the power, to be called the children of God, even to those that believe on his name, just like Bartimaeus. Thanks for tuning in. Hope to see you next episode.