Study inMark’s Gospel

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Out Of Darkness Into Light

Chap 10v46-52Presentation 33

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IntroductionHow well are you able to see? Some time ago I tried preaching without my spectacles. I could see my notes and Bible but the faces of my hears were out of focus. With spectacles on I can see both clearly!

However, even people with 20-20 vision can fail to get some of the most important things of life into focus. We have noted this in Ch.10. The Pharisees, the rich young ruler, and even Jesus’ disciples all failed to see those things that were truly important. It is no coincidence that Mark now records the story of a blind man. A man who lived in a totally dark, physical world but who demonstrated a quite remarkable spiritual perception.

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He Saw His NeedAs blind Bartimaeus begged day after day on the Jericho road he knew something was missing. He lived in a dark and unfriendly world with no form, shape, or colour. He may have heard passers by speak of a beautiful sunset or the sparkling light dancing on the surface of water but they spoke of a world he could not access.

He did not hide his blindness. He did not pretend he could see all that was going on around him. He had an honest awareness of his condition. This accurate self-knowledge proved to be fundamentally important to the transformation that was about to take place in his life.

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He Saw His NeedWe have already discovered that, in scripture, physical blindness is used to point to a far more terrifying and debilitating condition - spiritual blindness!

The Pharisees refused to face their spiritual blindness. Instead, they took refuge in a world of make-believe. They trained their religious telescopes heavenwards and pretended to know all that needed to be known about God.

When Jesus suggested that their spiritual sight was out of focus they were furious. There was nothing wrong with their spiritual vision! Jesus can do nothing for people who adamantly refuse to accept his help except grieve over their stupidity.

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He Saw His NeedBut others are aware of the moral and spiritual vacuum in their lives. They know something is wrong, they admit to a spiritual restlessness in their hearts. They know that they are not living their lives in accordance with their Maker’s instructions. Their own sense of need is heightened when they meet with and speak to others, who clearly have access to spiritual reality. These people talk of the glory of fellowship with God, the wonder of sin forgiven and their sheer enjoyment of God’s smile. When the spiritually restless become aware that there is a spiritual realm beyond their experience they also recognise that they need help to enter it. But waht does such a person need?

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He Saw His NeedTake Bartimaeus as an example. In he cried for mercy v47! He did not cry for justice claiming that life was unfair since he was excluded from a world that others had access to. He did not demand sight as his right or as a reward for his years of patience. No! He cried for mercy!

It is vitally important that we understand this term. When a defeated general approached his conqueror and asked for mercy, he knew he was not coming to a negotiating table to bargain, nor to a courtroom to argue the justice of his case, nor was he mounting a pedestal to receive an award. He was asking for something to which he had no rightful claim.

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He Saw His NeedBartimaeus knew he was asking for something he did not deserve. Mercy tells us more about the worth of the bestower than of the recipient. Why? because mercy flows from a heart of love when confronted with helplessness and need.

Some people who want God’s help will not admit their need of mercy. They will tell God what they think they deserve or what they see as their rights. Should they be surprised if they are constantly disappointed? Do you recognise your great need of mercy? This is the first step towards an experience of God’s rich provision.

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He Saw Jesus’ Ability To Meet ItBartimaeus also believed that Jesus would grant him mercy. Hence his persistence. We can ask God for mercy in a spirit of disbelief thus indicating that we do not really expect him to give us what we ask. As a young believer, I was invited to the home of a blind Christian friend for a meal. While we were eating he said to me, ‘Please pass the salt?’ I placed the salt cellar in front of him. But he simply repeated the question again and again. I got a bit frustrated and said, ‘I have been holding it out to you all this time just let me put it in your hand.’

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He Saw Jesus’ Ability To Meet ItMy friend then explained his bizarre behaviour saying we often ask God for things he wants to give. However, we do not expect to see his hand stretched out in reply. Our failure to trust God means we ask without ever receiving. It is possible to starve while gazing through the window on the banquet of God’s provision. If only we were to present ourselves at the door we would be allowed in. Do you cry to God for mercy without expecting him to be merciful? See what Jesus said to Bartimaeus in v52... Bartimaeus had done more than parrot a correct form of words. He believed that Jesus would meet his need!

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He Saw Jesus’ Ability To Meet ItThere’s a lot of muddled thinking about what faith is. Some view it as a natural faculty - you’re either born with or not - bit like a musical ear or a light touch for making pastry. And if you don’t possess it then you look wistfully at others and say, ‘If only I had been born with their faith’. Faith is not something you’re born with.

Others view faith as a kind of optimistic self-deception. You have heard of the little girl who wrote in a Bible exam, ‘Faith is trying to believe what you know isn’t true.’ But God has not called us to live in a world of religious make believe where we disengage our mental faculties.

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He Saw Jesus’ Ability To Meet ItOthers see faith as an intense mental activity. They think that if you can screw yourself up enough to believe something, it will almost certainly happen. It is a kind of wishing things into existence!

Imagine a man plans to drive around the world in a clapped out old banger of a car? He thinks all he has to do is to believe intensely enough and the trip will be successful. The strain of his mental gymnastics is likely to ensure that both driver and car end up on some distant scrap-heap.

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He Saw Jesus’ Ability To Meet ItFaith is not a matter of believing hard enough, or blindly enough, but in believing in the right thing. It is the object of our belief and not its intensity that God is interested in. Jesus, the Son of David was the object of Bartimaeus’ faith. His faith was not passive. He filled his lungs with air and shouted out, “Jesus Son of David have mercy on me”.

Like Bartimaeus, you may be spiritually restless and even entertain great hopes of change. But your longing will never be realised if it stops short of an active faith that stretches out to makes God’s promises our own.

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The Cost Of Having His Need MetIt cost Bartimaeus to exercise this active faith. The path to Jesus was not made easy. Note the hostility of the crowd in v48... they attempted to bar his way and browbeat him into silence. They were indifferent to his need and the longings of his heart. They were much more interested in the spectacular entertainment that Jesus might provide upon arrival in Jerusalem. They had come along for the main event and were not interested in this side-show that was holding them up. Far from silencing the man their threats and discouragements made him shout out all the more. Coming to Jesus for help is often a path strewn with obstacles. Obstacles are there for faith to surmount!

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The Cost Of Having His Need MetHaving been called into the presence of Jesus we read that Bartimaeus was made wonderfully whole. There is something outwardly simple in what Jesus did for this man yet the word ‘healed’, used here, does not simply mean physical healing for the word carries the idea of ‘spiritual wholeness’.

Oh, yes he had his physical sight restored but it is the internal transformation that is all-important. Bartimaeus was a God-transformed man. And it all began with a cry to Jesus for help.

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ConclusionYou might ask, ‘What was the alternative?’ He could have let Jesus pass him by. He could have thought, “I’ll wait for another occasion to encounter Jesus”. Little did he know that this was for him a day of opportunity for Jesus would never walk this route again. Had he let Jesus pass by it would have been to his great loss.

Shakespeare wrote that ‘there is a tide in the affairs of men’, words that draw attention to the fact that there are crucial junctures in our lives when opportunities have to be seized because those opportunities may never come our way again.

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ConclusionThere are moments in our lives when God draws particularly near, and by his grace he melts our hearts and opens our eyes to see our need of a Saviour. He quickens faith within our hearts. Is today such a day of opportunity for you?

Will you stretch out the hand of faith to God and seek his mercy. Do not to let Jesus pass you by. Seize your day of opportunity with both hands. No one else can do it for you, not your family not your dearest friends. You must do it for yourself. Do not let Jesus pass you by for he may never pass your way again.