Mark 10:46-52 46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told 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 to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
The first word I want you to consider as it relates to the question, “What do you want me to do for you,” is the word, “BELIEVE.” Believing something about Jesus opens the door to receiving from Him. Now, can He bless you and be at work in your life without your belief in Him? He absolutely can. He is the Sovereign God, but Scripture teaches us that our expression of faith works in concert with the power and resources of God. In other words, faith matters. Hebrews 11:6 tells us without faith it is impossible to please God. The blind man’s faith played a role in his healing. Jesus even said it was his faith that brought healing into his body, into his life.
The blind man was used to shouting out. He sat and begged for a living. He had become accustomed to asking people for help, for sympathy, for resources. Verse 47 of our text, however, says, that he wasn’t calling out for help from just anyone who was present in the crowd. There had to be a reason the blind man used Jesus’ name. He had heard about Jesus’ interaction with other people. He had heard about how Jesus had performed healing miracles for other people. He had also heard, somehow, that Jesus was the “Son of David.” That title is a Messianic title. He had heard that Jesus was the Messiah, and he believed it. Only the Messiah could be the mercy giver, and he had cried out, “Have mercy on me.”
What you believe about Jesus will determine, in large part, what you receive from Him because it will impact what you say in response to His question, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
What do you believe about Jesus? Do you believe He was raised from the dead? If you do, you’ll be able to trust that He has conquered death for all who follow Him. Do you believe He can heal your physical body or soothe your emotional pain? If you do, you will direct your answer to His question appropriately. Do you believe He has all authority, power, and wisdom? If so, you will be looking to Him for help to navigate life’s challenges and to know your next steps. Do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? If your answer is “yes,” then you’ll trust Him to take care of your sin problem and to give you eternal life with God. What you believe about Jesus will determine what you receive from Him.
Listen, God will never ignore a cry for mercy from a humble heart. No one else can give you mercy in your time of need like Jesus. He is the Mercy Giver. He is the One qualified to pour out mercy on your life. He will hear the cry of one over the cries of the crowd, every time. In fact, He is listening for it. Like a mother listening for the cry of a newborn at night, who is ready to meet that baby’s needs, so the Lord is listening for our cry.
To cry out to the Lord is to reveal our absolute dependence upon Him. God is delighted when we express dependence upon Him. That is the relationship He is seeking with us, like a child would seek help from a loving Father, He wants us to seek out His care. We were made to be able to count on Him. Your cry doesn’t bother the Lord. It doesn’t distract the Lord. It delights Him. He is waiting for you to cry out to Him.
Believe in Him. Cry out to Him. The third thing I want to point out is that Bartimaeus persevered in his quest to receive something from Jesus. There were many in the crowd that tried to hush Bartimaeus, many who tried to quiet him, to cancel his cry, but it made him shout all the louder, verse 48. The text actually says that many rebuked him. To rebuke someone is to condemn what they are doing. They disapproved of Bartimaeus attempt to get Jesus’ attention. They were critical of his cry. Good thing the help we can receive from Jesus isn’t dependent on someone else’s approval!
Perseverance is a spiritual principle. We are to ask, to seek, to knock and to keep asking and to keep seeking from God and to keep knocking on Heaven’s doors until answers come (Matthew 7:8). Perseverance in asking is about the development of our dependence upon God. It is a spiritual discipline to persevere in prayer. As we seek help from the Lord with all of our heart, Jeremiah 29:13, we find more than what we are seeking; we encounter Him in a deeper way.
Verse 49ff: 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
The Master in Motion, the Master on a Mission, the Master of Miracles, stopped. He stopped for a blind beggar. How much confidence does that give to each of us today? If He will stop, for a blind beggar, He will stop for anyone! So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
By positioning himself closer to Jesus, he was expressing an expectation that something was about to change. When you have a need and desire for Jesus to meet it, you need to seek to move closer to Him. You want to make your way through the crowd, through the noise, through any opposition, and you want to be in a receiving position. The closer, the better.
He threw his cloak aside. That is a detail Mark inserted for a reason. Blind beggars would do well to keep their possessions close at hand. He tossed aside the only thing he had to comfort him, to shield him from the elements, the thing that surely identified him as a beggar, probably the only thing that was truly his, because he expected to receive something far greater from Jesus. Like a blind man who would leave his cane behind, Bartimaeus left his cloak in anticipation that Jesus was going to do something life-changing for him. What great expectation, what great faith he had!
What cloaks us today? To what do we look to for comfort? How do we try to shield ourselves from the criticism of others? What is causing us to live in isolation? Is it some stronghold of sin? Is it a lack of understanding about the love of God? Is it fear that nothing could ever change, even if we come to Jesus? Whatever it is that keeps us cloaked, and on the sidelines, until we leave it behind or at least express that we want to leave it behind, we cannot experience the miracle Jesus has for us.
Here is what I believe: Far too many people are settling for survival when Jesus wants them to have an abundant life. Why? Because they don’t want to leave their cloak behind. They have gotten comfortable with life as it is, and even though it is less than desirable, they have some sense of control and comfort with the status quo. Listen, to really position himself to receive his healing miracle and his spiritual miracle (and he received both) he had to leave his cloak behind.
Then Jesus asked the all-important question, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Seeing would change his entire life. The encounter with Jesus would change him spiritually, physically and would have relational and financial and emotional implications as well. His whole life would change if his request was granted, and it was!
Bartimaeus received his sight. Jesus told him that his faith, Bartimaeus’s faith, had healed him. Look at verse 52 again: Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
The last thing Bartimaeus did was to make a decision not just to cry out to Jesus, not just to try to position himself to receive from Jesus, but he chose to follow Him as a way of life. What a picture of discipleship. Don’t just get close enough to receive something from Jesus, but get close enough to follow Jesus forever.
