Seeing Clearly: Bartimaeus and the Courage to Begin Again

So picture it. Can you picture it in your mind? Jesus and Jesus is quite popular, becoming kind of famous, local famous at this point. The band of followers with him, and they're making their way out of the city when they hear this man go, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And then you hear the crowd go, shush, hush up. Hush up. He's busy. He's got a 15 mile walk ahead of me. He doesn't wanna deal with you. Shut up, Bartimaeus. Which made Bartimaeus do what? Yell even more loudly, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And here's what changes everything. Jesus stopped. [01:00:27] (49 seconds)  #JesusStopped

Now, last week, you heard me mention my beloved cousin who celebrated ten years of sobriety recently, and I remember him telling me the story of when he decided to get clean, he took, think it He think he said a bottle of vodka, and he poured the last bottle of vodka down the drain. It wouldn't be his crutch anymore, it wasn't his backup plan anymore, it was his cloak that he cast off. What cloak do you need to cast off in order for your fresh start to begin? [01:06:34] (40 seconds)  #CastOffTheCloak

Jesus is asking, what do you want me to do for you? And if you can't find a clear answer, that's probably pretty common in the house today, but but why is it that you're not clear about your answer? Is it maybe you're afraid of disappointment or or maybe you feel unworthy like you don't deserve what your heart really cries out for, or maybe it's confusion or just a lack of clarity. Maybe maybe you've been so long since you felt whole that you've forgotten what whole feels like. [01:09:02] (37 seconds)  #BeSpecificInPrayer

Jesus calls him over. Bartimaeus gets up and he throws off his cloak, probably his only possession, a blanket that would keep him warm, a blanket that he would lay out and pastors by could throw alms to him on his cloak. He comes to Jesus and Jesus looks at him and he says, what do you want me to do for you? Now, isn't this an odd question? Don't you think Jesus could have just assumed, could have just guessed what Bartimaeus wanted? But Jesus doesn't assume, He invites Bartimaeus to answer him. [01:01:16] (44 seconds)  #JesusAsksYou

But maybe what's most important about the story is not that Bartimaeus was healed, but what it was that he did after he was healed. Do you remember what scripture told us he did? He followed Jesus on the way, and where was Jesus heading? What city? Jerusalem. And what was gonna happen in Jerusalem? His crucifixion. Bartimaeus would follow Jesus all the way to the cross, we can infer from the story of Bartimaeus. [01:07:32] (31 seconds)  #FollowToTheCross

Bartimaeus didn't follow because it was comfortable. Not didn't follow because there was a great security in following Christ. No. He followed. He chose discipleship and he chose risk. And the same is true for us. When we follow Jesus, it doesn't always mean an easy smooth pass. It sometimes mean that means that we follow Jesus straight to the cross of Calvary. [01:08:04] (27 seconds)  #DiscipleshipRequiresRisk

God of new beginnings, we come to you this morning with grateful hearts. Remembering that you care about our deepest needs, that you listen to the cries of our hearts, the yearnings of our souls, some that we can name and others that we've never quite been able to articulate or face. And so we pray for ourselves today. Meet us wherever we are as we cry out to you, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. [00:43:19] (41 seconds)  #GodOfNewBeginnings

And so let me invite you to think about yourself and your own life today. I want you to imagine Jesus looking at you with that care and compassion, that same care and compassion with which he looked at Bartimaeus. Imagine Jesus asking you, what is it you want me to do for you? Can you think of your answer and can it be as clear as Bartimaeus' answer? Lord, I want to see. [01:08:31] (32 seconds)  #AnswerJesusClearly