Faith and Discipleship: The Story of Bartimaeus

Throughout the synoptic gospels we read passage after passage, incident after incident in which Jesus in His miraculous power heals people of all different sorts of afflictions. There is something unusual, however, about this narrative that you’ve just heard, and that is this, that in all of the synoptic gospels only one person that Jesus healed is named, and it is Bartimaeus. [00:02:50]

The setting is Jericho, not Old Testament Jericho where Joshua fit the battle and made the walls come tumbling down, but New Testament Jericho, which is situated seventeen or eighteen miles north of Jerusalem and about thirty-five hundred feet below the altitude of Jerusalem. And one of the unusual characteristics of Jericho is that it is said by archeologists that the two cities that are known to be inhabited by people longer than any two cities on the face of the earth are Damascus and this village of Jericho. [00:03:51]

Now because of the importance of Jericho and where it was situated in relationship to Jerusalem, the merchant roads all came through there, so there was great commerce along that road, and it was an ideal place for a beggar to situate himself along that pathway. I remember when I was a student in Holland that every time I went into the city of Amsterdam, I had to go by train. [00:07:03]

I’m a little bit puzzled at first blush as to why Mark interrupts this narrative of this trip that Jesus is taking with His disciples from Caesarea Philippi, now approaching within twenty miles of Jerusalem. What’s the big deal about this incident, which is simply one among a multitude of incidents where Jesus healed people in His path? Well, I can’t help but notice that it is situated here in the text immediately following the discussion that Jesus had with His disciples about what real discipleship means. [00:09:34]

And he hears from his standpoint or sitting point, I should say, by the side of the road all of the buzz that’s going on with the multitudes, and he gets wind of the news that it’s Jesus who is coming. And so when he hears footsteps approach, he cries out in a loud voice saying, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” And the crowd told him to shut up. They warned him to be quiet. [00:11:50]

But what I find fascinating about this appeal from the blind man was the soundness of his theology, that without eyes to see, he knew who was coming, the Messiah, the long-promised Deliverer of Israel who would come out of the family and lineage of David, who would be David’s greater son, who would restore the kingship to David, who would be David’s son and yet at the same time David’s Lord. [00:13:02]

And so we read in verse 49 that Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. He tells His disciples, “Find out who that is that’s screaming at Me. Go get that man and bring him to Me. And I’m not moving another foot toward Jerusalem until I see this person.” So they called the blind man saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise. He is calling you.” [00:14:56]

It’s one thing for us to call upon the Lord. It’s something else when He calls upon us. That’s where our true redemption lies. And so he threw aside his garment. He stood up, and he came to Jesus. Well, we could make metaphorical hay out of those words, couldn’t we? This is what everybody should do when Jesus approaches. They should throw aside whatever is hindering them. [00:15:42]

So Jesus answered and said to him. Now listen carefully to the question that Jesus asks him, and before I repeat it, let me ask you to remember when was the last time you heard Jesus ask anybody this question. Jesus says to Bartimaeus, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Does that ring a bell? James and John, “Jesus will you do what we ask?” [00:16:36]

The blind man said, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. I’m not asking for status. I’m not asking for glory. I’m not asking to be exalted in Your kingdom. I’m just begging You for something that almost every human being already enjoys. Lord, I just want to be able to see.” He was a simple man, and for him things were not complicated. [00:17:39]

Again and again and again, except basically on one other occasion in the New Testament, when people speak to Jesus and address Him, they address Him by His title as a teacher. He is a rabbi, and so they address Him by the title rabbi. But that’s not what Bartimaeus calls Him. When he answers the question, “That I might receive my sight,” he says, “Rabboni,” the same title Mary gave to Jesus in garden of resurrection. [00:19:18]

And Jesus said, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And instantly he received his sight. The lights came on. What most blind people would want to do would be to run through the city and see all the sights that they had had described to them but they had never feasted their own eyes on. Instead as soon as he saw anything, he saw Jesus, and he followed Him to Jerusalem to His death. [00:21:27]