Mark 10:46-52
(A Bible Study Led by Dr.
Larry Reynolds)
November 1, 2012
Someone once asked
Helen Keller, "Isn't it terrible to be blind?" Her response was, "Better to be
blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see
nothing." In our journey through Mark’s
Gospel, we have come to the story of man who was blind physically but
who was certainly not a person who saw nothing.
His name was
Bartimaeus. He is mentioned by name in
Mark and Luke, and his story is told in Matthew as well. His name simply means “the son of Timaeus” which Mark explains in verse 46. Bartimaeus was
obviously a person of great insight and there is much we can learn from him. Look at his story in Mark 10:46-53.
I want to point out
to you several things we all can learn from this blind beggar in Jericho.
I. Can learn from Bartimaeus
the importance of taking advantage of opportunity when it comes our way
1. Earlier in our journey through
Mark we saw in chapter 8 Jesus heal another blind man in the town of
Bethsaida. In that study I mentioned
that blindness was rather common in ancient Palestine. Several theories have been suggested to
explain the proliferation of blindness in that part of the world.
·
Some historians say the proliferation of blindness was
caused by people failing to protect their eyes from the intense glare of the
middle-eastern sun.
·
Others say the many cases of blindness were caused by
particular strand of fruit fly which carried a germ that caused severe eye
infection and because of limited knowledge of personal hygiene the infection
spread rapidly from one person to another.
2. For whatever reason, Bartimaeus
was one of the unfortunate ones who had one of most dreaded and common diseases
of the ancient world. Blindness was particular
bad because:
·
Because absolutely no provision made for care and
protection of the blind. If a blind
person had no family, he or she was left alone to care for himself or herself.
·
To make matters worse, people were often openly hostile
toward blind people. That’s because it
was common to view blindness as a sign of God’s judgment on the blind person.
Few people would have given a
wretched, blind, beggar such as Bartemaeus a second thought, and if they did it
would likely have been a hostile thought.
3. Bartemaeus sat there in that
terrible state, hearing that Jesus coming his way. And to his credit, Bartimaeus correctly
recognized His coming as the opportunity of life‑time. It is obvious that Bartimaeus had heard
stories about Jesus. Perhaps he had
heard that Jesus had miraculously fed multitudes, made the lame walk, and more
importantly to him, had given sight to blind.
Bartimaeus knew that more than likely Jesus would never pass his way
again. He correctly surmised this was his
great opportunity and wasn't about to miss it.
1. What a wonderful example for
us. I want make two points of applications
from that to our lives.
·
First, just as Bartimaeus lived in the darkness of
physical blindness, many people in our world live in the darkness of spiritual
blindness. And just as Jesus was cure
for the physical blindness of Bartimaeus, so He is answer for our spiritual
blindness. Until a person turns to Jesus
in repentance and faith, that person we will forever grope in spiritual darkness. And, we cannot assume we will always have
opportunity of turning to Him. Just as
Jesus passed Bartimaeus' way only once, no one can know for sure how long
he/she will have opportunity of turning to Jesus. We should give lives to Him while we have the
opportunity.
·
Second, each day we are confronted with opportunities
which are once in a life-time opportunities...can't go back and re-live any
day, moment, even second of our lives...an opportunity to minister to someone,
encourage someone, build-up someone, express love and appreciation for someone,
if missed, is missed forever...that exact opportunity and that precise moment
will never return...
2. Bartimaeus should remind us of
importance of living life in the present...while we should learn from the past
and plan for the future, life must be lived today!...whatever opportunities God
sends our way today, we should take advantage of them...
II. Can learn from Bartimaeus
the importance of being persistent
1.
Whatever may say of Bartimaeus, obvious not easily
discouraged...as Jesus approached verse 47 tells us he began to cry out, "Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me!"...when did that, verse 48 says
people around him told him to be quiet...didn't just politely ask him...Mark
says they "were sternly telling him to be quiet"...as I
read this story again this week, I could not help but wonder what motivated the
people to try to silence Bartimaeus. I
came with several possibilities:
·
Maybe they considered a blind beggar too unimportant
bother Jesus…
·
Maybe his cries distracted them from what Jesus was
teaching. As we have seen, it was the custom
of rabbis to teach as walked.
·
Maybe they were afraidthat the title "Son of
David" which was another way
saying Messiah would offend powerful Pharisees tagging who were tagging
along with them.
2.
Whatever reason, their insistence be quiet had no impact
on Bartimaeus...Mark tells us in verse 48 that he "kept crying out
all the more..."...Bartemaeus wasn't a man who was easily discouraged.
1. I see several important things
we can learn from his example...
·
We must be careful not to put self in role of being a discourager
of others. There are enough small
thinking, short sighted, negative people in world. It is easy to tell people what not to do or
what cannot be done. We must be careful
not to join that crowd. Instead, we
should go out of your way to build others up, to encourage them rather than
discourage them. As I Thessalonians 5:11
says, “…encourage one another, and build up one another…”
·
We must be careful not to allow selves become easily
discouraged...sometimes it's easy look around us and just become overwhelmed by
all the needs see in people's lives and feel discouraged by what seems be small
impact our efforts are making...but we must keep at it....
1. There's an old story about a
miner who had a knack for finding
gold...discovered several large deposits and become very wealthy...was asked
the secret to his ability to find gold...said it's simple, "I just
kept digging!"
2. Example of Bartimaeus should
remind us of importance of keeping on digging...should be persistent in what
God has called us to do...
III. Can learn from
Bartimaeus the importance of moving forward in faith even when failure is a
real possibility
1. Some people never do anything
because they can't see their way clear to do everything... what mean by that is
that they allow fear that they are going to fail or that they are not going to
be able complete what started or that the outcome is not going be what they
want it be, to keep them from ever getting started...
2. Bartimaeus could have failed in
his quest...Jesus could have chosen to walk on by and ignore him...or the Lord
could have stopped but not done what Bartimaeus wanted done...but he didn't
allow the possibility of failure immobilize him...he took the risk and because
he did, he received the reward...
1. One of my favorite quotes comes
from the writings of Theodore Roosevelt...think Bartimaeus would have
understood what Roosevelt saying...listen..."It is not the critic
who counts; not the [person] who points
out how the strong [person] stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done
better. The credit belongs to the
[person] who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat
and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who
knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a
worthy cause, who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that
his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or
defeat."
2. Can learn from Bartimaeus that
it's not failure we should fear, but failure to try!
CONCLUSION
1. Like way this story
ends...follows familiar New Testament pattern...a person with a tremendous need
comes to Jesus...the Lord meets that need and transforms the person's
life...that person, out of sense of gratitude and love, follows the
Lord...that's what happened here...when all was said and done, the last we see
of Bartimaeus, he is following Jesus on the road to Jerusalem
2. May we learn from the example
of Bartimaeus the importance of:
·
Taking advantage of opportunities that come our way...
·
Being persistent in doing the right thing...
·
Having the courage to attempt the difficult...
