Bible Text: Mark 10 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Lou Saldiveri | Series: Sunday Morning Worship

— Pastor Lou’s Notes —
Intro: Last Sunday, we talked about Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus in Jericho. Today, I would like to look at another encounter Jesus had in Jericho with a blind man named Bartimaeus. Let me set the context for you. This encounter happens shortly after the Jame and John were demanding from Jesus to sit at his right and left hand. In other words, John and Jame want a place of authority to rule and be served by others. Jesus corrected their erroneous concept of what biblical discipleship is. I believe that Jesus wanted to show them, again, that being a disciple in the kingdom of God mean to love and serve others.

Also, I believe Jesus wanted the disciples to learn about God’s solution for spiritual blindness. The Bible says that our sin makes us spiritually blind to the grace of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is primarily to helps us realize that we are in trouble spiritually and morally bankrupt. When a person senses this working of the Holy Spirit, we have two choices. We can cry out to Jesus to have mercy on us or we can ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Bartimaeus was blind physically and spiritually. In the Jewish religious culture of the time, it was believed that if a person was blind, he was being punished by God for a sin he or his parents committed. Then, along came Jesus on His way to Jerusalem to celebrate His final Passover with His disciples. Let’s look at what can happen in the life of a person when a bankrupt soul meets the holy love and grace of Jesus Christ.

1. Bartimaeus was Persistent
1. He was begging for money by the roadside
1. Jericho was a very wealthy city
2. He probably heard the noise of the crowd and Jesus teaching along the way.

2. Many people were telling this blind beggar to keep quiet
1. Many thought he was a “sinner”
2. Many probably thought he is just a beggar/”sinner”
3. The push back from the crowd just caused Bartimaeus to become more desperate and passionate to encounter Jesus
4. Notice what Bartimaeus called out to Jesus
1. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
2. The term, Son of David, is a messianic term
1. Bartimaeus heard some of Jesus’ teaching and had some understanding that He is the Messiah

2. Jesus Hears the Calls of People in Need
1. Out of all the noise, Jesus heard Bartimaeus
2. Jesus stopped can call for him.

3. Bartimaeus Responded to Jesus’ Call
1. He threw off his cloak
2. Jumped to his feet
3. Came to Jesus

4. Bartimaeus Responded to Jesus’ Question
1. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
2. Bartimaeus responded, “I want to see”.
3. He trusted Jesus

5. Bartimaeus’ faith (trust) in Jesus Saved him
1. His faith saved him
2. He received his sight
3. He followed Jesus along the way as a disciple.

Closing: There are many hurting people in our community. People hurt for many reasons, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Too many times people look on the wrong places for relief. Some of these wrong places are sexual immorality, being a workaholic, drug or alcohol abuse, uncontrolled spending, bad and unhealthy relationships. I am sure there are many more types of life’s challenges and trials. If you remember anything from today, please remember this: when a desperate soul cries out for Jesus, He stops, calls us over to Him, and asks us the question, “what do you want me to do for you?”. You see the blindness of Bartimaeus was physical. In this case, Jesus granted healing. However, the most important healing took place in the soul of Bartimaeus when he met the grace of Jesus in his moral bankruptcy. He experienced personally the love and grace of Jesus and his simple faith resulted in forgiveness, new life as a disciple of Christ, and new purpose.

For those who have trusted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, Jesus live in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Often, the only time hurting people will see and/or experience Jesus along the way is when we choose to show them the love, grace, and mercy of the One who saved a bankrupt sinner like you and me! Remember Matthew 28:19-20.