Faith and Sight
Mark 10:32-34, 46-52
32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
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.
Back in chapter 8:22-26 We have the record of Jesus healing a blind man. Right after that we have the “Who do men say that I am.” I believe that the Who do men say that I am is the central point of every synoptic Gospel.
What are the gospels trying to teach us? What are the two main things?
- Who is Jesus?
- What did Jesus come to do? What is the nature of His Messianic ministry?
Number one is obviously very important. But the second point is going to have a drastic impact on what God is going to do in our lives! Because Jesus’ ministry is going to be Jesus’ ministry until He comes again!
All of the lack of understanding about Who Jesus is and What He came to do can be understood metaphorically as blindness. To not understand is to not “see”.
Three times Jesus tells them He is headed to Jerusalem to die and come back to life. They don’t understand until they see it in the past. That is the way suffering often is.
Let’s begin the message by reviewing Mark’s gospel between these two miracles of healing blindness.
- Between the Miracles
This is another way of saying, we must learn who Jesus is, and how He is working out the Kingdom of God in the world! If Jesus was treated as He will be at the Second Coming, then it would all make perfect sense. However, that is not where we are in God’s working in the world.
- Jesus’ ministry rejected because of His identity
Jesus is the Christ
The one anointed and chosen by God to bring His kingdom to the world. But the kingdom is a surprise.
Jesus is the Son of man. The same issue is in play. Daniel 7:
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
They could have considered Isaiah 52:13ff in the light of Jeremiah 31 and they would have clued in!
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Isaiah 52 and 53
Isaiah 52: 13 See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Isaiah 53: 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
- Disciples reject their role in Jesus’ ministry
Reject is too strong a word. They don’t “see” how this could be the way it will be.
They argue about who is the greatest
They stop people from ministering because of their lack of control.
They prevent children from coming to Jesus.
They fail to pray and connect to God’s will in healing and delivering a man.
The example of Peter again:
Peter says: “May it never be…”
Peter pulls a sword to fight for Jesus in the Garden expecting to wipe out Jesus’ enemies.
Peter denies Jesus three times outside Jesus’ trial.
Peter is reinstated by Jesus: “Feed my sheep” three times.
- People do not see the power of Resurrection
This ultimately is what we are called to believe in. Our call is a call to deny self and pick up our cross and follow Jesus. This is a call to die to things in our lives that are apart from what God is doing. It is a call to service and sacrifice and love for God and others.
John 12: 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Phil 3:
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
- The Call of Discipleship
Because the Kingdom of God is different from what people expected, the call to discipleship is also a surprise!
Mark 8:34-37
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
- Adopt Jesus’ attitude
“Not my will, but Your will be done.”
This is the attitude that got Jesus to the Cross.
- Adopt Jesus’ ministry
Greatness is found in giving our lives in service to God and others.
Philippians 2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
- This is what it means to follow Jesus
“I am the way.” The earliest Christians were called “Followers of the Way”
“We have come to know and believe that You are the Holy One of God.”
III. Our Blindness
In last week’s message: “We want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
This week, Jesus asks the blind man:
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.
- Be careful defining success
It is only faithfulness to God and His will and ways.
Big and bigger is not success (it wasn’t for Jesus)
Popular, reinforced by the encouragement of others, is not success. (It wasn’t for Jesus)
Winning.
We need to seek out opportunities to impact the world for the kingdom of God.
- Be careful deciding your path of life
Taking up your cross and following Jesus is not the easiest path of life.
God does not exist to make you successful. That is the role of an idol.
- Be humble about what you see
John 9: 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
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