Dwell in the Word Mark 10:46-52

Think about these questions as you dwell in Mark 10:46-52:

1. How does Bartimaeus demonstrate his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, and what is the significance of him using the term "Son of David" when calling out to Jesus?

2. Describe Bartimaeus' persistent faith, even when told to be silent. How does this persistence reflect his deep conviction in Jesus' ability to restore his sight?

3. What is the broader message that Mark conveys through the story of Bartimaeus? How does Bartimaeus' physical blindness serve as a powerful metaphor for spiritual blindness, and how does Jesus' healing demonstrate his ability to open our eyes to the truth of who He is?

Transcript:

So, as we land here in the end of chapter 10, we come across another story of Jesus healing. And what do we see about Jesus here? Who is he with? He's with his disciples. We expect that. And once again, we see something else we expect because we've seen it so many times in the Gospel of Mark, he is with a crowd. And so, he is walking and Jesus is in the midst of all these people, and the word gets out. Now, it seems as though Bartimaeus must have been able to ascertain that this was a crowd, and the word must have gotten to him that Jesus was the reason for the crowd. He can't see Jesus himself. But what does Bartimaeus do? He cries out, and he says, 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. ' Now, this isn't like a last name for Jesus. This is not Jesus. His first name was Jesus. His last name was Davison. The idea here is that this is a Messianic term. When Bartimaeus calls him the Son of David or Son of David, he is saying, I believe you to be the Messiah. You are the one who has been expected of old.

 This is a Messianic term. And so, when he cries out for Jesus, he is saying, I believe in who you are. I believe you are the one who has came to rescue His people. And so, he calls out, even after they tell him to be silent, he cries out all the more. He truly believes that Jesus is the one who can restore His sight. And so, Jesus says, Call him. And I love what this says here. The people tell him, Take heart, get up. He's calling you. And then he throws off his cloak. And what does it say? He sprang up. Imagine this, this image of Bartimaeus, this blind man who's crying out in hope. And when he finds out there is hope that Jesus has heard his cry, he springs up and goes to him. And so, Jesus just asks point blank, What do you want? You're calling out for me. What is it that you want from me? And he says, Let me recover my sight. And look at what Jesus has to say. Go your way. Your faith has made you well. He has put his trust in Jesus. He believes that Jesus is the Messiah.

 He believes that Jesus is able to restore his sight. And then we see that word that has propped up so many times in Mark, immediately he recovers his sight. But also look what happens, he follows him on the way. So he becomes a follower of Jesus. He believed in him. He trusted him, and he followed him. So what do we do with this passage? What is being taught to us? What is Mark trying to teach us as he tells us the story? Well, there's something important here. This blind man is even able to see the truth of who Jesus is. The Pharisees have been struggling with this. They're up against him. The disciples, his very own followers struggle with this understanding of who Jesus is at times. We've seen that throughout the gospel. But here's this blind man, this man who is completely incapable of seeing Jesus, but yet he sees him better than so many other people in the Gospel of Mark. And then so, what does this have to say about Jesus? Well, Jesus opens eyes. And so, if you and I are going to come to an understanding of who he is, that he is the Messiah, the Son of David.

 Even though we are tending to be blind to this truth, he can open our eyes. He can take away our spiritual blindness. And in fact, that is what he has done for us through his Holy Spirit. We were blind in our trespasses and sins. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. But the Holy Spirit comes to us, and he gives us vision to see who Jesus is, and he raises us to life. We come to Jesus. We spring up to him and are able to believe in him. So as we think about this passage for us, we need to think about who is Jesus to us? Do we believe that he is just a guru, a teacher who can tell us some good things about how we can have a better life? Or do we believe in who he is, who blind Bartimaeus believed him to be? Do we trust him to be our savior? And so, may we have the faith of Bartimaeus. And may we trust that we can have this faith because Jesus has opened our eyes through the Holy Spirit to His truth.