Mark 10:46-52.  The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

I.      The first time I needed glasses was at this church — about twenty five years ago.  They lasted maybe four or five years.  Now it seems I need a new pair about every six months.

II.     Jesus was like an eye-doctor — people went to him with vision-problems eight times in the gospels.

Sometimes people could see, but didn’t know what they were looking at.  Was Jesus God or the devil? 

III.    I talk about immigrants a lot because there’s so much confusion about them.  The problem with foreign people isn’t financial — it isn’t national security — it isn’t language.  It’s a VISION PROBLEM.  Our culture SEES them one way, and Jesus sees them another way.   Sometimes they’re called “illegals.”  But Jesus was found guilty of being an illegal.  His crime was blasphemy and the sentence was death. 

IV.     If we have good eyesight — can we SEE another person with COMPASSION?  Can we go to an eye doctor to  help us SEE others with mercy?

V.      Jesus can help us here — but I have to warn you — There might be a problem with Jesus which, as a professional religious person, I need to warn you about.  You know like those drug adds on TV where after they tell you how great the drug is they tell you the side-effects could kill you. To protect themselves they warn of side-effects.

So, to protect myself I need to warn you that if you ask Jesus to help you see better, he will help you — but when he gives you an eye-transplant — you’ll love everyone you see!!!!

 So WARNING — if it makes you feel good to hate or despise a certain person or group — DON’T ASK JESUS TO HELP YOU SEE! BECAUSE HE’LL CHANGE YOUR EYES SO EVERYONE  YOU SEE WILL seem like your child or your spouse or your best friend.  God did this eye-surgery on Paul on the road to Damascus! Look what happened to him!

VI.     One more thing about the Bartimaeus story.  He was bad shape — a poor, begging, blind man.  Obviously he needed help. So why did people tell him to shut up?  Why do people try to prevent desperate people from being helped?

Maybe THE CROWD needed Jesus’ help MORE THAN BARTIMAEUS!!!!  Anyone who tells a blind beggar pleading for help to shut up NEEDS A HEART TRANSPLANT.

VII.    The message of this story this morning is — whether we’re the crowd or Bartimaeus — we all need something from Jesus — maybe eyes that see or a heart that feels, but we all need to pray:  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”