Today – I will be reading about a miracle in Scripture that has to do with a man I have always felt a personal connection to.
Mark 10:46-52 (NLT2)
46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.
The first thing I want to teach about this passage of scripture is this…
What is passed TO you does not have to be passed THROUGH you
Look at how Mark introduces this man in verse 46. “A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road.” Bartimaeus means “son of Timaeus.” His name tells us who his dad was. Bartimaeus was known simply by who his father was. For many of us, carrying our family name brings up deep fear of repeating our parents' brokenness...
My dad’s name was Edward Joseph Donahue. My name is Joseph Donahue. I know what it’s like to carry your father’s name and wonder how much of his life you’ll carry into yours. I grew up as the oldest son in a family of six children. I was sexually and verbally abused by dad until around the age of thirteen. He was an alcoholic with a violent temper. I remember one night my dad came home late from the bar. From the back bedroom, I heard him screaming and yelling at my mom. I remember lying there on that plywood floor, terrified.
The next morning, the kitchen table was broken in half. My mom was sitting there holding a broom and a dustpan. She gave us kids a choice. We could go to school, or we could stay and help clean up. I looked around at the mess and said, “I am going to school.”
That day in school, I pretended like everything was great and that I lived a perfectly normal life…Nobody knew what had happened. The nights like this happened all the time…
They never knew about the abuse.
They never knew about the fear.
They never knew what happened behind closed doors.
They never knew that afternoon after school I saw my dad rape my mom.
They never knew he made me get a knife for him while she struggled to get free.
I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was eighteen in 1991. I was able to forgive my dad in 1993. I married Kristy in 1999. Our four daughters are now 19, 17, 15, and 13. They don’t have a PERFECT dad – but they have never been abused, neglected, or called the names I was. Because Jesus changed my life…what has happened TO me has not been passed THROUGH me.
What is something you experienced that you don’t want to pass on to your children? Maybe it's outbursts of ANGER…maybe it's an addiction….maybe it's abuse…If you surrendered to Jesus, you have been made NEW!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT2)
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Through JESUS – you do not have to live in FEAR that you are going to pass on what happened to you onto your children, your spouse, or your family. You cannot change what happened TO you. But through Jesus Christ, you can change what happens THROUGH you.
You don't have to become the person who hurt you.
Your children don't have to experience what you experienced.
Your marriage doesn't have to repeat the patterns you witnessed growing up.
And you don't have to spend the rest of your life believing that your past has already determined your future.
It DOES NOT matter what you have DONE or what has been DONE to you…JESUS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
Now, let’s get back to Bartimaeus. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”…and the crowd told him to shut up. The crowd's response, and the response of Jesus, shows us that…
When OTHERS do not understand, God DOES
The crowd preferred that Bartimaeus sit in his blindness and not say anything. But Bartimaeus kept on shouting, “Jesus, SON OF DAVID”. When Bartimaeus called Jesus SON OF DAVID, he was telling everybody within earshot what he believed about Jesus.
Centuries before, in 2 Samuel 7, God promised that a descendant of David would REIGN forever… and later the prophet Isaiah described that SON of DAVID:
Isaiah 35:5 (NLT2)
…And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.
The SON of DAVID would OPEN THE EYES OF THE BLIND…BARTIMAEUS believed that JESUS was the SON of DAVID, and he was walking down the road!…he BELIEVED JESUS could make him SEE!…so he yells, “SON of DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!…the crowd tells him to shut up…keep it to himself…BUT he does NOT.
He had to call out.
He had to cry out.
He had to take that opportunity to cry out as Jesus was passing by.
Some of us have carried somebody’s “Be quiet and shut up” for years…my dad would abuse me and say…”Don’t tell anybody…” Every time I began to tell somebody…I would hear my dad say this was the family secret…
Every time Bartimaeus cried out, people told him to be quiet. Jesus heard Bartimaeus crying out and invited him to come closer.
Other people around you may not understand your battle with anxiety, depression, diagnosis, or disease…their eyes may glaze over…they may tune you out…But Jesus understands and invites you to pour out your heart to him.
Psalm 62:8 (NLT2)
8 …Trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.
You don't have to convince Him that your pain is real.
You don't have to find the perfect words to explain how you're feeling.
You don't have to pretend you're doing better than you really are.
And you don't have to keep everything bottled up inside.
You can tell pour your heart out to God…and you can…
Ask Jesus for the miracle you DESPERATELY need
Jesus invited Bartimaeus to come closer and he asked him…
Mark 10:51 (NLT2)
51 “What do you want me to do for you?”
I find it fascinating that Jesus would ask him that question. I think it would be obvious that the blind beggar needed to be able to see. He has already cried out, “Have mercy on me!” Now, he has the opportunity to say what mercy would look like for him personally.
What would God showing MERCY to you today look like for you personally?
Maybe you DESPERATELY need healing from your childhood.
Maybe you DESPERATELY need a financial miracle.
Maybe you DESPERATELY need reconciliation in your marriage.
Maybe you DESPERATELY need your adult children to decide to talk to you again.
WHAT DO YOU WANT JESUS TO DO FOR YOU?
Sometimes we've lived with something for so long that we've stopped asking God to change it.
We've learned to live with the pain.
We've learned to live with the disappointment.
We've learned to live with circumstances we never wanted.
And somewhere along the way, we stopped being desperate for a miracle.
I wonder how many of us need to stop asking God merely to help us tolerate something we've been living with and start asking Him to CHANGE it.
WHAT DO YOU WANT JESUS TO DO FOR YOU?
Jesus knows your need. But the real question is, do you?
Now, let’s look again at how the SON of DAVID answered Bartimaeus’ cry of desperation…
Mark 10:52 (NLT2)
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.
INSTANTLY THE MAN COULD SEE! That morning, Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road, begging for somebody to help him. And now he's WALKING down that same road, FOLLOWING JESUS! He woke up that morning BLIND. He was going to bed that night SEEING!
ONE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHANGED HIS LIFE!
And I wonder how many of us have convinced ourselves that the circumstances we're living with today are the ones we'll live with for the rest of our lives. You've prayed before. You've been disappointed before. You've asked God to change something, and nothing seemed to happen. And now you're afraid to ask again because you don't want to be disappointed again.
DON'T ALLOW AN UNANSWERED PRAYER FROM YOUR PAST TO KEEP YOU FROM PRAYING TODAY!
I'm not promising that Jesus will answer every prayer exactly the way we want Him to.
I can't promise you when God will heal, when a relationship will be restored, or when your circumstances will change.
But I CAN tell you that the Jesus who heard Bartimaeus is the same Jesus we can call upon TODAY!
So, I want you to think about the ONE THING you desperately need Jesus to do. Maybe you haven't told anybody. Maybe you've been afraid to say it out loud. Maybe you've been carrying it for so long that you've stopped believing anything could change.
BUT WHAT IF YOU STARTED ASKING JESUS AGAIN?
What if you stopped pretending you don't need help?
What if you stopped allowing disappointment to determine what you're willing to pray for?
What if, instead of assuming nothing will change, you brought that need to Jesus one more time?
Bartimaeus couldn't SEE Jesus. But he BELIEVED Jesus could change his life…And that was enough to make him CRY OUT!
So right now, I want to invite you to do what Bartimaeus did. Tell Jesus what you desperately need.
JESUS, I NEED YOU TO HEAL ME.
JESUS, I NEED YOU TO RESTORE MY MARRIAGE.
JESUS, I NEED YOU TO BRING MY CHILD HOME.
JESUS, I NEED YOU TO HELP ME FORGIVE.
JESUS, I NEED YOU TO CHANGE MY LIFE.
You don't have to impress Him with your words. You just have to be willing to come to Him and ask. And whether His answer comes immediately, takes longer than you hoped, or looks different from what you imagined, you can trust Him. Because our faith is not in our ability to get the miracle we want.
OUR FAITH IS IN JESUS, the SON of DAVID.
ASK JESUS FOR THE MIRACLE YOU DESPERATELY NEED.