"Now I See" 3-5-23
Overview
Now I See
As Lent draws us toward Holy Week, it's worth pausing on the days just before that final week of Jesus' earthly ministry. Luke 9:51 tells us that Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem," and the disciples in Mark's account followed behind, afraid. Something was different about this journey. For three years Jesus had ministered under the shadow of the cross, but now there was no more time. Approximately twenty-two and a half miles from Jerusalem, He entered Jericho—and there, on the road, sat a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.
In Luke 18:35–43, Bartimaeus hears the commotion and is told that "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." Notice the irony: the seeing crowd identifies Jesus only as a man from Nazareth, but the blind man cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" That title is messianic—Bartimaeus sees what the crowd cannot. His name means "son of the honorable," yet society treated him as expendable: unable to work, dependent on charity, presumed cursed because of sin. When the crowd tells him to be quiet, he cries louder, because he knows the Anointed One is the only one who can help him.
Then come three remarkable words: Jesus stood still. The One whose face was set toward His passion stops for an unworthy beggar and asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" How often do we tell ourselves—or others—not to "bother Jesus," as if our cries are too small or the world's noise too loud? The shouts of the unworthy are heard. The shouts of the unworthy are answered. Bartimaeus does not hesitate: "Lord, let me see again." And Jesus says, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you."
We are all born blind. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:4, the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel. Left to ourselves, we are blind people asking other blind people for directions—sinners trying to lead sinners. Only the Son of David can open our eyes. And He has: to see our sin, to see our Savior, to see the empty tomb, to see that the battle has been won for us. Like Bartimaeus, who immediately followed Jesus glorifying God, our response is to follow and praise. "I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see."
Transcript
If you would please open your Bibles to Luke the 18th chapter, Luke the 18th chapter. 3s
If you're using a Pue edition of the Bible, you can find this on page 71 in the New Testament. 10s
We are in Luke chapter 18. 18s
The season of Lent. 23s
The season of Lent is bringing us into the season of Easter. 25s
And that final week of Lent is Holy Week. 31s
And Holy Week is pretty familiar territory for all of us because we spend as the church 37s
rightfully so much time discussing what took place in that final week of Jesus' life 45s
here this side of heaven. 54s
In this next sermon series, this sermon series entitled Just Before, we're going to be looking 58s
at that week just before Holy Week. 65s
What was happening in the life of Christ before the week of His Passion? 70s
In Scripture, we read about this final journey that He takes to Jerusalem. 79s
And it's a different sort of journey. 86s
For three years, He had been in the Holy Land walking, wandering, 89s
journeying, teaching, healing, preaching, performing miracles. 94s
And there was always a sense of purpose, always a sense of knowing exactly what He 100s
was doing. 108s
But this journey, this journey to Jerusalem, there was something different about this journey. 110s
In Luke the ninth chapter, it says, when the day is drew near for Him to be taken up, 119s
He set His face to go to Jerusalem. 125s
Perhaps there was something physically different that His disciples could see in Him. 130s
Perhaps He had a set jaw, a more determined look in His eyes. 137s
In the Gospel of Mark, we read that His disciples followed Him. 144s
They were behind Him as He set His face to Jerusalem. 151s
And it says that they followed Him and they were afraid. 156s
And there was something that was different about this journey. 161s
But what was different? 170s
What was different about this journey? 171s
Because Jesus had always known exactly where He was going. 174s
He always knew what was coming that He had submitted to the plan of the Father's submitted 180s
when the plan of salvation was determined before the foundation of this world. 187s
He knew that He, the second person of the Trinity would enter into flesh, humbling Himself to be as 195s
one of us. And He knew the exact cost that it would be to Him for entering into 205s
flesh into humanity. In the three years that He journeyed, in the three years that He taught 218s
that He had His ministry here on earth, it was always under the shadow of the cross. 227s
Always under the shadow of the cross. But this journey, this journey was different 236s
because there was no more time. He was heading to the final week of His life. 244s
He was heading to the fulfillment of the plan for the salvation of all creation. He was heading 256s
to the blood sacrifice for our redemption. It's approximately 22 and a half miles from Jericho to Jerusalem. 265s
So as He's entering into Jericho, He is only 22 and a half miles away 280s
from His sacrifice. And this is where we're picking up in our text today. As He's entering into Jericho, 289s
look with me, please, at verse 35 of chapter 18. As He approached Jericho, a blind man was 300s
sitting by the roadside begging. When He heard a crowd going by, He asked, what was happening? 309s
Now we need to understand who this blind man was. This blind man we learn from the gospel of Mark 316s
is Bartimeus. Bartimeus means son of Temeus. And Temeus means honorable. So Bartimeus is son of the honorable. 323s
But Bartimeus was anything, but honorable. His blindness automatically gave the impression that 339s
He was a sinner, that He had done something wrong, that His parents had done something wrong. 351s
For some reason, He was unworthy. He was a beggar. He was unable to work for His wages. He was 359s
unable to provide for His very basic needs. He was helpless and pitiful. He wasn't honorable. 370s
He had to be led by others everywhere He went. He relied upon the mercy and the charity of 380s
everyone around Him to help Him in His every need. Bartimeus was not honorable. Bartimeus 389s
was one of the expendables of society. Bartimeus was an expendable. Here we have this blind man, 403s
begging, sitting in this spot. And He hears, He hears something happening. And He hears when He 417s
hears what's going on. He hears He is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And remember, 427s
we know that Jesus has his face set to Jerusalem. And the crowd is going before Him. And the crowd is 434s
going behind Him. And Bartimeus hears that it's Jesus and verse 38. He shouted, Jesus, son of David 442s
have mercy on me. And those who were in front sternly ordered Him to be quiet. But He shouted 452s
even more loudly, son of David have mercy on me. Bartimeus knew who Jesus was. He knew by using the 460s
title, son of David, that's a messianic title. That is the title of the anointed one. And He 474s
knows that this is the anointed one. And when He's told to be quiet, to pipe down this man is too busy 482s
for you, He shouts even louder because He knows that Jesus is the Messiah that Jesus is the only 492s
one who can do anything for Him. What's fascinating here is that the crowd that is around 502s
Jesus does not see Him for who He is. They tell Bartimeus that this Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 512s
They don't say this is the Messiah that is going before you. They just say this man, Jesus is passing 525s
by. It is Bartimeus. The one who cannot see who sees Jesus, who sees the Son of David passing by Him. 533s
So He calls out, have mercy on me. Look at verse 40, those first three words, 548s
Jesus stood still. Jesus stood still. The noise, the shout, the crowd, and Jesus heard the cry of the 558s
scene. Consider what's happening here. Why would this blind man even dare to shout in the first place 588s
thinking that He would be heard? There is noise all around. He couldn't see, but He certainly could 597s
hear. He heard the commotion. He heard the crowd. He heard the scene. Why would He, the unworthy blind 603s
expendable beggar think that He could be heard? There's a comedian that I heard talking about 613s
her experience growing up in the church and what she was taught was not to bother Jesus. 625s
She was told, don't bother Jesus. Your prayers aren't as important. Your needs aren't as important. 635s
Don't bother Jesus. And we have that same tendency, don't we? To think that the needs that we have 645s
probably not worth being heard. The prayers that we have in the depths of our hearts 658s
probably are insignificant and we don't want to bother Jesus. And like the crowd told Bartimeyes to 665s
type down, we tell ourselves, pipe down, or we tell others, pipe down. Don't bother Jesus. 674s
And we wonder, are our cries even heard in the midst of this noise? Are they even worth 691s
being heard in the midst of the noise of this world? There are so many problems, so many issues 698s
that could and should be dealt with and heard and prayed for that I don't want to bother Jesus. 706s
There are so many issues and problems in this world that should be or could be dealt with. 716s
You shouldn't bother Jesus, pipe down. Son of David have mercy on me. Jesus stood still 722s
and ordered the man be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, 742s
what do you want me to do for you? Jesus didn't have to stop, but he did. 748s
Jesus whose face was set to Jerusalem. Jesus who entered into Jericho on his way to Jerusalem 759s
with a very determined purpose. Jesus whom his disciples knew something was different about 765s
this journey, Jesus who couldn't stop stopped called this blind beggar to him and said, 772s
what do you want me to do for you? The shouts of the unworthy were heard, the shouts of the unworthy 788s
were heard and the shouts of the unworthy were answered. Jesus was facing the pinnacle, the crux 799s
of all creation. He was facing the battle in which all redemption, all of creation would be saved 808s
in this battle. When Jesus hears us cry, when Jesus hears our pleas from mercy, 821s
our pleas of help, he hears us and he stops. And he calls us to himself through his word. 835s
He calls us to himself in the community of believers that he had brought us to. When he hears us cry, 849s
he hears us and he invites us to himself and he says, what do you want me to do for you? 860s
Bartomeiahs didn't have to think about his answer. He didn't have to him and hall or consider what he 872s
wanted Jesus to do for him. We look at verse 41, the second half where he said, Lord, let me see again. 879s
Bartomeiahs is not alone in his blindness. We are all born blind. We are born blind to our sin, 890s
blind to the gospel blind to God himself. In second Corinthians chapter 4, Paul, 898s
under the inspiration of the word, word, wrote the God of this world that is Satan, 907s
has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the 914s
story of Christ and in our blindness in our sin, we stumble and we ask others to help us, 921s
but we are so often every day asking our fellow blind people who are stumbling in their own sin. 932s
And we ask for them to lead us. We ask for them to help us. We ask for the blind to lead the 945s
blind. We ask for the sinner to lead the sinner. The sinner cannot save us anymore than we 953s
can save another sinner. The blind beggar cried not only to Jesus of Nazareth, he cried to the 967s
son of David because the son of David is the only one who could do anything for him. The son of 982s
David is the only one who can do anything for us. In our blindness, we cry out for mercy and 993s
Jesus calls to us and asks, what do you want me to do for you? Lord, let me see again. Lord, let me see 1004s
again. Jesus said to him, receive your sight, your faith has saved you. My brothers and sisters, 1021s
your faith has saved you. God has opened your eyes so that you would see the truth of your blindness, 1034s
that you would know you are indeed a sinner blind in your sin stumbling in your sin and God has 1044s
opened your eyes, that you would see the salvation that lies before you in him, the Savior. 1054s
God has opened your eyes to see the empty tomb. God has opened your eyes to see that the victory 1063s
of the battle has been won in Jesus Christ for you. Look with me, please, at verses 42 and 1073s
his sight and followed him, glorifying God and all the people when they saw it praised God. 1091s
Bartimea saw, he could see, he could see the Savior before him, he could see the world, 1099s
the creation around him and he rejoiced and he didn't brag that it was something that he had 1108s
done, that his faith had made him well, his faith had done anything at all, but it is Christ. 1116s
Christ who gave him the faith, God who had called him into faith that he would believe and 1124s
through that he saw and the people around who witnessed this miracle rejoiced and praised 1130s
the Lord because they knew it was Jesus of Nazareth's son of David who had done this for 1140s
the unworthy Bartimea's. We rejoice, we rejoice because God has called us into sight of salvation. 1149s
We rejoice because we see that our brothers and sisters around us, surrounding us, have also been 1163s
brought and called into the joy of salvation and we praise God. We praise God who has opened our eyes 1171s
to the redemption that we have in him alone. Praise be to God that he has called us to be his own. 1181s
Praise be to God that we have been set free, that our eyes have been opened. We are no longer 1192s
drawn by the devil. We are no longer victims of sin and death and the devil, but we are freed 1200s
through the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I love the Him amazing grace. 1209s
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, 1221s
was blind, but now I see. 1235s