Wholeness And Faith
WHOLENESS AND FAITH
INTRODUCTION
Miracles
Webster’s definitions
An extraordinary occurrence that is ascribed to a divine or supernatural cause
A superb example
Percentage of Americans who believe in divine miracles: 84
Percentage who believe in the reality of miracles described in the Bible: 79
Percentage who have personal experiences with miracles: 48
Percentage who know of people who have: 63
Percentage who have prayed for a miracle: 67
Percentage who believe God or the saints cure or heal sick people who have been given no chance of survival by medical doctors: 77
Citation: Eric Reed; source: “Newsweek Poll: Most Americans Believe in Miracles
Today, we’re going to look at one of the miracles of Jesus that was performed just a few days before His death on the cross. It is a story of one becoming whole because of his faith expressed to Jesus.
I. THE STORY OF BARTIMEAUS
A. Opening of the story
1. events preceding
a. since life
1) not a bunch of unrelated incidents
2) each even-built upon past events
3) need to look at preceding events to see where Jesus is coming from
b. earlier
1) in the life of Jesus & His disciples
a) prediction by Jesus of His coming death
b) request by James & John (the sons of Zebedee) Mt 19:27-29
1. to sit at Jesus’ side when the kingdom comes
2. Jesus’ response v. 39-40
c) response of other 10 disciples v. 41—indignation
1. “How could you ask such a thing?
2. “We’re in this thing together!”
d) Jesus’ response v. 42-45
1. servants to all
2. or as the Apostle Paul wrote
1 Cor. 9:19-23
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.
To the Jews I became a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law;
To those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.
To the weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to al men, so that I may by all means save some.
I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.”
2) In the life of Bartimaeus
a) Don’t know much
b) Sitting day after day by the road begging as he had done for years
St Augustine wrote that there were 2 blind men there that day, but Bartimeaus overshallowed the other (Mt 21:30)
c) The scene
1) Dusty
a. Roads were not paved
b. Pounded dirt paths
2) Glare of the sun
a. Bartimaeus couldn’t see the sun
b. felt its warmth
3) Unsanitary habits of the area
a. diseased sores
b. open to air
2. v. 46
a. Jesus & disciples
1) On a way to Jerusalem
a) Religious leaders in Jerusalem—looking for way and/or reason to have Jesus killed
b) Going to Jerusalem anyway: why?
1) Time of Passover—celebration of deliverance in Egypt hundred of years earlier
2) William Barclay (British New Testament commentator) wrote: “Jericho was only 15 miles from Jerusalem. We must try to visualize this scene. The main road ran right through Jericho. Jesus was on His way to the Passover. When a distinguished Rabbi or teacher was on such a journey it was the custom that he was surrounded by a crowd of people, disciples and learners, who listened to him as he discoursed while he walked. That was one of the commonest ways of teaching. It was the law that every male Jew over twelve years of age who lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem, must attend the Passover.”
2) Jesus had traveled through Jericho
a) Teaching along the way
b) Gathering more and more people around Him
b. imagine for a moment, Bartimeaus
1) Blind
2) Sitting by the roadside
3) Begging for money in order to provide for needs of life
4) Hearing this crowd of people coming his way
c. since he couldn’t see, as in the case of a lot of people who have lost one of their five senses, his hearing was acute: heard
1) People talking among themselves & possible heard
2) At least one person says that Jesus was coming by
B. V. 47
1. Bartimeaus
a. Had probably heard of Jesus
b. Had heard of the miracles that Jesus had performed
c. Being the son of a blind man as the term “Son of Timacus” indicates
2. Thought that maybe this miracle working Jesus could help him
Might have thought “Where could I go but to the Lord.”
3. Began to yell
a. Yell: he
1) Had a deep sense of his own misery
2) Had a deep sense of his need
b. his words: “Jesus”
1) Not just yelling at anyone who would listen
2) Yelling specifically at Jesus
c. “Son of David”
1) People called Jesus “Jesus of Nazareth”
2) Bartimeaus said “Son of David”—believed that Jesus
a) To be the Messiah who
1. Was to come into the world
2. Was to sit on the throne of David
3. Was to establish a never ending kingdom
b) The fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies—such as Isaiah 35 that says that he (Messiah) should come and “the eyes of the blind should be opened.”
d. “have mercy on me!”—Jesus
1) You see my need
a) Blindness
b) Poor
2) Have mercy
a) Help me
b) Heal me
C. V. 48
1. “Many were sternly telling him to be quiet,”—people
a. Were telling Bartimeaus to shut up
b. Don’t bother
1) Jesus
2) The Master
3) The Rabbi
4) The Teacher
c. Not just politely telling him to be quiet but very forcible
2. Response of Bartimeaus
a. Will not be quiet
b. Started crying even the more
c. Started yelling more loudly
d. With the same words as before, “Son of God, have mercy on me!”
D. V. 49
1. Jesus
a. heard Bartimeaus’ cry
b. Stopped His journey to Jerusalem
c. Said to the disciples—“Call him here.”
1) Let Bartimeaus come to me
2) Don’t stop Bartimeaus from coming to Me
2. Crowd
a. “Called the blind man”
b. “Saying to him...”
1) “Take courage,”
a) Be of good cheer
b) Have courage
2) “Stand up!”
a) Get up from your location of begging
b) Rise off your sitting position
3) “He is calling for you.”
a) Jesus calls you
b) Jesus
1. The Master
2. The Teacher
3. Calls for you
E. V. 50—response of Bartimeaus
1. Threw off his outer cloak
a. Outer cloak
1) Heavy
2) Cumbersome
3) Protective from cold, wet ground
b. A hindrance to slow him down
Reminds me of Heb. 12:1
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
2. Jumped up
a. Not idly or not slowly rose from his seat
b. Quickly
c. Hurriedly
d. Got up from his seat
F. V 51
1. Bartimeaus: “And answering him,” said to Jesus
2. Response of Jesus: “What do you want Me to do for you?”
a. Seemingly an odd question for Jesus to ask
1) After all, Bartimeaus
a) Was blind
b) Needed healing
2) And Jesus
a) Being fully God
b) Knew what
1. The physical need of Bartimeaus was
2. The deepest need of Bartimeaus
a. Physically
b. Emotionally
c. Spiritually
b. Jesus wanted Bartimeaus
1) To recognize his needs
2) To recognize that Jesus could meet his needs
3) To express his faith in Jesus
3. “And the blind man said to Him, ‘Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!’”
a. “Rabboni”—literally, “My Master”
1) A more respectful mode of address than the simpler “Rabbi”
2) Not just my teacher but “MY”
b. “I want to regain my sight!”
1) Apparently had been able to see before
2) Wanted to regain what he had lost
3) Speculation—
a) Perhaps he had a genetic disease that has caused his blindness
b) Remember he was called “Son of Timacus”—means son of a blind man
G. V. 52
1. “And Jesus said to him,”
2. “Go,”
a. Don’t stay here
b. Leave this place where you had spent your days begging because of your blindness
3. “Your faith has made you well.”
a. “Your faith”
1) Not Jesus’ faith
2) Not the faith of your father
3) Not the faith of any other human being
4) But “Your” faith
b. “Has made you well.”
1) Has caused your healing
2) Over and over Jesus refers to the faith of an individual as causing the healing of the one who has faith
1. The Messiah
2. The Son of God
3. The One who can heal
4. “Immediately”
a. Not after a while
b. But at that very instance
5. “He regained”
a. Again we see the term “regained”
b. Indicating that he had seen before
6. “His sight”
7. “And”
a. Note that after the healing something else occurred
b. Didn’t just be healed and forget who had healed him
8. “Began following Him on the road”
a. “Began”
1) Started a new action
b. “Following Him”
1) Following whom
2) Following Jesus
c. Where: “on the road”
1) Wherever Jesus was going
2) Which was Jerusalem to His death
II APPLICATIONS
1. Be persistent in approaching God
a. Bartimeaus persistent in trying to get Jesus to heal him
b. Persistence pays off
1) Jesus said to be persistent
Parable of persistent widow Luke 18:2-5
“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart,
Saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.”
“There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, “Give me a legal protection from my opponent.”
“For a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, “Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because of this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.”
2) demonstrated by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
a) Prayed “Father, if You are wiling, remove this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done,”
b) Prayed it 3 different times
The diary of George Mueller, Christian social reformer from the Victorian era, chronicles his devotion in prayer:
In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second and prayed on the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted.
Thirty-six years later he wrote that the other two, sons of one of the Mueller’s friends, were still not converted. He wrote,
“But I hope in God, I pray on, and look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.”
In 1897, fifty-two years after he began to pray, these two men were finally converted, after he died. Mueller understood what Jesus meant when he told his disciples, “that they should always pray and not give up”
2. Follow Jesus immediately and eagerly—don’t put it off for no one knows about tomorrow
3. Know precisely what you want
a. Bartimeaus knew exactly what he wanted: sight
b. In approaching God, we need to know what we want: salvation from sin and hell
4. Jesus—Savior for ALL—not for just a certain class of people
5. One Precious Touch
THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND
‘Twas batter and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bidden, good folks, he cried,
“Who will start bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar”—then, “Two!” “Only two?
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice,
Going for three---“ But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As sweet as a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, “What am I bidden for the old violin?”
And he held it up with the bow.
“A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand, once; Three thousand, twice;
And going, and gone!” said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
“We do not quite understand
What changed its worth?” Swift came the reply;
“The touch of the master’s hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scattered with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A “mess of pottage” a glass of wine;
A game—and he travels on.
He’s “going” once, and “going” twice,
He’s “going” and “almost gone.”
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul, and the change that’s wrought
By the touch of the Master’s hand.
Myra Brooks Welch