Luke 18.35-43 - Son of David, Have Mercy on Me
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
35 As Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.
In Matthew and Mark’s account, Jesus was leaving Jericho when He healed this blind man. How is it then that Luke says that He was entering Jericho? One possible explanation is that Matthew and Mark referred to the OT Jericho and Luke referred to the NT Jericho. These were two different places which were close to one another. To leave one was to enter the other.
Also in Matthew’s account, there are two blind men that call out to Jesus for mercy. How is it then that Mark and Luke mention only one blind man? It seems that Bartimaeus (his name given to us in Mark’s gospel; Mark 10:46) may have been the one that did the talking for the two blind men. We also have to remember that Bartimaeus is mentioned by name, so it may have been that he was specifically mentioned because he could still bear testimony to this miracle to Mark’s and Luke’s original audiences.
Bartimaeus and his blind friend sat by the roadside on the way to Jerusalem likely because Jewish travelers on the way to Jersualem for spiritual observances would tend to be generous.
Jesus passes by you this moment. Are you begging? What are you begging for? Are you begging for hope? Are you begging for some sign of good left in the world? Are you begging for change? Are you begging for peace? Are you begging for survival? Maybe with the way things have been the last year (2020-2021), you’re just begging for some normalcy.
What should we be begging for? If we haven’t received it from God already, we should be begging for forgiveness and for mercy.
Blind Bartimaeus was likely begging for sustenance--a piece of bread, a shekel or two, a cup of water--but then heard that Jesus was going by.
We need to consider blindness in the ancient world. In our day, we would call blindness a handicap, but in the ancient world blindness was helplessness. That’s why Bartimaeus was begging. It was the only thing he could do.
We also need to remember that blindness in the Jewish community--like all other physical deformities--meant a sort of spiritual isolation. The able-bodied Jewish people were allowed to go into the Temple but someone blind or lame or mute could not go in. The curse of sin and death results in such ailments in the body and God’s holiness would not permit such direct evidences of sin into His presence.
But recognizing his helplessness blind Bartimaeus cries out for Jesus. Jesus is the solution to the curse of sin and death. Jesus helps when we recognize we are helpless. Do we recognize it? Will we call on Him?
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 18
36 Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was.
37 They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 And he called out, saying, “Jesus, aSon of David, have mercy on me!”
There must’ve been a commotion surrounding Jesus as He neared Jerusalem because above his own begging Bartimaeus heard the crowd.
They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was going by, but apparently Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus of Nazareth and knew that He was really Jesus, Son of David.
To be ‘of Nazareth’ was worse than to be from nowhere. To be from Nazareth was an insult to everyone except those from folks actually from Nazareth. When Philip to Nathanael that the Messiah had been found in Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael asked, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46). That may have been a common saying in that day.
To be ‘of Nazareth’ was nothing, but to be ‘of David’, now, that was something. David was the second king of Israel; not a perfect man but a man after God’s own heart; the kind of king all Israel’s other kings were striving to be like. God made a promise to David saying, “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendent after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. … Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever,” (2 Sam. 7:12-13, 16). That promise is referred to as the Davidic Covenant and it had a near fulfillment in David’s son Solomon but an ultimate fulfillment in David’s son Jesus. Jesus was a son of-- i.e., a descendent of King David--the descendent of King David that God’s people had been looking for--the one whose Kingdom would be forever established. Blind Bartimaeus could see that Jesus is that one.
This one--this Son of David--would set free the captive, preach good news to the poor, make the lame walk, and make the blind see. No wonder Bartimaeus called out to Him for mercy.
Jesus built the house of God (Hebrews 3:6). Solomon built the first Temple, but Jesus is the Temple--the meeting place between God and man, the one to whom we must come to worship God. Referring to His own body which He would sacrifice on the cross, He said, “Tear down this Temple and I will rebuild it in three days.” It is through faith in His death and resurrection that we enter into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:20).
Jesus is the living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, through whom we are being built up as living stones into a spiritual house--a spiritual temple--where we offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4-5).
Jesus’ kingdom will never end. When His birth was foretold, the angel said to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end,” (Luke 2:31-33).
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 18
39 Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out all the more, “aSon of David, have mercy on me!”
There are always those people and those things that try to prevent our crying out to Jesus. Maybe its a worldly friend that is telling you to be quiet by inviting you to take part in worldly activities. When they say to you, “Come out with me,” they are essentially saying, “Be quiet; don’t cry out to Jesus.”
This worldly world that we live tells us, “Be quiet; don’t cry out to Jesus.”
Our flesh--still desiring the sin which offends God’s holiness--is always saying to us, “Be quiet; don’t cry out to Jesus.”
All these must be ignored just as Bartimaeus ignored those who told him to be quiet. In fact, every command to be quiet made Bartimaeus cry out all the more. Will we cry out all the more to Jesus? Son of David, have mercy on me!
May the eyes of our hearts be opened to see Jesus for who He is (Eph. 1:18).
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 18
41 “What do you want Me to do for you?” And he said, “Lord, I want to regain my sight!”
42 And Jesus said to him, “1Receive your sight; ayour faith has 2made you well.”
43 Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, aglorifying God
The answer seems obvious-- “What do you want Me to do for you?” But not every blind man wants to see.
Seeing comes with responsibility--responsibility to follow Jesus. If we don’t want to follow Jesus, then we don’t want to see.
What are we asking Jesus for? What will we do with it if He gives it to us? James 4:3 says that we ask and receive not because we ask to spend it on our own sinful pleasures. Bartimaeus asked for physical sight and then was pleased to follow Jesus and glorify God.
If Jesus gives you what you’re asking for, what will you do with it? Will you use it to follow Jesus and glorify God or will you use it on your own sinful pleasures?
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 18
and when ball the people saw it, they gave praise to God.
The miracle not only garners praise from Bartimaeus but also from the those who witness it. Bartimaeus leads the way and the others follow His example in praising God.
Let us set the example in following Jesus and praising God so that others might follow.
We come up with ways of ‘praising God’ in a reserved manner. We say ‘it was a God thing’ instead of shouting ‘Praised God!’ We don’t want to be accused of getting too emotional or too excited.
Do you think Bartimaeus was worried about such things? No. The Messiah, the Son of David, had healed him. Just as he couldn’t be silenced when he cried out for mercy, so he would not be silenced in praising God for his healing.
Haven’t we been healed of our spiritual blindness? Haven’t we been saved by God’s grace through His Son, Jesus? Then let us not be silent in praising God and let us not be slow in following Jesus!
We also need to see the momentum that is building as Jesus nears Jerusalem. It seems that everyone is convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. Indeed He was and is--but remember the previous passage. They could not yet comprehend nor understand what the Messiah was going to do for those who believe in Jerusalem. There He would be betrayed, mocked, mistreated, spit upon, scourged, and killed and on the third day rise again.
All this so that we call could see what Bartimaeus saw--this Jesus of Nazareth is Jesus, Son of David.
Just a few days before his death, Jesus makes a blind man see, and the crowd cheers.1
1 R. C. Sproul, A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1999), 344.
Conclusion
Conclusion