IRREPRESSIBLE FAITH
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on July 28, 2021 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: July 28, 2021 from Luke 18:35-43
Theme: Our Lord responds to the faith of those who cry out irrepressibly to Him.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning—as we continue to follow the story of our Lord on His journey to Jerusalem—we meet up with a great hero of faith. If we had met him in his time, though, he might have seemed like an unlikely hero of faith. Before his encounter with Jesus, we might not have even noticed him at all. But the greatness of his faith in Jesus was shown in that it could not be restrained by other people at its greatest moment of expression. And now, two thousand years later, we even know this man’s name—even though it isn’t mentioned in this passage. In another telling of the story—in the Gospel of Mark—we find that he is called Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.
We know him best as ‘Blind Bartimaeus. And his story is found in Luke 18:35-43. Luke tells us this about Jesus, as He journeyed to Jerusalem:
Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God (Luke 18:35-43).
When I think of this man’s faith, the word that comes to mind is ‘irrepressible’. That’s not a word that we hear very often nowadays. But its meaning should nevertheless be familiar to us.
When someone can be stopped from something, or held back or restrained from what they earnestly desire to do, we say that they are easily repressed. They can be subdued or restrained by pressure, or compulsion, or force. That—sadly—would be a way that many people’s ‘faith’ can be described. If they rise up to publicly express their relationship with Jesus, or if they wish to declare a confident trust in Him for some need, or if they wish to follow Him obediently against the tide, other people are easily able to repress them or hold them back. If they are told, “Be quiet about your religious stuff … sit down and shut up about your Jesus …”, then, very often, they do as they’re told. But this man stands out in that his faith was ‘irrepressible’. It could not be silenced or restrained or subdued by others. He knew who Jesus was; and he knew what He needed from Jesus; and he cried out to Jesus for it. And even when others told him to be quiet—even when others might have told him, “Look; you’re just a blind beggar. That’s your lot. Now sit down, be quiet, and keep to your begging. Don’t make such a public nuisance of yourself …”, he would not listen. In fact, he cried out to Jesus even more.
And because Jesus responded so wonderfully to his faith, that makes this poor blind man a true hero of faith. We have a lot to learn from him. He teaches us that our Lord responds to the faith of those who cry out irrepressibly to Him.
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Now; this same story is also told in the other ‘synoptic gospels’—that is, in Matthew and Mark. And when we compare Luke’s telling of this story with the others, we find some interesting differences. We should take a moment to consider them.
For example, in the version of this story that’s in the Gospel of Matthew, we find that Matthew tells us that there was not one blind man, but two. They both cried out to Jesus; and Jesus responded to the faith of them both, and gave them both their sight. But Mark and Luke only mention one blind man. Is there a contradiction? Some have suggested so. But there’s no contradiction at all. Mark and Luke don’t definitively say that there was only one blind man and not any other. And if there were two, then there would certainly be one—and the name of one of them was Bartimaeus. In fact, Luke even tells us that he was a ‘certain’ blind man—as if some would know his name. Most likely then, of the two blind men in the story, he was the most vocal; and he might very well have been the one of the two that took the lead in crying out to Jesus the most. The Holy Spirit has chosen, it seems, to highlight his faith for us in a particular way. But there certainly isn’t any contradiction involved.
But some have believed that they found another contradiction. In Matthew’s and Mark’s account, we find that the story occurred as Jesus was going ‘out’ of the city of Jericho. But in this morning’s passage from Luke, we find that it occurred when Jesus was coming ‘near’ Jericho. Now, that sounds like a real contradiction; doesn’t it? You can’t be going out of a place at the same time as you’re coming near to it. But a little history helps. There were actually two ‘Jerichos’ at the time that Jesus walked the earth. One was the cite of the ancient city that had been destroyed in the times of Joshua. After God had caused the walls of Jericho to fall, Joshua prophesied that the city was cursed, and that whoever sought to rebuild it would “lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates” (Joshua 6:26). This prophecy was later literally fulfilled in the days of wicked King Ahab in 1 Kings 16:34). But later in history, Jericho was rebuilt in the days of King Herod—at a location south of the old former city. That ‘newer’ Jericho is still there today—and is one of the oldest existing communities in the world. And so, most likely, the story of our passage occurred as Jesus was making His way out of the regions of the old city, and into the area of the new one. Again, there is no real contradiction at all.
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So then; with that in mind, let’s consider carefully the story as Dr. Luke tells it to us. Verse 35 tells us,
Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging (v. 35).
Jericho was a busy place where many people stopped and stayed on their way to Jerusalem—especially during the feast times. And so, beggars would have sat along the road and hoped to receive alms from the many pilgrims who were passing by.
Poor old Bartimaeus—along with his fellow beggar—would have been in a terrible condition. It was hard to be a beggar. But it was even harder to be a blind one. Eye diseases—and the blindness that would come from them—were very frequent in those days. And since there was very little in the way of medical care, eyesight could easily have been lost. Bartimaeus would have been a man utterly at the mercy of the kindness of others.
But he also would have been a very intelligent man. He would have heard lots of the talk going around. Imagine how—sitting and begging along the roads of the city—he would have heard the talk about this remarkable prophet named Jesus. There were stories of how He had commanded the wind and the waves and they obeyed Him. There were stories of how He cast out demons, cleansed lepers, and raised the dead. There were even stories of how He gave sight to the blind. Perhaps Bartimaeus and his fellow blind beggar talked much about Jesus. Perhaps they wondered if He was the promised Messiah—the promised Son of David.
All of these kinds of thoughts might have been going through Bartimaeus’ mind when he began to hear a commotion. There were a great number of people walking and chatting. His sensitive ears would have been keen to whatever was happening. Verses 36-37 tell us;
And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by (vv. 36-37).
Jesus? Jesus of Nazareth was passing by? The one who can perform miracles from God? The one who could give him his sight? Was He nearby now? Was He about to leave? Was there still a chance? If all the things he had heard about Jesus were true, then there was no time to waste! He must cry out as loudly as he could in the hopes that Jesus would hear and have mercy on him! And so, verse 38 says;
And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 38).
And what a great lesson Bartimaeus has to teach us in just that fact alone. When we have a need, and the opportunity to ask Jesus about it is there, we should waste no time. We should cry out to Jesus while we can. We shouldn’t put it off to some other time. Life is short and easily brought to an end; and there may not be another opportunity. We should cry out to Jesus now—while we can do so. Just like in that old hymn, we should say;
Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
That’s what Bartimaeus did. But then came the voice of the repressors. Verse 39 says;
Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet … (v. 39a).
Why would they do this? Why are we told that this came from those who ‘went before’ Jesus? Perhaps they were overly concerned about the propriety of the occasion. This was Jesus after all—the honored Teacher—the miracle-working Prophet of God. Perhaps they thought that it was beneath the dignity of the moment for this beggar to be crying out and making a disturbance. Perhaps they thought that Jesus would have been too important to have been bothered in this way by a poor beggar.
But their words of repression didn’t work on him. Verse 39 goes on to say,
but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 39b).
Don’t you love it that “he cried out all the more”? He knew who Jesus was. He knew what Jesus could do for him. He knew that this was his moment. And so, he would not be silenced. He cried out all the more. Oh, that we had that kind of faith in this world! When people tell us to be quiet about this ‘Jesus’ of ours—when they tell us that we shouldn’t make such a big deal about our faith—when they tell us that the place for that sort of thing is in church (to which they never go, by the way), and that it’s inappropriate to make our dependency upon Jesus into a public thing—may it be that we behave like Bartimaeus, and just cry out all the more!
And look at what Jesus did. We’re told in verse 40,
So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him (v. 40a).
What wonderful news that must have been to Bartimaeus! In fact, we should take a moment to notice what it tells us in Mark’s Gospel. In Mark 10:49-50, we’re told that when Jesus stopped and called for him,
… they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus (Mark 10:49-50).
Do you know what that garment was that he cast aside? It was the garment that identified him as a poor, blind beggar. He cast it aside, even though it had been something he had previously depended upon; because he knew that if Jesus was calling for him, he would no longer need it! What an amazing act of trust in Jesus that was!
Jesus called him; and others led him to Jesus. Verses 40-41 tell us;
And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight” (vv. 40b-41).
Now; think about that carefully. This blind beggar—who was used to receiving alms from others—was asked by Jesus what he wanted. A man of lesser faith than Bartimaeus might have asked for just more of the same thing for which he had always asked. But this man asked for sight. He knew exactly what he needed, and he asked for Jesus to give him just exactly that. Perhaps that’s why Jesus asked him what he wanted—even though it would have been obvious what he needed. Perhaps Jesus wanted Him to specify what it was that he believed Jesus could do for him. Perhaps Jesus wanted him to put it in plain words. And he did! What a great faith that demonstrated!
And because it was an irrepressible faith—one that would not be silenced until it got for him just what he needed—Jesus responded to it favorably. Verses 42-43 says;
Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God (vv. 42-43).
Just think of it! There was no gradual improvement to his eyesight over a few weeks. It was instantaneous. And that would have meant that the first thing that Bartimaeus saw was the face of Jesus—the one he had trusted and cried out to in faith.
And there’s more to think about. The word that Jesus used when He said, “your faith has made you well”, can also be translated in such a way as to speak of salvation; so it could be that Jesus was saying, “your faith has saved you.” For this good man Bartimaeus to have trusted Jesus as “the Son of David”, and to have cried out for “mercy”, may have involved much more than just his eyesight. It may be that his spiritual eyes were opened too; and he believed on Jesus—in that Old Testament, forward-looking kind of faith that trusted in the promises of what the Messiah would do—the Savior of sinners who would have presented Himself as the suffering Substitute that would experience the wrath of God for us.
And do you notice too that we’re told that he then began to follow Jesus as he praised God? Mark tells us that he followed Jesus “on the road”. Where was that road leading? It was leading to Jerusalem. Perhaps it could be that Bartimaeus followed Jesus all the way from then on—and with his new eyesight even looked upon Jesus as He hung upon the cross not long afterward.
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And dear brothers and sisters; none of this would have happened if Bartimaeus had listened to those who had told him to be quiet. None of it would have happened unless he had an irrepressible faith in Jesus—a faith that would not quit crying out until it received what it needed—a faith to which Jesus gladly responded.
May God give us that kind of irrepressible faith too! As it says in Hebrews 4:14-16;
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
EA
