Sermon Tone Analysis

Seeing Jesus changes everything in life

Blinded by Expectations

Moses and Elijah

Crypto… hide - conceal - escape notice

They couldn't put it together

He was telling them about it all along

Why didn’t they get it?

Blinded by expectations

They expected Messiah to come as a conquering king

Mark and Matthew’s account tell us that the Disciples were consumed with the coming Kingdom of God… Who will sit next to you?

In just a few days they would be celebrating along with everyone else at his entry into Jerusalem on what would become Palm Sunday… His Disciples were all about this coming King

And they overlooked that this king came first as a suffering servant… and that's what Jesus was going to Jerusalem to do.

Psalm 22 “1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

... 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

…”

Isaiah 53:3-7 “3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Expectations of Glory and Victory blinded them to what God was about to do through Trials and Suffering

The disciples, along with everyone else chose to focus on the prophecies of the king and glossed over the ones about suffering servant

They failed to see Jesus because they failed to see him first as a suffering servant

Their… and our desperate need was that a saviour would come and defeat Satan and death… that's what he did… and he’s praying for us now.

And now, he’s waiting for his return that people might be saved…

But the truth of how Jesus would become the victorious king was hidden from them because the way he was accomplishing it didn’t fit their expectations…

The lesson for us in this is that we don’t miss what God is doing by how he is doing it.

What is God’s promise for you?

The Bible is full of promises for God’s followers.

That you will have eternal life; that you will be blessed; that you will be a blessing; he gives you strength; You will have rest; that his love never fails; that you are his child; that he will fight for you; he will give you wisdom; that the devil will flee from you… also says you will have trials; difficulties; you will be hated by the world.

I get it that we have expectations of how things ought to be, but don’t neglect what God’s word says… just because of your expectations of how God ought to do things.

God’s word is our guide.

For the people of faith, the Bible is God’s word.

We accept it as a reliable… that what we have today is the same as what Jesus and his disciples had… what Paul and the early church had… but the Scriptures are also Authoritative.

Meaning they are our guide, the rule and standard of our faith.

Even when our emotions come into conflict with God’s word, God’s word has authority… let us submit and surrender ourselves to God's word, to what and who God says about us and our future.

Today… Are you able to see Jesus for who he is even when our circumstances tell you to doubt?

This leads us directly into an account of someone who had every reason to miss Jesus… but didn’t.

Blinded by Affliction

A man with no support… who was he?

It doesn’t really matter.

He was overlooked by everyone.

Even his family...

Luke doesn’t tell us his name, but Mark does, it was Bartimaeus… which means son of Timaeus… Timaeus is a name that means highly valued or honored… Names meaning what they did back in that time, here we have a blind man… overlooked by society and outcast from his family because he obviously didn’t live up to his father’s name, left to beg on the street.

He can’t see, so he’s left to observe the world by his other senses.. he hears the crowd coming up the road.

That is his friends, the people he was with… the crowd on the street… It’s Jesus of Nazareth… it’s that prophet from Nazareth who has been doing amazing things… it’s not a word of respect, just a simple declaration of who he is.

Well he knows what’s up.

He knows this is his chance…

What I love here is his declaration is the same as the tax collector in a story Jesus had told his disciples when he was teaching them about how to approach God in prayer.

Lord Jesus have mercy on me!

But some of the crowd trued to shut him up

And what was Jesus’s response to his prayer?

Jesus stopped.

Blinded by Affliction

All around us are people bound by afflictions

Afflictions aren’t always a physical affliction.

Sometimes they can be invisible on the outside, but inside a medical diagnosis can be a burden.

We can have emotional damage or trauma.

Financial mistakes can lead us to being burdened.

Relationships sometimes bind us.

Many are afflicted by addictions.

And yet, because of their faith, they are able to see Jesus for who he truly is.

Like blind Bartimaeus, they may be afflicted physically, but spiritually they know the Lord when they see him.

This is some of you here.

You have problems, but you don’t let your circumstances your expectations blind you spiritually.

I’d like to introduce you to someone today… many of you know her, some of you know of her, others still this will be your first time to meet this sweet lady who has just had an amazing experience overcoming cancer.

You look like you are in great health today… tell us, how did you find out your were sick?

How did God reveal himself in your journey?

what was your affliction

And yet, in our community, there are all sorts of ways people can become afflicted and unable to see Jesus because their pain, their limitations are too much for them to bear.

When was the last time you saw someone afflicted and pointed them toward Jesus?

Maybe you are like the blind man today… blind… afflicted...Jesus the one who can heal your affliction is passing by today.

Everyone who calls on his name will be saved… but they have to have heard

Three things about Bartimaeus’ cry

First, the urgency of his cry…

Now the first word used to describe him calling out to Jesus is the word often translated call or cry out… but the second, after he’d been told to shut up, is a word used like a mom when her kids are in danger STOP… , or a warrior going into battle, with abandon.

Maybe some of us here need to cry out to God today… passionately call out to God Lord Jesus have mercy on me.

The Lord hears the call of the righteous...

Second, Bart believes Jesus is the one.

He calls out of faith.

Third, Bart asks for mercy… but it doesn’t end there… he then asks specifically, I want to see… Specific prayers honor God because when we God is able to show himself and his power in clarity… pray specific prayers

When Jesus said, your faith has healed you, he’s talking about more than just healthy.

In fact it’s the same word that was used back with the rich young ruler… sozo… SAVED!

And he’s healed… spiritually and physically… the first thing he see’s is Jesus.

In Mark and Matthew’s account Jesus says, “go you are healed”… but what does the man do?

He follows Jesus.

He has no other place to go than to follow Jesus.