Have Mercy on Me!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
People are messed up, aren’t they? I mean, I’m not. But just about everyone else is! They’ve got issues. They’ve got problems and the worst thing is is that many of them don’t even realize how messed up they are! I was reading this week about the Adonis Complex. Do you know what the Adonis Complex is? It’s usually in males that see themselves as too scrawny no matter how built and chiseled they may be. It’s similar to women who look at the women on magazine covers or influencers on social media and wish they could look that pretty or that skinny or whatever, but they see body-builders, like Mr. Universe that has 4% body fat and veins popping out of muscle of the body and have a compulsion to look like him. No matter what anyone tells him, he pushes on to become that person.
A girl starves herself to become that person on Instagram. Moms have the Proverbs 31 Complex wanting to be the perfect wife and mother. Dad’s, thankfully we only have to live up to the standard of our heavenly Father. No pressure there! But there are others too. People who get drunk to forget their past. Others get drunk to remember it. There are those who are heading down the road of perversion with pornography and the rampant sexualization of just about everything and everyone! We look at statistics that 20 years ago said less than 3% of the population would be considered homosexual or bisexual and now, they can say up to 25% are. How did that happen in one generation; not to mention transsexuality on the rise. More and more people are gambling because it’s so much easier to do now with FanDuel and DraftKings and BetMGM and all the others.
People are messed up! And they don’t even realize how messed up they are! I’m just thankful that I’m not like them! I got my stuff together. Or do I? If you’ve known me more than an hour, you probably have realized I am pretty messed up too.
Paul wrote,
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
This is the case of the unbeliever. They are blinded by the god of this world. Now ,as believers, we are no longer blind. We no longer walk in darkness. But that doesn’t mean that we always see clearly either. We often miss the truth that is staring us right in the face. Think about the time you’re looking for your glasses but their on top of your head or your phone but it’s in your hand! If we do that with physical things, imagine what it is like spiritually speaking! I want us to keep both of these facts in mind as we go through this text this morning. Because if we can keep this text in mind, I think our sense of compassion would greatly be helped.
As we go through this passage, I want us to realize three conditions that are put on display. The first is the bewildered condition. The second is the blinded condition. Thirdly, there is the blessed condition.
The Bewildered Condition
The Blinded Condition
The Blessed Condition
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.
They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”
And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”
And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
The Bewildered Condition
The Bewildered Condition
The first condition that I want us to see this morning is that bewildered condition. This condition specifically applies to the the disciples. In some fashion, Jesus has informed his disciples of the impending death that is coming upon him. Twice! This is the third time. And he goes into detail as to what will happen. We just read it. He’ll be betrayed, mocked, insulted, spit upon, and after being beaten, he will be killed. But not to worry! Jesus would rise on the third day.
You would think that this might, at first, bring some concern; maybe some fear. And then a tinge of relief to know that it will all work out in the end. But that’s not the reaction that Jesus received from his followers. Here was Jesus being kind enough to give his disciples a heads up as to what they will experience through him. He’s telling them the very reason for going to Jerusalem was for him to die and rise again. At least they’ve been warned. But how did they respond? It wasn’t with fear. It wasn’t with anger. It wasn’t with dread. Look at how Luke put it.
But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
The disciples were so utterly clueless as to what Jesus said Luke had to tell us three times just how clueless they were. 1. They understood none of these things. 2. This saying was hidden from them. 3. They did not grasp what was said. They were in a condition of bewilderment. They had no concept. Whatever Jesus was saying to them, they had no categories in their thinking for it.
Jesus told them that the prophets had predicted all that would happen. But they seem to have missed that part in Sabbath School. They could not understand as it had been hidden from them. Now this is what we’d call the divine passive. Without mentioning God by name, Luke pointed out through the passive tense “the saying was hidden from them,” that God was the one behind the bewilderment.
Now, it shouldn’t take much to put ourselves into their sandals. After all, we have been told the whole story. We have the complete revelation of God, from Genesis to Revelation. And even if we didn’t have all of that, we had
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
And yet, how often are left scratching our heads as to what God is doing in our lives? We have the promise and we have the proof that God is at work in our lives and that it is going to be for our good so long as we love him. But we are bewildered at what God is doing; what is this plan of his anyway?
We each have bewildering questions: Why is it that I was diagnosed with this disease or that syndrome? Why is it that my child is suffering from a lifelong disability? What’s going on with my job anyway? Or lack thereof? Why is God allowing my marriage to fall apart? Why hasn’t God sent me someone to marry? Why am I so lonely? Why am I feeling so depressed? Try and try as we might, we cannot grasp what God is doing. And no one can help us. No one understands these things. These things are hidden form us. We don’t grasp what is being said or done.
We have been given a heads up that suffering comes and it will be great. We’ve been told that we will groan and the Spirit will groan with words too deep to speak. We’ve been told that our lives are going to be hard and yet we somehow missed it. And we’re still missing it.
Wouldn’t it be nice if those around us could somehow realize that we are trying to make sense of this suffering of which we’re in the midst? Wouldn’t it be nice if people around us would show a little compassion as we try to navigate this broken world? But that’s not reality is it? We forget about compassion. We forget about showing mercy and kindness, grace and love. We’re annoyed by other people’s suffering, aren’t we?
Yesterday, I was working on my sermon, thinking about this very thing when I had to get up and go to Gabriella’s circus performance. Plans had changed slightly and Coleena was have some difficulty in adjusting. Now you would think that me, a pastor and a good, godly-model of fatherhood who was just thinking about how Christians need to be more compassionate and show more mercy, would have sat down next to her and said something like, “Coleena, I know change is hard. It can be frustrating and jarring. And it’s okay to be upset by new plans. I’m sorry that these changes have been so hard on you. If I can help you adjust better, please let me know.” You’d have thought that is what I’d do. But no! My reaction was, “You know what, don’t go. Stay home and do nothing for all I care.” Do you know how convicted I was about two seconds after I said that? I had to apologize for my lack of compassion and godliness.
But that’s our fallen condition. We find other people’s suffering to be off-putting and we react poorly to it in many cases. We want to tell them to get over it. Wash your face and move on. We want to give them a good, swift kick in the pants. But what does Paul tell the Thessalonians?
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
Many of us like the first instruction: admonish the idle. That sounds fast and fun. But it may not be either. Admonish is the word for counsel and instruct. And idle doesn’t just mean that they’re sitting around doing nothing; it means those who are disorderly and disobedient. Paul then tells us that we are counsel or instruct those who are disorderly and won’t listen. That’s not nearly as fun and easy as saying, “Hey! Get your act together,” and moving on. Encourage the faint-hearted. Those who despair so easily. We want to say to them “Hope in God!” and let that be it, but how often does Paul have to encourage his readers to hope in God? Over and over again. And he gives reasons for that hope. Help the weak, the sick, the hurting, the destitute. But don’t they just keep putting themselves into these situations? Maybe so. Why else does Paul say, “Be patient with them all”?
You know you’re suffering. You know you’re in a condition of bewilderment, wondering what God is up to and why God is doing what he’s doing. You trust him. You just don’t get him! I don’t get him at times. But you also know, you could use some compassion and mercy from others as you go through this time. Well, it’s time to love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s the royal law, the law of liberty. It’s time to show mercy because we know we want it for our suffering.
The Blinded Condition
The Blinded Condition
But that leads us to our second condition. The first is our bewildered condition, but some are in this second condition: the blinded condition. You’ll notice that there are two types of blind people here.
The first is easy to see. It’s the blind man.
As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
Clearly, here is a man who is blind and poor. He’s out on the streets begging for alms. Mark tells us this man’s name was Bartimeus. He is physically blind. And it seems that more than anything, he wants to see. He knows about Jesus, that’s for sure. In some ways he seems to know a lot about Jesus. He actually calls him “Son of David.” In other words, he believed him to be the promised Son who would sit upon the throne of Israel’s greatest king.
If anyone could restore his sight, Jesus the Nazarene could!
And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Not just crying for mercy in general, but upon himself in particular. Have mercy on me! He wanted Jesus. He wanted Jesus to want him! He needed Jesus’s mercy and he knew it. But the more he sought after Jesus, the more he was hindered from getting to him.
That’s where the other blinded people come in. This set of people could see with their eyes, but not with their hearts.
And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
There’s no compassion for this guy is there? No one was showing him mercy. They were doing just the opposite. They were rebuking him, keeping him from getting to Jesus. They were trying to shut him up so that he would not receive the mercy he so desperately wanted and needed. They could not see this man’s condition. They could not see this man’s need. They were blind to this man’s desire for Jesus.
How easy it is to fall into this blindness. There are people all around us that are blind. Remember 2 Cor 4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
All around us are people blind to the gospel. They’re not physically blind, but spiritually blind for sure. And it makes itself evident in so many ways. They live a beggar’s life. Begging for peace of mind from a terrible past. Begging to relive a memory from the past. Begging for someone, anyone! to love them, begging for safety, begging for hope, joy, begging! Give me something to hold on to! Give me something that eases the pain, the burden, the hunger, the thirst. And as many people are in the world, there are as many roads on which to beg: alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, video games, the gym and steroids, and so many others. And here we are so often looking at them and have little mercy in our hearts toward them.
Aren’t these their own problems that they’ve brought on themselves? Isn’t that a big difference between Bartimaeus here and those I’ve just mentioned. Bartimaeus didn’t choose his blindness. But doesn’t the homosexual choose his lifestyle? Doesn’t the gambler choose to gamble? Perhaps. But you and me, how many sins have we chosen and yet still understand our need for mercy? How many of us are scared to open up to others about our sinful condition because we know that we are more likely to be judged than receive mercy? How do we know that? Because that’s what’s in our own hearts toward others.
Beloved, hear these words of James:
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
That law of liberty, to love our neighbor as ourselves, is a law of liberty because it frees us to love and show mercy toward others. It’s not a law of constriction, “thou shalt not, thou shalt not,” but a law of liberty, “you shall love your neighbor.” We are given freedom to love and give mercy. If we don’t we are judged ourselves and judged without mercy because we have refused to extend mercy to others. Our mercy triumphs over God’s judgment against us. This is what James meant when he said that faith without works is dead. Faith without works of mercy is dead faith. How can we claim to believe in Jesus the Son of David crying for him to be merciful to us, while we refuse to extend that mercy to others?
As Douglas Moo wrote,
James, Revised Edition (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries | TNTC) C. Impartiality and the Law of Love (2:1–13)
But our merciful attitude and actions will count as evidence of the presence of Christ within us. And it is on the basis of this union with the One who perfectly fulfilled the law for us that we can have confidence for vindication at the judgment
If we think we can lack mercy toward others as a follower of Christ, we are blinded to our own sinfulness. It does not matter if it is not our “spiritual gift.” Notice that it was the people who went before Jesus (ESV translates it as “in front” but it really means to go before)—those who were preparing and announcing Jesus’s coming that were also the ones who sought to hinder this blind man from getting to him. Who are we, but those who go before him now? We go announcing he has come. He has lived, died, and rose again. Yeah most aren’t going to get it. Most are going to be blind and bewildered by it. We are here going before saying that “Behold, he is coming quickly.” And yet at the same time, we hinder those who have been blinded by the god of this world from getting to him by our rebukes and our actions.
The Blessed Condition
The Blessed Condition
Thankfully though Jesus sometimes works in spite of us rather than because of us. And he leads us all out of our bewildered and blinded conditions into a blessed condition. That is the third condition on display in this passage: the blessed condition. Or as Paul put it:
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
Those who went before Jesus, the very heralds of Jesus were also the hinderers to Jesus. But when Jesus showed up, everything changed.
And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”
And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”
And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
Like with the disciples who rebuked the parents in last week’s passage, Jesus stopped his followers cold. “Let the little children come.” “Bring that man to me.” Rather than having them rebuke the man, he commanded those doing the rebuking to bring him to him. What a humbling experience to realize that what you thought was right was actually so wrong.
This man had an inkling that Jesus would be merciful to him. Thankfully, he did not allow such lousy representatives to get in his way. Here was a beggar who had nothing to offer. He had nothing to bring. Jesus had just said that one must become like a child, and so Bartimaeus came to him—empty handed. But even more, as they tried to keep him away, he cried out all the more. If you’ve ever worked the nursery, you know that the secret to having success is not to let the toddler see mom. Because the more you try and keep him away, the more he cries for her. Here is Bartimaeus being kept from the only one who can help him and so he cries out all the more!
And Jesus stopped. No one was going anywhere until the man got what was needed. So Jesus asked what he wished for him to do. And the man wants to see. Whether he could ever see or not isn’t clear, but he wants to see. And Jesus opens his eyes to see, but also his heart. He said, “your faith has made you well.” The word for well is “Sozo,” which means saved or delivered. More than just a physical healings seems to have happened here. There was a spiritual one as well.
The blessing this man received brought about not just his glorification of God, but also the praise of all who saw it! And who would have seen it if not those who originally sought to keep this man from receiving the blessing in the first place? Jesus blessed the man and the crowd and in return the man and the crowd blessed God in their doxology and praise.
Brothers and sisters, do we not long to see this blessing? Do we not long to return such a blessing in doxology? Then let us rightly represent the Son of David and show mercy to those who need mercy. Notice that I didn’t say deserve mercy. No one deserves mercy. But we all need mercy. Let us live lives of mercy, compassion, love and grace.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish this passage up, we’ve seen that all of us are in some type of condition. It may be that we are bewildered by God’s plan. It may be that there are some here that are blind to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, or others might be blind to their own hindrances to Jesus, but the potential for all of us to be blessed either by representing Jesus’s mercy, receiving Jesus’s mercy, or witnessing Jesus’s mercy.
And you may wonder that if we extend such mercy, what about the person’s sin? How can we be merciful and not confront sin. The answer is simply that it is in all how we confront the sin in their lives. We saw an example of this last week. A rich young man came to Jesus asking about eternal life. Jesus’s approach was not one of meanness but one of mercy. It was not Jesus who hindered the man from coming, but the idol of money. Jesus invited him in love to give it up and follow him. He was willing to give him treasure in heaven if he would give up the treasures of earth, but the man would not. The man rejected Jesus; Jesus had not rejected him. Jesus allowed him to come, he received him in mercy just as much as he had with Bartimaeus. The difference was that the rich man had works to offer: “all these I have done from my youth,” but no faith. The blind man had nothing to give, but faith enough to be made whole.
Let us receive in mercy, confront the sin, and let God do his thing. Only he can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Our job is to proclaim what God can do, what he is willing to do, if one will but believe.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
Be merciful to us, bewildered and blind. Bless us with your mercy, and may we be merciful to those around us. Pass us not, o gentle Savior. Hear our humble cry for mercy. And in turn, may we not pass by those in need of mercy either.
In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.