Sunday Sermon, Sunday September 13, 2026 - Gospel of Mark 10:42-51 Blind Bartimaeus

 As Jesus continues on the road to Jerusalem he is given an opportunity to demonstrate that which he had just taught his disciples, that of being a servant, but not just a servant, but a servant to the least of these. Now let us know that nothing in the ministry and life of Jesus is a random event that is a surprise to Him. So as Jesus travels to Jerusalem he will encounter one last person that he can bless with a healing, and this man will continue on with him.

Mark 10:46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.

As Jesus is leaving Jericho, a crowd starts to follow. This time, this crowd is a bit different, before, those who followed Jesus were made up of three types of people, those looking for help, those looking for knowledge, and those looking for a show. Now most of the crowd is down to mostly one group, those looking for a show. Why because they have learned that the Jewish leadership is looking for any reason to arrest Jesus, and the crowd is wanting to see if Jesus is going to give them a reason. If Jesus is really the Messiah, then the time is now, He and His disciples are on their way to Jerusalem, so it seems that everything is pointing to a singular event. But what happens in the next several days is not what the disciples or the crowd thinks. But as they go a blind beggar is there on the side of the road, him being there is no accident, he is there for a reason.

Mark 10:47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Now this blind man, he calls Jesus a name that we have not read before, and for our Roman reader, it will lead to some questions. First the blind man wants to make sure that he has the right Jesus, so he names him by Jesus hometown, Nazareth, why is this important, because Jesus name is common, it is in Hebrew the same as Joshua, Yeshua. So why is Jesus not called Joshua, because in the Greek, and the Aramaic that Jesus spoke, it does not come out the same, Ιησοῦς   Iēsous, so it is a common name, and to make sure he had the right person, he names him by his hometown, Nazareth. Then the blind man gives Jesus a second name, Son of David. Now our Roman has heard Jesus refer to himself as the Son of Man, and we have explored that meaning, that this is Jesus calling Himself God. But this Son of David is a different title. Now our Roman reader may have a knowledge of the Jews, and he might know that one of the great kings of the Jews was who? David. King David is well known. He was a great warrior, a man who built Israel into a strong nation, and that he had a son, Solomon who would be known as the builder of the temple in Jerusalem and a very wise king. But how is this Jesus connected to David, a person who lived almost a thousand years before Jesus was born.

Turn with me to 2 Samuel 7.

Here in 2 Samuel 7, David has found himself at rest in his kingdom, he has established his rule over all of Israel, Jerusalem is the capital city, the country is mostly at peace, so David in his heart want to build a house for the Lord, and he consults Nathan the prophet, who at first tell David sounds like a great idea, however Nathan was not speaking for God, because God had other plans. 

Sam. 7:8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

2Sam. 7:9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

2Sam. 7:10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,

2Sam. 7:11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

2Sam. 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

2Sam. 7:13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

God promises that David will have a name, a house and a kingdom that will be forever. God has fulfilled two of those promises, David is known throughout the world, David’s line is unbroken, and his kingdom while not on this earth, has continued in heaven, and that forever king is the Messiah. God has promised David that the line of the Messiah will come from him, and that he is the one who will establish David’s throne forever

2Sam. 7:16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

So this is what the Son of David is referring to, the Messiah place on the throne of David forever. Now this is how the Jews have concluded that the Messiah will be a political leader, a warrior king that over throws the Romans. If the Messiah is to be in the line of David, then he must be like David himself, and hence he will come and raise an army and lead the Jews in a great victory over the Romans, just like David would have.

Except there is this one verse just before this last one.

2Sam. 7:14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,

That sounds oddly familiar like this.

Mark 10:34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

Mark 9:31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

Mark 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Part of the promise of the Son of David comes with a part that Jesus has said now three times, one that the disciples have ignored or rejected, and yet God says that the Messiah, the Son of David is to be punished for his iniquity? We have not seen any iniquity done by Jesus, so what does this mean? Maybe this?

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In this service to others, and to give his life as a ransom, is that the iniquity? Not really his, but him taking on the iniquity of others, paying their ransom? Maybe?

Mark 10:48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Now the crowd being the crowd, wants Jesus to continue on towards Jerusalem, because that is the main event, whatever is going down in Jerusalem is what we are here to see, this guy, he is nothing more than a distraction, so they tell him to be quiet, stop trying to get Jesus attention.

Mark 10:49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”

Notice a couple of things, one Jesus did not reject the title Son of David, had he would have just kept on moving and ignored him, but Jesus did not, Jesus called him over and accepted the title the man was using, Son of David, Jesus did not reject the Messianic title announced by him. And now notice the fickleness of the crowd, at first they are telling him to shut up, and now they are like, hey he is calling you, so get up, let’s get this over with so we can get back on the road. 

Mark 10:50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

There is something almost prophetic here is there not? Most people would have been making sure that they got all of their belongings with them before they left that spot, and yet Blind Bart, he gets right up, throws off the cloak and moves towards Jesus. Bart does what Jesus wanted the rich young man to do, remove that cloak of wealth, throw it off and come to Jesus, he was not willing, because his wealth meant more to him that eternal life. Bart cannot see, so materialism has little meaning to a man who cannot see what he owns, or count the money he has, those things don’t matter when you have lost something like your sight. As I have said before God takes away things from us, to make us realize those things that are really important, Bart lost his sight, and that cloak wasn’t going to help him get it back, but Jesus can, so cloak is not needed. 

Mark 10:51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”

Why ask the question? Everyone in the crowd knows what he wants? He is blind, it is not like he ran up to Jesus and said, hey do you have a ham sandwich, I would really love a ham sandwich. Yeah we all know, the man is blind, Jesus knows he is blind, He is God, He has shown us that He can read the intentions of the hearts of men, so Jesus know what Bart wants, and yet, Jesus does what? He asked him what do you want. Why? God wants you to acknowledge the problem and that you cannot fix it, and you need him. Part of our problem is that we are not willing to admit that we have a problem, we just want God to see the problem and fix it without us asking, and God says, yeah it does not work that way, you need to tell me that you have a problem, and what you expect me to do about it. Because even in that response shows us so much, well God, I have this problem, and here is how I want you to fix it, do not deviate from the way I want it done, do it this way, and if you are not going to do it the way I want, well then I am just going to have to do it myself. And be honest, most of us never even ask, because we already know that God is not going to do it our way, so there is no reason to even ask, I am just going to do what I want.

How’s that working out for you? Your answer will be how much you are self-deceived.

So, Jesus asked him the most obvious question ever, What do you want me to do for you?

Jesus ask you the same question, He is asking the Roman reader that same question. Does the Roman reader know that? Maybe, maybe not, but that is what is happening. What do you want me to do for you? Within that question there must be an acceptance that when we ask, we do not dictate the terms of the way which God answers that request, we ask, and we submit. Let me say that again, He ask, we answer and submit to his will not ours. 

Mark 10:52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

The man is healed, why? Because he had the faith to one.

Call out to Jesus, the one who he knew could help him.

He did not give up, no matter what others said, he continued to call out.

He left what he had, and went directly to Jesus, did not wait to gather what he had.

When asked by Jesus, he did not beat around the bush, he said it directly his request and trusted that Jesus would do what he asked, not knowing for certain, but trusting by faith. 

See the picture of salvation. A person who knows that they have a problem, one that cannot be fixed by them. They know who can solve it, and so they call out in faith to that one, who can fix it all, the one response, and ask them, what do you want? It is in their faith that grace is then extended, this is why we say, salvation is by faith alone, through God’s grace, by Christ alone, it is all clearly demonstrated right here, in the healing of the sight of one blind man.

Darin Bracy is the pastor at Yorktown Baptist Church in Yorktown Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, their daughter Harper Darin's other daughter Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Basic Baptist Guy