Throw Off Your Cloak Mark 10:46-52
Before I get into the verses of our reading I just want to look at what transpires in the few verses before or reading. Mark 10:35-37, “And James and John…came up to him and said ‘Teacher, we want you to for us whatever we ask of you.’” And he said to them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’” and they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.’”
Here we have two of the twelve, two of Jesus inner circle holding themselves above the others.
They don’t look to Jesus and see who he is and what he has to offer, peace with the Father. In these passages they seem to be trying to use Jesus simply as a way to elevate their own status and standing. And of course Jesus puts them down; Mark 10:38, “Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink…’”
Another thing to understand here is the disciples haven’t started to share Jesus message yet. They don’t yet fully comprehend what Jesus has to do. And yet they expect a reward simply because they know him.
Now, let’s contrast this with our reading, the story of Bartimaeus, a blind man begging for his existence on the side of the road.
Bartimaeus is blind, never able to see the birds or the trees or a smile on someone’s face. Day and night look exactly the same to him.
Bartimaeus represents each one of us. The Bible tells us this is how we live our lives without faith, without Christ. We don’t see the night. We are blind to those things in our lives that prevent us from coming close to God. We don’t see the sun. In other words we don’t see those things in life that point to Jesus. Like Bartimaeus can’t see the difference between day and night. Without faith in Christ we cannot see the difference between what keeps us from God and what brings us close to God. Like Bartimaeus on the side of the road our existence becomes just our own labor, just us trying to acquire what we need to get through one more day.
And now on this particular day Jesus comes to town. Bartimaeus has heard of Jesus. He’s heard the women in town as they came to the well for water talk of this man and his miracles. He has heard the men talk about Jesus and his preaching about salvation. And it seems faith has taken root.
Bartimaeus has heard of Jesus many times. In our world most people have heard of Jesus, probably many times.
In today’s scripture the Holy Spirit has placed Jesus and Bartimaeus in the same place. Verse 46 says there is a large crowd in town because of Jesus. And when Bartimaeus hears this what does he do? Did he say, “Big crowd coming by, I can make some money today.” Did he use Jesus to line his own pockets?
No, he doesn’t, but be aware there are people who do this. But for Bartimaeus, no he doesn’t do this. Verse 47, “…he began to shout Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
I believe this is the power of this passage. Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth and believe in your heart…you will be saved.” Bartimaeus believes in his heart or else there is no reason to call out to Jesus. And he declares with his mouth that he knows who Jesus is. “Jesus, Son of David.” Here in the best way he can Bartimaeus acknowledges his understanding and belief in who Jesus is. And Jesus responds.
Let’s first look at Bartimaeus prayer “…have mercy on me.” This is a powerful prayer. How many pray for things they desire? “God send me someone I can marry.” “God, help me get through this problem.”
Have mercy on me. Bartimaeus knows he is a sinner. He knows there is nothing he can do on his own to get to God and he knows Jesus is the answer.
Bartimaeus blindness and poverty represent our condition without Christ. Here he is asking Jesus to treat him differently than his sins dictate. God’s grace is when he gives us something; salvation, even when we don’t deserve it. God’s mercy is when he treats us differently than our sins dictate he should. “Lord, have mercy on me.” This is a powerful prayer, one we should all pray.
So now, look at Jesus response. Verse 49, “Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’” Jesus is God,
he has the whole universe to oversee yet he loves us so much that he will always stop when we ask for him with honesty and faith.
There is a third player in our story this morning, the crowd. And how do they respond to what is happening? Verse 48 “Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet.”
The crowd represents society at large. Many today will smirk or laugh when you tell them you believe in Jesus. They’ll ask how you can believe the Bible is true. They’ll call you a fool and tell you to be quiet. Take a lesson from Bartimaeus and do not be intimidated by others refusal to see the truth. We should not be quiet because others think what we believe is foolish. We should like he did, push through the crowd and yell all the louder of our faith and trust in Jesus.
Verse 50, “Throwing his cloak aside he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.” Why throw his cloak aside? Don’t you think he would need it?
Bartimaeus didn’t timidly walk up to Jesus and meekly ask him for a favor. By throwing off his cloak Bartimaeus is approaching Jesus with confidence and a full expectation that Jesus will respond to his faith. And we should do the same. Don’t approach Jesus with an attitude of, “Could you, maybe help me?” Be bold, approach God with the confidence of Bartimaeus; the confidence that God has already given you his grace and mercy.
Throwing off his cloak is symbolic of his life changing forever after his encounter with Jesus. He is symbolically shedding and throwing away those things that seemed important and necessary in his life before his encounter with Jesus. He is symbolically showing us that his encounter with Jesus will forever change his life and he no longer needs the things of his past life.
This is where people get stuck when they are deciding whether or not to accept Christ in their lives. Things will change. What will be different? Will I be different? What am I expected to give up?
Our scripture says that Bartimaeus followed Jesus and in Mark’s Gospel this is the last thing Jesus did before he entered Jerusalem. Bartimaeus got to see our Lord’s Passion, his sacrifice for all mankind, and it doesn’t say but I imagine after witnessing this he had a deeper faith in who Jesus was and the depth of the miracle Jesus performed on him.
But one thing is certain, Bartimaeus still lived in the same place, in the same time. When we accept Christ we admit we tend to go against the will of God and that as hard as we try we still do it despite our best efforts. Like Bartimaeus, we need Jesus and we should not let others hinder us in our belief. As Christians our lives may not dramatically change overnight; they may, I’ve seen it happen, but we will still be faced with the same problems in life that everyone else has.
Evan so, our encounters with Jesus will change us. We will shed those things in our old life that hindered our faith. We will find things in our life are no longer important while other things suddenly become most important.
And whatever those changes may be, whatever God does in your life; remember Roman’s 8:28;
“And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.”