How to Be Made Whole - Parts 4 & 5: The ROad to Receiving Wholeness

REVIEW

We have been on a new series for a few weeks now which I have entitled “How To Be Made Whole” where are learning how it is the Lord’s will for each of us to be made completely whole – spirit, soul, and body. But our emphasis in this series is not to just focus on what the Lord wants, but how to get what He wants. And so the way we find the answer to the question – How to be made whole? – is by looking at the specific examples that we have in the Scriptures of how people were made whole, knowing that the Holy Spirit inspired these examples for our instruction. 

So our text for this study is First Thessalonians 5:23 where the apostle Paul clearly reveals to us that it is God’s will that every person be made whole “completely.” Again, this verse reads – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We’ve learned that this verse reveals to us that we are a three-part being – spirit, soul, and body. This is who we are “completely” and “wholly.” Therefore, God wants you and I sanctified and preserved in all three parts of who we are. So, it would be a good idea for us to chew on this verse until our hearts assimilate every spiritual nutrient that’s contained in it. 

Did you know that meditation on God’s Word is a lot like how we eat food? Yes, there is the process of chewing on the truth that begins the whole process of digesting our food. And what I think we do too often is we try and get that food into our stomach without adequately chewing on it first. 

So let me show you how to chew it up so that your heart can assimilate it better: Just take a verse like this and speak it out loud to yourself like so – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify ME completely; and may MY whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of MY Lord Jesus Christ.” And each time you recite it, emphasize different words in it and even expound on them. Let me give you an example based on things we’ve learned … 

“Now may the God of peace Himself …” = Lord, thank you that by including the word “may” here, that you have given me the choice of letting you make you whole. So I give You permission to do this work of sanctifying me completely and preserving my whole man. Show me the things I need to see. Teach me the things I need to know. Do a deep work in me of uncovering hidden hurts, wounds, beliefs, etc. even if it hurts to go there. I choose the life you have for me. And I also thank you that even though it is I who have to allow this, that it is You Yourself that does the work. I’m not going to be made whole by my own power or abilities. This all comes through You doing the work Yourself.   

So what I am doing here? I am appropriating the truths contained in this Scripture through personal relationship with the Lord. This is a form of meditating the Word that can help us renew our minds to the truth which will lead us on the path to wholeness. 

But don’t just meditate on this one in First Thessalonians 5:23. Do the same with the specific accounts of healing that we have been looking at as well. 

We started out looking at the story of the man healed at the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus asked this man, “Do you want to be made whole?” And our takeaway from that example is that even though there was the supernatural phenomena of God healing the first person who got in the pool when that angel came down and stirred the waters, we can dramatically increase our odds of being whole is if we don’t wait around for God to move but rather if we just get to Jesus. In other words, our healing is not in a place but in a person – namely, the Person of Jesus Christ. 

So we learned that when Jesus asked this guy this question, this is the foundation for all of us to being made whole – Do we really want it? Because if we do want it, we can have. And if we do want it, we will do what it takes to get it. Amen? 

Then over the past two weeks, we’ve looked at another story in the Gospels where healing occurred – The Story of the Ten Lepers. 

We saw in this story that these ten lepers came to Jesus and cried out for mercy. And the Bible tells us that when Jesus saw them, He said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” 

Now remember, He told them to do what lepers do when they’ve been cleansed of their leprosy before they ever had the manifestation of that healing – showing us that our God who calls those things that be not as though they were, will oftentimes tell us to act on the truth without any evidence. And we learned that this is likely going to be the way you and I are going to be whole. We can’t wait around for it to happen before we act. No, we must believe without seeing for we walk by faith and not by sight. 

But we also learned that there was one of these lepers that was a Samaritan who returned to Him after he realized that he was cleansed, and the Bible teaches us that this man wasn’t just cleansed but was made whole as well. 

So we looked at several things that this man did by faith that made him whole: 

1. “returned” – So we learned that drawing near to the Lord is a necessary first step to being made whole. 
2. “and with a loud voice” – We also learned that lifting our voices is also a necessary step because a serious voice with raised volume can erase all the other voices (a point we will learn in the next account of healing as well). 
3. “glorified God” – We learned how glorifying God is such an important piece in our healing because the tendency is to glorify other things. So magnifying Him positions us to receive our wholeness. 
4. “fell down at His feet” – And we learned how getting serious enough to worship the Lord with this posture is what positions us to have the Lord change us. 
5. “giving Him thanks” – Finally, we saw how giving God thanks is a way to receive what has already been done. This likewise is a step to being made whole. 

So all of these things are what our faith will do to receive our wholeness. And again, this doesn’t just apply to physical issues. It also works for the issues associated with a “Samaritan Leper” too – the issues of the heart.          

BART TIMAEUSSON & THE OTHER BLIND MAN

Now let’s move into another account of healing that teaches us similar methods to being made whole found in Mark chapter 10 … 

In Mark 10:46, we are introduced to a man in desperate need of a touch from God – Mark calling him “blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.” I like to call him Bart because just think about it, if your name was Bartimaeus, you’d probably want to be called something else, right? Sure, you’d probably go by the shortened version of your legal name like we tend to do in our culture today. Also, Mark is sure to also tell us who Bart was the son of because that is how they made a distinction between people who had the same name like we have surnames (i.e. last names). So if Bartimaeus were living in our culture today, you might know him as “Bart Timaeusson.” 

Now, here is yet another instance where it is important to harmonize the gospels and compare them together because in both Mark & Luke’s account, we are told that there was one blind man. And in Mark’s account, we are even told this one blind man’s name. However, in Matthew’s gospel, he says that there were two blind men that received their sight. 

So, which is correct? Was there two blind men or was there just one? Well, since we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (Second Timothy 3:16) and all of these books were written as men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to do so (Second Peter 1:20-21), we know that there is no contradiction here. So, if we are going to stay on God’s side, then we must conclude that while there was certainly one blind man named Bartimaeus, there must have also been another blind man accompanying him, crying out with him. This does not mean that Mark & Luke were incorrect either just because they did not mention a second blind man. They were simply focusing on the fact that there was a blind man who was super aggressive in obtaining his miracle. For all we know, Bartimaeus was the “alpha” blind man, who was the main initiator of this miracle and the other guy, while involved, was simply following suit. 

JUST SAY NO TO SITTING BY & BEGGING

And notice how verse 46 goes on to describe how Blind Bart “sat by the road begging.” 

Do you know this describes the majority of believers? They are infirmed, for sure. They definitely have needs like this man did. But they are doing the same thing Bart was doing here – “sitting by” and “begging.” 

You see, church, doing these two things is not what will cause one to receive from God: 

First of all, let’s look at the phrase “sat by the road”:  Now we know this might have been all Blind Bart could do because, after all, he was blind. But most of us can do more than this. But a lot of people don’t want to do much more than just idly sit by and hope the Lord comes to them and brings their healing to them. However, sitting by is not how one receives from the Lord. I’m sure that there were hundreds of people sitting by the roads that Jesus traveled on who had similar needs, and we don’t hear of a lot of them because why? Because they didn’t do the things that Blind Bart did. That is very important to understand because like I’ve made the point of already, these stories being inspired to be included in the Bible is for our instruction. 

In another instance, we have an account of two blind men that followed Jesus, even into the house that Jesus entered (See Matthew 9:27-31). And the word “followed” in Matthew 9:27 denotes that they were following Him in a purposeful and deliberate manner.

So I want you to picture what was going on in this story: These two blind men didn’t just stay where they were. They got up, and they began following the Lord. Now you understand that this was a real-life example of “the blind leading the blind” so there was a good chance of these guys stubbing their toe, banging their knee, falling on their face etc. Yet, they got up and pursued Christ anyways! No, they didn’t just sit by, hoping Jesus would come to them. 

This reminds me of the story from Second Kings 7:3-8 where the four lepers who sat at the entrance of the gate said to one another, (and I paraphrase) “Hey, why are we just sitting here until we die. Instead of going into the city where the famine is and just being doomed to die there and instead of staying here at the gate and dying here, let’s go surrender to the camp of the Syrians. For what’s the worst that can happen? All they can do is kill us, which seems to be our only options anyways.” 

Now I tend to agree with these leper’s mentality here. They understood they were going to die if they kept doing what they had been doing. So instead of delaying the inevitable, they put themselves in the position of living by putting themselves in the position of dying sooner rather than later.  

Of course, we know the story – The Lord caused the Syrian army to hear the noise of a great army with chariots and horses, and they wound up fleeing. So when these lepers entered their camp and were able to eat and drink, and to carry away clothes, silver and gold. 

Friends, it is amazing what can happen when we simply decide to leave the status quo and “arise” and start heading in a certain direction. Too many just sit and do nothing because of fear! They stay where they are at because they are afraid of the unknown. 

David said in Psalm 23:5 that the Lord prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, didn’t he? Well, first of all, we know that this is not in heaven because we have no enemies there. This is here, now on this earth! But the truth I want you to see is that the table is spread out for us to partake of healing, which is the children’s bread, but its where the enemies of our faith are. In other words, we must arise and head into the enemy’s camp and take back what he has stolen from us! Faith arises and follows the Lord! Amen?   

And notice that Blind Bart was also “begging” while sitting by. Of course, he was begging for money because, being blind, he was truly desperate for alms to survive. But we need to see how this symbolizes something as well … 

Notice how Bart was still blind as long as he was begging. That’s because begging is not believing and believing is not begging. Church, we are believers, not beggers. If I am believing God, I am putting my faith in what He has said. I’m not offering up “shotgun prayers” where I throw up as many as possible and hope one hits. No, I am specific and not desperate; I’m confident and not despondent. There is a big difference between one who simply begs, pleads, and implores, and one who stands in faith, who trusts the Lord, and knows that He will provide.  

And if you’ll notice that at the end of the story, Mark 10:52 shows us how this blind man who once – “sat by the road begging” started “following Jesus on the road.” In other words, the same blind man who “sat by the road” begging (vs. 46) is now a healed man who is “on the road” following Jesus! 

And I believe this is a transition that we must all go from in order to consistently receive from God: we must transition from “begging” God to do things for us to “following” the Word of God and the instructions (i.e. the road) that it lays out for us to receiving from God. Yes, the key to walking out our miracle is found in the truths and principles contained in the Word, not in begging the big pie in the sky out there to maybe, in His sovereignty, give us a little crumb. 

If you recall, Jesus called His disciples to follow Him before they were ever changed. No, their lives were not transformed until after they followed His instructions and followed Him. This is how His disciples were made whole then, and it is how His disciples will be made whole today as well. 

Just follow Jesus, saints! Do things His way and you will more consistently enter into the things God has for you. Amen!       

So Blind Bart obviously did something! He didn’t just continue sitting by the road. He also moved from the place of begging to specifically looking unto Jesus for his answers— thus truly “following” the Lord before he ever started following Him physically. 
FAITH COMES BY HEARING & THEN ACTS

So what took him from this place of despondency to receiving His wholeness? We start seeing the answer to this in Mark 10:47. 

It starts with – “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth …” In other words, when he heard what was being proclaimed throughout all Judea that it was Jesus of Nazareth – the Anointed One of God, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38), then he did what he did. 

You see, when Peter met Cornelius and started preaching the gospel to him, his relatives and close friends, this is specifically what he said was said throughout all Judea from the time of John the Baptist. So the truths contained in Acts 10:38 are the gist of the gospel that was being heard throughout the land – that God had obviously anointed this Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He was going about doing good, and that he was healing all who were oppressed by the devil.  

We see yet again in the life of Blind Bart another instance where someone’s act of faith was based on what they heard – which echoes Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. 

Friends, never underestimate the power of what you hear, and not just what you hear with your natural ears, but what you truly hear with the ears of your heart. This is why hearing the good news is so vital to your walk of faith—because it is what determines what your faith will be placed in.

Then we are told that after he heard that it was Jesus, “he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

So what he heard determined what he did, right? And that’s how it works with us to, church! What we hear determines what we believe, and what we believe determines our actions. And what was it that Blind Bart did? The Bible says he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” 

So again, we see another person imploring the Lord for mercy: Saints, we don’t want what we deserve; we want mercy! Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. 

You know, you don’t have to reap everything you’ve sown. The devil will feed us this lie and say, “Oh, this has happened to you because you opened the door to him, you made this mistake and that mistake.” This does not mean you won’t get healed! We can receive healing by God’s mercy! 

In Philippians 2:25 it says regarding Epaphroditus “God had mercy on him” It is believed that Epaphroditus was overworking himself and this is what caused his illness. Well, this is when we need God’s mercy—not reaping what we’ve sown. 

Now this does not mean we tempt God and continue sowing bad seed and making bad decisions, but when we make mistakes and poor choices, there is mercy available. 

Now why do you think that time after time these sick & infirmed people continuously asked the Lord for mercy in regards to their infirmities? It is because this is the way they were taught! You see, to the Jewish mind, under the Old Covenant, they equated sickness, disease, poverty as curses that were brought on because of sin. This is why you see in the Gospels people asking questions of Jesus like – “Why did this bad thing happen to these people? Was it because they were worst sinners than others!” or “Why was this man born blind? Was it his sin or the sins of his parents?” 

You see, this was their belief system, but Jesus corrected that mindset by saying, “No, not all sicknesses and tragedies are because someone has transgressed God’s commandments.” But I believe this is the reason why you see this pattern in the gospels of the sick and infirmed individual asking for mercy—it’s because they had such a law mentality that they believed that they deserved the infirmity that they had. And the “gospel” is that Jesus healed them all- every one of these people who felt that they were getting what they deserved according to the Law they were under. Friends, that is what “Grace” Himself has done – He has provided “mercy” over “judgment”! Amen!  

So try to imagine what this crying out for mercy sounded like. I can guarantee you that it was not some half-hearted crying out. Do you know how I know this? It is because of what we see happening next in verse 48 … 

Mark 10:48 says, “Then they warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more.” 

You see, people aren’t “warning” you to be quiet if you are not making quite a ruckus. No, I’m sure he was irritating everyone there with his constant & loud crying out. But notice what he did as everyone was warning him to be quiet – the Bible says, “but he cried out all the more.” 

What if Bart would have been more concerned with pleasing the people here? What if he would have been more concerned about what they were telling him more than what his heart was telling him? What if he would have started out crying out to the Lord and then when the people started ridiculing him, warning him to shut up, he would have stopped calling on the Lord? Well, you can be sure that he would not have been in the Bible if he would have let the people shout him down! 

No, this Scripture says that Bartimaeus “cried out all the more!” This reminds me of King David when he led the Ark of the Covenant back into Jerusalem and he danced before the Lord with all his might (see Second Samuel 6:12-23). When his wife ridiculed him for that, he told her – “I will be become even more undignified than this!” (vs.22) 

But another way to look at this is that the ones warning you to be quiet are not usually the ones who come from without; they’re the ones who are within – meaning, the biggest enemy to us calling on the name of the Lord is our own soul. Yes, it will tell you to be quiet. It will try and shout you down. This is when you have to cry out all the more! Amen!

For example, have you ever heard those voices in your mind telling you that you’re wasting your time, it’s doing no good, etc. when you are confessing the Word, praying in tongues, etc.? Those thoughts that oftentimes just feel like us are not always just us. A lot of times they originate from the enemy, and are an attempt to get us to quit doing the very thing that is effective. 

So when those thoughts come into our heads, what are we to do? The same thing Bart did: We cry out all the more! Amen! No, we certainly don’t back off, and we don’t even just continue doing it at the same level we were. We ramp it up, and become even more persistent! Amen! 

HEARING THE LORD’S DIRECTIONS

And do you know what this did for Blind Bart? Mark 10:49 says, “So Jesus stood still.” 

So this man’s persistent faith of crying out, even when others were trying to shut him down, caused Jesus to stop in His tracks! I picture this like so – Jesus was passing by, and He just stopped, not looking to the left or to the right. He just stood there. 

Did you know that your persistent faith can actually place a demand on God’s anointed one? The Lord can be moving in a certain way, and there doesn’t seem to be an open door for the ministry of healing and then the Lord stops what He was doing and honors that faith. Amen.  

So after Jesus stood still, we are told that he commanded Bart to be called to Him. And verse 49 says, “Then they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.’”

So there is a very important point that we need to see in this chain of events: When Jesus stopped, He spoke to those near by to him (probably His disciples) and commanded them to call him. So what happens? They did exactly that! “Then they called the blind man …” And specifically, what they said to Him was – “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 

I want you to recognize how this works with us today: We have those who are called to the five-fold ministry. There are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These are meant to hear directly from the Lord like a herald was called to hear the word of the king. Then their job is to “preach” (or proclaim) the Word they receive from the King of kings. 

Now that certainly does not mean that we all can’t hear from the Lord ourselves. We all have the same Spirit and have the same capability to hear from God. However, there is a reason why God gives us these ministry gifts. And one of those reasons is because not everyone does hear from the Lord the same, and a lot of times, we need to have a voice that represents the Lord to either share with us something we aren’t able to hear or to even confirm something that we’ve already heard. 
  
But what if ol’ Blind Bart would have responded like some people do when the Lord gives them a message through one of His vessels? What if he would have said something like – “Thank you, but I can hear from the Lord myself”? Well, I think it’s likely that we wouldn’t have heard about him. 

Church, we need to have the humility and discernment to hear the Lord’s directions, no matter what vessel they come from – whether that be another person or another vehicle like television, radio, etc. God is always speaking, but we aren’t always listening. And lot of the times, the reason for that is because we are only looking to hear from Him through one medium. But there are so many times, that He will either give direction or confirmation through others. That’s why we always need to both position and posture ourselves to hear. 

What I mean by “position” is be in the right place at the right time: Sometimes we miss what the Lord is saying because we are not where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. Like for example, over the years I’ve heard so many say something to the effect of – “Pastor, you know, I really didn’t want to come to church today. Everything was trying to keep me from being here. But I’m so glad I did – because I needed to hear the Word you gave.” I’ve heard that so many times. 

So where do you suppose all that adversity came from that was trying to keep them from being here? Do you reckon the enemy of our soul knew what was being said that day and tried to keep them from being here? I bet that happens far more than we realize. 

Being in “position” can also describe watching or listening to the things where God might be wanting to speak to us through. So spending time watching & listening to the right things is also a way of positioning ourself to hear from God.  

So being in “position” is super important, but our “posture” is also important:

You see, our “posture” describes the heart by which we are hearing Him with. I’ve come to find that while there are a lot of believers who will audibly listen to what God is saying, their heart isn’t good ground. This might be because they don’t place the proper value on it, that their pride keeps them from receiving it, etc. 

This is why I said earlier that we need to discern when God is speaking so that we can place the appropriate value on what we are hearing. Jesus said, take heed both what we hear and how we hear it. Evidently, that has a lot to do with how what we hear impacts us. Amen?




THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION 

And now, I want you to notice what it was that Jesus’ representatives said to Blind Bart because these are the words you’ll generally hear from them today as well – “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” This is a good summarization of what preachers of the Gospel are told by Jesus to proclaim. In fact, it is the ministry of reconciliation that all of God’s people are called to share with others (See Second Corinthians 5:18). 

The first things is “Be of good cheer”:  Have you ever heard your pastor or some other preacher exhort you in their message to rejoice? Have you ever heard a minister of the gospel encouraging people to rejoice no matter what is going on your life? Well, if you’ve heard that, then you’ve heard from the Lord – because for one, we told countless times in the Bible to rejoice always. So if it’s repeated in the Word of God, then it’s the same as the words for the Word Himself. Amen? 

But my point is this – How many of you have had your flesh & mind not like it when you heard it? Undoubtedly, many of us when we heard that had thoughts go through our mind like – “Who does he think he is telling me to ‘rejoice in the Lord always’? He doesn’t know what I’m going through. He hasn’t ever walked through the hell that I have.” 

Well, I’m sure Bart could have thought something similar like “Don’t you tell me to be of good cheer. I’m blind and you have no idea what it’s like to sit by this road and have to beg for money. So don’t you tell me to ‘cheer up.’” 

But here is a good lesson for us – Sometimes the truth can be offensive. Sometimes it can be telling us to do something that seems unreasonable and unsympathetic. So just because the truth we are hearing is challenging to us, learn to recognize whether that is just your flesh, pride, etc. that doesn’t like what it’s hearing. I can promise you that your flesh will usually pitch a fit when it’s corrected. Not to mention, the unrenewed parts of our minds will not generally accept something that doesn’t line up with the way it already was thinking.      

So when you hear truths like this – to rejoice – know that if your life is not currently measuring up to that, then it’s us who needs to change and not the truth. Especially, when you consider that walking in the truth will always yield better results. 

So what was the next thing the Lord’s representatives told Bart? To “rise.” 

The word “rise” here literally describes awaking from sleep. The root word describes one collecting themselves in regard to their faculties like a person who was in a deep sleep has to collect themselves when they are abruptly woken up. Therefore, it means to rouse from sleep, or even to rise from death. 

Now there are a couple of important takeaways from this word to “rise.” 

Number one, it’s important for us to realize that you and I have the ability to get up / wake up simply because the Lord told us to. You know, if it’s any less simple than just simply making the wholehearted decision to arise, then God is unjust in so many things that He said in the Scriptures.
Let me illustrate what I’m saying: How many of you didn’t like being woke up by your parents when you were younger? How many of you had to catch the bus, so you had to get up a little earlier to be sure you made it to the bus stop on time. I was one of those kids. 

And I had a father who generally was the one who woke me up on those mornings. And I recall how he had a unique way of getting me up which will give you a little insight into why I am the way I am: 

He would come up the stairs to my room singing a song – which I believe was one of those commercial tunes from the 50’s or 60’s for a particular vacuum company. The jingle went like this – “Got to go! Got to go! Go get a Gibson! Go get a Gibson! Go get a Gibson now!”

Now how many of you not so morning people would not have been super annoyed by someone waking you up at the crack of dawn to that tune? Well, I didn’t like that very much either. My flesh wanted to continue to sleep. I did not want to rise up out of that warm bed. But who was right then? My father was! He knew it was not about what I wanted at that time, but was about what was right for me. Likewise, we sometimes need a father figure in our life who will tell us to wake up. Yes, we need someone to sing us the following jingle – “Got to go. Got to go. Go get salvation. Go get salvation. Go get salvation now.”

Church, to need representatives of Jesus in our life that will tell us what we need to hear and not just what we want to hear. Yes, we need someone to tell us – If Jesus can rise from the dead, you can rise from the bed. Hallelujah! 

Sure, our flesh won’t like, but do you know what does? Your spirit! Your born again, spiritual self is a morning person! In other words, it stays awake, alert, and alive! It’s just our flesh that wants to slumber and sleep. And I’m obviously not just talking about physical sleep; I’m talking about slumbering spiritually and not staying active and alert to spiritual things. 

Church, we need people who tell us what Paul was quoted as saying in Ephesians 5:14 – “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” Amen! 

Finally, we have the third and last thing that Jesus’ representatives told Blind Bart – “He is calling you.” Saints, just like we need to hear things like “Rejoice” and “Wake up,” we need to also hear the message of Jesus is calling us. Yes, hearing truths such as Jesus desires for us to draw near to Him and He wants a closer, personal relationship with Him is so important to our spiritual walks. We need people who will lead us closer to Christ and not just make us feel better about where we currently are. 

So my point here is that these three things are what leads us to our wholeness. If they would have just told Blind Bart that he was okay where he was at and just showed compassion on his current condition, he might have stayed exactly there – where he was at and in the same condition. Sometimes being encouraged and exhorted by the truth is what will bring us from our current condition, unto Christ, where our wholeness is found. Amen?  

THROWING ASIDE THE GARMENTS

And so after Bart evidently received this “gospel,” what do we see happening next? He acted! In fact, we specifically see him doing two of the three things that these guys told him. 

Mark 10:50 says, “And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.” So notice that while we don’t know if he became of “good cheer” or not, we do see that he “rose” and that he “came to Jesus.” 

Saints, there is something to be said for quick & simple obedience. But I’ve personally experienced that very few actually do the Word that they hear. This is why we see in the New Testament a portion of Scripture specifically devoted to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves (See James 1:22-25). These are the one’s who will be blessed. In our case, these are the one’s who will be made whole. 

But I want you to notice one specific thing that we are told that Bart did when Jesus’ representatives gave him His Word – We see him “throwing aside his garment.” This was extremely significant, saints!  

You see, this garment that Bartimaeus was throwing aside here is understood to be his outer garment, which was basically what associated him with his being a beggar. When you study these things out, the garment that was being referred to here was more of a thick & sturdy garment kind of like a cloak or mantle. This was obviously a piece of clothing that protected them from the elements – keeping them warm at nighttime and protecting them from the sun during the day time. 

And the words “throwing aside” literally describes him as “casting” them away from him. In other words, this was not just the simple laying aside of a piece of clothing, but the getting rid of it by throwing it as far away from you as you can.  

So by throwing aside his outer garment, Bart showed here that he was not wanting to hold on to his prior lifestyle of being a beggar. This man knew that this larger outer garment might slow him down in responding to the Lord, so he got rid of it asap. He now was ready to lay aside all the weights that would associate him with his past and what would impede him from moving towards the new life Christ was calling him unto. 

The writers of Hebrews exhorted us to do this very thing in Hebrews 12:1 by saying, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

How many “weights” do you suppose hold people back even now from arising and responding to the Lord’s call on their lives? And from this story, we see that these “weights” might be hindrances that keep us from receiving our healing. Let me explain: Do you think there might be some people who want to hold on to the things that come as a result of their infirmity? Maybe this would be the sympathy that they get from people. It might be some financial benefits that they receive because of their physical issue. And there are other “weights” that hold people back. But what we need to learn from this is that we need to not let any of these “outer garments” impede and ensnare us from wholly following the Lord. Amen? 

And do you remember how I referred to David dancing before the Lord with all his might? One thing that is interesting here is that David humbled himself in this situation by only wearing a linen ephod and not his usual kingly garments. So like Bartimaeus, he did not let his garments hinder him from wholly honoring the Lord. You see, God does not mind us having things, but we should never let those things become a hindrance to responding to the Lord’s calling.   

For example, if I were planning on running in a marathon, it would be downright dumb for me to show up wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a trench coat to run in this race, right? No, this is why you see people competing in things like this wearing as little as possible – avoiding things that would add extra weight and weren’t very aerodynamic. No, they will wear very light material that would not provide any resistance. Amen?

So that’s probably one of the reasons Bart got rid of that outer garment – because it would have kept him from getting to Jesus as quickly. 

Also, in First Peter 1:13, we are told to “… gird up the loins of your mind …” 

You see, back in their day, men wore garments that were more like dresses than what we see guys wearing nowadays. So if they needed to do something that required some athleticism, these long, flowing robes would be an encumbrance. Therefore, what these men would do when they needed to maybe run or do something else that was not very casual, they would gather up that robe and tuck in underneath maybe a belt or something else in the waist area.  This would remove any hindrance that might slow them down or cause them to stumble. 

So what the apostle Peter is describing here is how we need to do the same thing when it comes to our minds: Like these men did back in Bible times, we need to gather up all of those loose thoughts that we generally just freely let flow in our minds and discipline our thought patterns.  You see, the undisciplined mind that just meditates on whatever thoughts flow into it is what tends to trip us up and slow us down. So we have to do what the apostle Paul showed us in Second Corinthians 10:3-5 and pull down strongholds, cast down imaginations, and bring every thought into captivity. 

You see, these verses are essentially describing what we have been seeing. Bringing every thought into captivity would be us girding up the loins of our minds, and casting down of the imaginations and strongholds would be us “throwing aside” the garments that could hinder us. 

So the “garments” that you and I could have that impede us from getting to the One who can make us whole are those loose thoughts that distract us from our purpose. They are any & all hindrances that can weigh us down and hold us back.         

RISE UP!

Then we are told that Blind Bart “rose.” This word used for “rose” was a different word than was used in the prior verse when Jesus’ representatives told him to “Rise.” This word meant to literally “come back to life again” (obviously as it was used to someone being raised from the dead).  

But I believe that this paints a metaphorical picture of how when we respond to the Lord’s call, we come back to life again. In other words, just as this blind man are adopted a certain lifestyle because of his blindness of sitting by the road and begging, he had now made the choice to come back to life again. He chose life and blessing by choosing to respond to the Lord’s call. Amen! 

You see, it would be easy for Bart to stay down. To stay in the same place & position that we are in. I mean, gravity is a natural law that will bring everything down. Well, there’s the law of gravity when it comes to life as well – because unless we choose life, we will just follow suit and enter through that broad gate to destruction. It’s just the natural digression. But if we want to live, we have to choose to “rise.” 

Did you know that the Bible tells us that even Jesus said that His own resurrection was in His control? Yep! He said that the power to lay His life down & to raise it up was HIS (See John 10:18). 

Someone might say, “Well, that was Jesus. That’s different.” Is it though? Aren’t we called to be just like Him? Doesn’t the Bible as He is, so are we in this world? It sure does! So we don’t just have the authority to lay our lives down, which we all know that are supposed to do. No, we also have the authority to raise it up too! Amen? 

But when we just decide to stay where we are at and not give honor to the exhortations that we are hearing that we are doomed to have our life stay in the same condition as it is. This is us essentially deciding to stay broken and not receive our resurrection. It’s tight, but it’s right.    

THE REAL QUESTION

Then we see in verse 51 what Jesus said to Bart when he came to Him – “So Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ The blind man said to Him, ‘Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.’”

Now Jesus might have asked him this because of the two possible answers he could have given him: 1. He was begging for money, so he might have wanted Jesus to give him alms. 2. But he might have requested healing for his blindness – which we know he did. 

You see, when it comes to ministering healing to someone else, don’t ever assume that you know what someone else wants, needs or desires. Ask them what they want. Why, you ask? Because it is important for people to verbally express their desire that their hearts may be revealed. I think that sometimes we desire so much for someone to get their miracle that we start putting words in their mouth, and in our zeal, we sometimes get the cart before the horse. But what we need to understand is that the virtues such as patience, wisdom etc. also play a part in getting people’s needs met. And that is what Jesus was doing here—He asked them a question, not just out of curiosity, but strategically to position these two blind men for their miracle. Amen. 

This is similar to Jesus’ question for the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda – Do you want to be made well? You see, not everyone wants to be made well. We would assume so, but that’s not always the case. Some people like their infirmities because like the attention it gives them, etc. So again, we don’t want to ever assume that somebody wants for themselves what we might want for them.
 
And so Bart responded to Jesus’ question with— “that I may receive my sight.” The Greek word that was used for “receive … sight” was the word anablepo and literally meant “to look up.” It was actually translated this way in other passages of Scripture. So Bart’s answer to Jesus’ question was, yes, a simple that he could see again. But with a lot of us, it needs to be this definition – to look up. 

Did you know that this is one of the things that will keep someone broken, busted, and disgusted? It’s the inability to “look up.” It’s been well said that the psychologist says, “Look within.” The opportunist says, “Look around.” The optimist says, “Look ahead.” The pessimist says, “Look out.” But the Lord says, “LOOK UP!” Looking up is where the answers are, church!


So Lord, when you ask us what we want, may our answer be – Lord, I want to look up! Help my perspective, that I may see what I need to see and know what I need to know. No more of this wallowing around in the dust of focusing on my issues, but may I arise out of that pit, throw off the garments that impede me, and come to the Healer to be made whole. Amen!