Mark 10:46-51 When You Hear Jesus’ Voice…. November 4, 2018
By Pastor Kenneth Mellon, Trinity Lutheran Church and School, Pleasant Valley Rd., West Bend, WI

Grace and peace to you from God, our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior who calls us to be saved.
Every one of us needs Jesus’ help. Let us listen to His voice that our faith in Him may save us; Mark 10:46-51
These are your words heavenly Father. What an amazing God you are to help us. Your Word is truth. Amen.

Dear Christian friends,

Every once in a while we hear of someone who said, “I should have known!” They may have had all kinds of symptoms, but didn’t realize how serious their hearts were. They should have recognized that an offer of 40% interest on an investment was too good to be true, but they accepted it and lost $1,000’s of dollars to swindlers. Spiritually, people don’t always realize how bad things are for them. They think that all is fine with God if there is no serious problem in life. On the other hand, if there is a serious problem, too many people think that it is too late to get help from God. This is not true. God sent His Son to live and die for everyone. He wants everyone to be saved. He wants everyone to hear the powerful gospel of Christ’s life and death for their forgiveness and to receive His perfect peace! This message is for every one of us:

When you hear Jesus’ voice …

First, seek His help! Jesus was walking with a large crowd on His journey to Jerusalem. Along the way He had continued to do miracles that had everyone talking. Expectation was growing among the crowds that as Jesus drew closer to Jerusalem He would begin His rule as King. On the one hand, God had much greater things in mind for Jesus than helping only one nation, but on the other hand He had in mind the hearts of all individuals. The blind beggar was one of those people. A blind person at Jesus’ time, unless connected to a wealthy family, had no choice but to beg for whatever charity people would offer. Life was very difficult. And there would be no relief as the man grew older.

We may not have such a devastating problem like the blind beggar. But as great as modern medicine is, it can’t work miracles. It can’t stop all sickness. Doctors certainly cannot take away heartache when we are emotionally distressed. The power of sin has its effects all around us. None of us is immune. We may not be as physically as bad off as the blind beggar, but we all have problems in life. And when we add the powers of temptation and sin to our physical problems it can overwhelm us.

We would be foolish not to seek Jesus’ help. We are all helpless in regard to spiritual strength. Let’s not be blind to our needs. The beggar wasn’t! When he heard that Jesus was walking by, he began to shout to Him. He called Jesus an important name: “Son of David have mercy on me!” (v.47). Saying: “Son of David” meant that this blind man considered Jesus to be the promised Messiah. How could he know this saving truth? He hadn’t seen Jesus do one miracle. Yet, God’s Word had been at work to give him eyes of faith to see more than many of the people around him who had full eyesight. The Holy Spirit had given him hope and confidence that Jesus was the promised Savior sent by God to help him. We can have that same confidence that Jesus is God’s Son who has all authority to help us.

Second, when you hear Jesus’ voice… believe in His blessing. How much more proof do we need that Jesus loves us? Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” And He continued, “You are my friends.” (John 15:13) We can believe that He loves us no matter what circumstances we have in life. Also Jesus has power! The blind man must have heard many stories about Jesus’ power to heal. This led him to say by faith, “Rabbi, I want to see” (v.51). Jesus answered, “‘Go! Your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight” (v.52)

His faith in Jesus did not come up empty; and ours will not be either! We have not just heard stories about Jesus. We have read with our own eyes God’s Word of truth. It describes Jesus having power over diseases by healing with a touch, His authority over the powers of storms by stopping them with a word, and His victory over death by His rising from death to live forever in heaven. Each of us needs to let this powerful word sink into our heads and into our hearts. God has given us His Word so that the Holy Spirit will be at work to convince us. It doesn’t mean that we’ll have instant healing every time. Yet, the Holy Spirit will not fail us. He may take us to places we did not expect to go, but will lovingly lead us to be with Jesus as our Savior.

Third, when you hear Jesus’ voice … follow His lead! Our verse states that “Immediately he … followed Jesus along the road.” (v.52) He followed Jesus to learn more about Him once he could see. He followed Him to Jerusalem where he first saw Jesus welcomed as a king. Then, he saw Jesus rejected as a rebel so that He was crucified. And if He stayed at Jerusalem, on the third day he would have heard or even seen that Jesus rose from the dead as his living Savior!

Following Jesus is not always easy. This man had two hindrances that tried to separate him from Jesus. One was the crowd. When he first called to Jesus it states, “Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet’ (v.48). People didn’t seem to think that Jesus cared about this man or they didn’t think he was worthy of Jesus’ time or that Jesus had more important things to do. Whatever the reason, the man did not let their opinions stand in the way of his calling out to Jesus. His reaction was that he called out even louder than before (v. 49). And to the surprise of everyone, Jesus had been listening! He stopped and commanded the people to call the man to come!

This should remind us never to give up calling on Jesus. If He doesn’t seem to be answering our first prayer, than pray again and again and never cease! Each time, we should humbly ask that God’s will be done. This man didn’t immediately ask for healing. He began by requesting that Jesus show mercy to him. This was not a demand, but a simple request from a person who knew that he didn’t deserve any special treatment from Jesus. Yet, Jesus clearly showed that He was willing to help this man. So, we need to keep asking Jesus for His mercy regarding any need that we have. He will hear and answer!

The man did something else to follow Jesus. It states that he “threw his cloak aside, jumped to his feet and came to Jesus” (v.50) Although this man’s outer cloak was his shelter on sunny days and kept him warm at night, it’s importance was as nothing compared to being with Jesus. He did not want anything to get in the way of receiving help from Him. So, we also do not want anything to stand between Jesus and us. We have our self-righteous pride that isn’t willing to accept Jesus’ help. We have our sinful nature that wants to excuse our sin rather than confess it and seek Jesus’ forgiveness. We have our possessions that try to separate us from Christ and from receiving His help. But what Jesus offers is so far beyond compare to anything else.

We see a sense of urgency in the man’s leaping up to get to Jesus before His opportunity had passed by. We too should be glad to take every opportunity we can to be with Jesus, to read and hear His Word, and to go to Bible class so that nothing will distract us from following Him.

What Jesus offers sounds too good to be true! But He will not swindling us. He offers complete forgiveness of sins to all who seek him by trusting in His innocent sacrifice. He offers us perfect healing for our souls now as we follow Him. And once Jesus ends this world, He will give us perfect eyesight in perfect and glorious bodies made to live forever. And we will get to see Jesus face to face. And when we hear Jesus’ voice in heaven, we will run to Him to receive an eternal joy that will never fade or be taken away. Amen.