Does caste or color determine a person’s value? Listen as Pastor David reflects on heaven’s estimation of human value.

<p>Does caste or color determine a person’s value? Listen as Pastor David reflects on heaven’s estimation of human value.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

Because He Was a Beggar

On the screen I have a picture of a sign that is right outside of modern day Jericho.

It is reputed to be or claimed to be the oldest inhabited city to this day.

Jericho is a city with rich history, dating back to before the days of Joshua.

Remember the story of Joshua and his armies going around the city 7 times and the walls fell down.

By the way, as a side note, recent archeological discoveries have found that indeed in ancient days that the walls of Jericho did fall down.

You remember in the days of Elisha, Elisha went to Jericho and made a miracle.

He performed a miracle, the healing of the waters there in Jericho.

And right before the time of Christ, Mark Anthony gave Jericho to Cleopatra.

And after they died, Herod the Great took over Jericho.

And Jericho is the setting of our story today.

It picks up right there in that city where 1 who's greater than Mark Anthony, Cleopatra, or even Joshua passed through that city over 2, 000 years ago.

So I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 10 and verse 46.

If you're using the Bible provided for you there in the pew.

I'll be reading from the New King James Version.

You can follow along in whatever version you have there.

This is Mark's account of this miracle that took place there in Jericho over 2, 000 years ago.

Now they came to Jericho as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude were following him.

Evidently this was a time in Christ's ministry where he was very popular.

According to Mark's account, this is the last miracle that Jesus performed before he went to the crucifixion.

The miracles had followed Jesus, the messages or the news of the miracles had followed Jesus, and this great multitude were following him.

And then the scene shifts to a blind man.

It says, Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

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.

He hears that Jesus is passing by and he cries out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And scholars have told us that the term son of David is a messianic term.

This is an indication that Bartimaeus has a measure of faith.

He believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David.

Verse 48, notice the reaction of the crowd.

Then many warned him, in the NASB it says, they rebuked him sternly.

There's a crowd, a throng around Jesus as he's passing through Jericho on his way out, Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is there, he cries out for help.

And the crowd around Jesus rebukes him strongly and says, be quiet.

But he cried out the more, Son of David Have mercy on me.

This is a fascinating story because the issue in this account regarding Bartimaeus is not that Bartimaeus did not have enough faith.

Remember in previous stories we noted that the issue is always faith when it comes to healing.

The problem is the people around Jesus and they are saying to Jesus, they're not saying to Jesus, they're saying to Bartimaeus, be quiet.

They're following Jesus And they say, shh, can't you see I'm trying to follow Jesus?

These are the Jews around Jesus, following Jesus.

And here is a person that is crying out for help, and they are telling this individual to be quiet.

When you see pictures of prominent individuals, like movie stars, usually there are around them these security individuals, Usually a lot bigger than me.

And notice that the security individuals around this star, I've never seen him before, that's the reason I put him on the screen, so we wouldn't get distracted here, but notice that around this individual, when you look at this slide, you'll see that these are individuals that are to provide a barrier around him.

They are denying access so that a common person cannot just walk up to them.

They're not only there for security, but they're to provide a blockade around the individual.

Now you'll notice that in this story, the crowd around Jesus became a barrier to Jesus.

Bartimaeus wanted access to God, but the crowd became a blockade.

As we noted earlier, these were the chosen people.

This was not a Gentile part of town, and they were sternly telling him to be quiet.

Could it be that we as Christians could possibly become just like that crowd, a barrier that does not grant access to God.

The question is, why were they a barrier?

What gave them the license to treat this man in this way?

They would not talk to any individual that sternly and tell him to be quiet, to hush, to be silent.

But in this case, there was a certain mentality that was pervasive around that crowd that was preventing access to the Son of God.

If you look in verse 46, now, they came to Jericho as he went out of the city with his disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging." I contend here this morning that the reason why those people had the right or felt that they had the right or the license to talk to Bartimaeus in this way was simply because of this reason that I've highlighted here on the screen.

This was an individual that was by the side of the road asking for alms, for a handout.

I pass by someone every single day on my way to the office here at the church.

Get off on exit, forgot the name of the exit, but you get off at 127, right there, coming from the north side, There's an individual by the left-hand side of the road, he has a cardboard sign much like this 1, and it says, anything, please, help me.

When you see someone by the side of the road panhandling, asking for a donation, a handout, there is a certain stigma that is associated with someone that is asking for something by the side of the road.

Automatically in the consciousness of I would say the majority of individuals and I dare say the majority of individuals here, I know what's going through my mind, I'm, you're kind of torn between these 2 realities.

Because I look down and I see some change.

And I will be honest, there have been times when I have stopped and I've given him and this is kind of how it goes.

Wave over to him and you wait till you know when the light's about to turn green and you pass it to him, you say, God bless you, because you're just, you don't know what's gonna happen.

And then even when you give him something, what is in the back of your mind?

I wonder how he's going to use the money.

There's a stigma associated with panhandlers.

Beggars have existed from the days, from the inception, I believe, of sin, poverty.

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Because He Was a Beggar

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