Jesus stopped and said, “Call him forward.”
They called the blind man, “Be encouraged! Get up! He’s
calling you.”
Throwing his coat to the side, he jumped up and came to
Jesus.
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.”
Jesus said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” At once he
was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus on the way.
Poor
Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus as the entourage passed him on the road out of
Jericho is perceived by most as an annoyance, the cry of a crazy fool who the
people of Jericho had learned to ignore.
They try to silence Bart but this causes him to shout even louder. He gains the attention of Jesus who doesn’t
ignore him. Jesus calls Bart to come to
him. Though this seems like an insignificant
detail, what it signifies is that this is not only a healing story; it is a call
story. Mark confirms this when he
reports that Bart “began to follow Jesus on the way.” The first takeaway from this story is
that God sees potential and value in people the rest of us often wish would be
quiet and fade into the background.
The
question Jesus asks Bart is the same one that he has just asked the disciples
in the preceding story – “what do you want Me to do for you?” Mark puts these stories together to draw a
distinct contrast between the vainglorious request of the “insider” disciples and
the deeply personal and heartfelt request of the “outsider” Bartimaeus. While
the disciples ask for elevated status, Bart asks for the chance to see. As we notice this contrast, we could consider
the same question from Jesus, “what do you want me to do for you?” How would you answer? What is the deep desire of your heart? This story invites us to consider what we
would ask Jesus for more than anything else?
Further, the story invites us to examine the nature of that desire –
does it represent a deep need or is the desire more shallow?
As we
have heard Jesus say before in this gospel, He proclaims to Bartimaeus, “your
faith has healed you.” Jesus doesn’t do
anything special like touch Bart’s eyes of say some special prayer. He proclaims that Bart’s faith has enabled him
to receive healing from God. Returning
to your answers from the last paragraph, do you have faith that God can provide
the needed response to your deepest need?
Your faith IS the most important ingredient in the equation.
And finally,
we return to the reality that this is a call story. Bartimaeus is healed and immediately follows Jesus. It may be assumed that Bart is present for
the events that occur over the next week, the last week of Jesus’s life before
being crucified. Bart has a new life and
mission upon being healed by Jesus. This
is signified by another easily overlooked detail in the story, something that
happens even before Bart is healed. When
Jesus called for Bartimaeus, the text says, “throwing his coat aside, he jumped
up and came to Jesus.” People who were
disabled like Bartimaeus in Jesus’s day were often given “a beggar’s coat” that
gave them permission to beg for their livelihood. When Jesus calls for him, Bart throws his
beggar’s coat aside. He has faith that
this call from Jesus means that his begging days are over. He now has a new mission. He is a new man.
Question: Of all the
possible insights from this story, which one strikes a need in you in this
moment?
Prayer: Jesus, thank
you for the call that you have for each one of us. Help us be clear about our deepest need right
now. Gove us the faith to trust you with
that need and expect that you will provide in a way that strengthens our
ability to follow you more nearly. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people you know with physical challenges today.
Song: El Shaddai – Amy Grant
