March 3, 2024. Texts: Exodus 20:18-24; Psalm 19; Mark Chapter 10
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Chapter 10 is full of familiar gospel stories. In fact, they will come up separately later this year. There is only one story that is left out. And it is this one…
Bartimaeus was not born blind, but hardly anyone knew that. The blind beggar himself scarcely remembered any other life. He’d been at the busy roadside crying out for help for years. His circumstances had been dire for as long as he could remember – abandonment, chronic hunger, homelessness. He was utterly dependent on the kindness of passersby.
Not that there was a lot of kindness to spare. Help didn’t usually come from the well-off. They kept a cautious distance. As if fearful that Bartimaeus might spread his unfortunate blindness to them. And the ones who did help had little themselves; possessing more compassion than money.
But being blind on the streets is not all loss. Bartimaeus learned to sharpen his ears. There was nothing wrong with his mind, but people tended to think him stupid. They would say anything in front of the blind man. He assimilated information, and ideas into understanding about the world. Perhaps he was blind, but Bartimaeus had insights and dreams just like everyone else.
Bartimaeus knew about Jesus of Nazareth. The track from Galilee to Jerusalem passes through Jericho. Travelers would stop for meals and to stay the night in safety before their last day’s walk into the great city. A world of information was traded on the streets as furiously as goods, and Bartimaeus heard it all.
The news that Jesus had come to Jericho spread quickly. Crowds followed Jesus and still more gathered in the town to hear Jesus speak. Bartimaeus knew the reputation of this man who spoke to demons, argued brilliantly with religious scholars, and fearlessly kept company with people on the wrong side of honor and even the law.
The blind man could not easily go to Jesus, but he knew that Jesus would come to him. There was only one road out of Jericho toward Jerusalem. Bartimaeus was on it.
A commotion alerted Bartimaeus that Jesus was nearing the place where he sat. Desperately he began to cry out with words he knew would get attention. He had a clear picture of Jesus in his mind. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He knew exactly who Jesus was.
Some people tried to shush him. But Jesus heard Bartimaeus and commanded him to come. The mood of the crowd swiftly changed from dismissive to helpful. Now it was be bold, get up.
When Jesus spoke to Bartimaeus, it was not with disdain or condescension. The teacher addressed the blind man as if he was an equal, capable, thinking, feeling person. Even so, Jesus’s question, “What do you want me to do for you?” was unexpected.
It wasn’t a question about the end result. Jesus was asking what Bartimaeus believed was possible. Perhaps the blind man knew that Jesus had said “for God all things are possible. And having lived with limitation, the blind man knew his final answer. “My teacher, let me see again.” Seeing was the pathway to following without limitation. Once healed, Bartimaeus followed Jesus – the one in whom all things are possible.
A Startling Postscript: There’s more to Bartimaeus than meets the eye.
This story follows multiple instances in chapter ten where Jesus is met with resistance by people who cannot properly see him. His observation that with God all things are possible, is a commentary about people closing their eyes (and ears) to the enlightenment Jesus brings about God, about themselves, and about the world.
Strangely, it’s not just opponents of Jesus who are unable to see. Sometimes people who profess belief in God and Jesus cannot clearly see. Jesus’s close friends – his disciples – are repeatedly blindsided by what Jesus says and does. Though they follow him, they cannot always see where he is going. They are sometimes in the dark about his identity and mission.
The events of Jesus’s betrayal and death begin in the dimness of evening. Then, according to Mark, when Jesus was in his last three hours on the cross at midday it became like night. All was obscured until the dawn of the third day.
Bartimaeus – a blind man – is God’s response to all our barriers to seeing and following Jesus. God will use the impossible to answer our fears and limitations. Bartimaeus demonstrates insight – to see God’s loving presence and to follow Jesus fearlessly no matter how impossibly dark it gets. The kind of vision that is called faith.
Questions to Ponder
Bartimaeus is not the only blind person in Mark 10. How are other people unable to “see”?
What impairment do you experience in trying to follow Jesus?
What sort of vision would you like God to give you?
What blindness does the good news of Jesus confront today?