Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
Bartimaeus was blind and realized he was blind. He was not like the spiritual leaders Jesus criticized who claimed and even convinced themselves that they were able to see. Bartimaeus knew he couldn't discover the right path to take through life for himself. Unlike those with spiritual blindness the falls he would experience if he started imposing his imagination on reality were not merely metaphorical, but physical. But we imagine that he also realized something deeply spiritual as a consequence. The fact that he couldn't take the path ahead for granted was something he internalized both physically and abstractly. Others could guide him from one place to another. But few were qualified to tell him where he ought to go or what he ought to do. All he could really ask of others was to beg for temporary assistance to survive a little longer. Until, that is he heard Jesus of Nazareth was coming.
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus offered something greater than the ability to get from point A to point B. But how did Bartimaeus, who was blind, realize what so many others failed to realize? It seems that his absence of ability to see anything else did not negate the ability of his spiritual sight to perceive Jesus, or at least a potential answer that went much deeper than anything else could. In the way a deaf person might more readily perceive the still small voice of God, so too might a blind person be more open to recognizing his presence. The privation of the worldly ensured space for the heavenly.
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
The world couldn't see what he saw in Jesus, nor appreciate the possibility that Jesus might see something in him. They opposed him because they assumed Jesus had more important things to do, that his Kingdom was not about the poor, marginalized, or the disenfranchised. They opposed him because they underestimated both the blind man and Jesus himself. And the world is still like this. It tries to tell us both that we are not worthy of being helped and that, in any case, Jesus has no power to do so. If we're content to ask once and hope for the best it may not be enough. We need a firm resolution that calls out and keeps calling. The door is opened when we knock and keep knocking. The favor is given when we ask and keep asking. So it was for Bartimaeus.
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
We see that the saving action of Jesus also had a pedagogical effect on the crowd. They seemed surprised to discover that Jesus did in fact respond, and told Bartimaeus he was doing so with the impression that it was something that seemed to them far fetched or impossible. But by seeing it they had to recon with the fact that the priorities of Jesus were different than their own. It was perhaps not Bartimaeus that needed courage to face this fact so much as it was they themselves.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus knew what Bartimaeus desired, knew it before he asked, knew it before their paths even crossed. But he wanted to hear it from Bartimaeus himself. Jesus was indicating that what mattered to Bartimaeus also mattered to him. He didn't simply impose what he thought Bartimaeus would need, but gave him the thing he desired which they both agreed was good.
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
Jesus left him free to follow his own path. But how could he, now that his life had been changed forever by Jesus? No normal path of life seemed sufficiently worthwhile to compare with just being near to one who was so good and beautiful as was Jesus. What would Bartimaeus do with his new gift of sight? Would he use it to go and see all of the sights he had missed thus far? Only secondarily. He chose rather to see more of the saving acts of Jesus. After all, what could be more beautiful?
Vertical Worship - I See The Lord
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