Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
Bartimaeus was blind and thus had no recourse but to resort to begging in order to meet his daily needs. He was not permitted by his circumstances to entertain any notion of self-sufficiency. He was thoroughly acquainted with the limits imposed on him by his condition. Thus he was opposite of the Pharisees who asked Jesus, "Are we also blind?", to whom he replied "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains" (see John 9:40-41). Their perceived wholeness and independence prevented them from recognizing and calling out to Jesus. But their was no such obstacle to poor blind Bartimaeus.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
It was thus that the disabled beggar became a model of Christian prayer while the attitude of the Pharisees became only a cautionary tale. His words gave shape to the famous Jesus Prayer that has been so important particularly in Eastern Christianity. In his request to Jesus Bartimaeus was the first in Mark's Gospel to call Jesus the Son of David. This was no mere allusion to ancestry, but rather a claim that Jesus was the Messiah. It was no coincidence that this was first stated by one who superficially appeared blind even while so many sighted people had heretofore failed to recognize him. He called out to Jesus, with faith in who he was, begging for mercy. But he did not, could not have conceivable demanded anything of Jesus or pleaded on any merit of his own. Instead everything was left to the merciful heart of Jesus, which Bartimaeus seemed confident could not pass him by.
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
We all encounter such rebukes when we try to pray, though more often they are from our own internal monologue. We hear things like, 'Don't bother Jesus with something as trivial as a physical healing when he has spiritual things to do' or, 'You aren't worthy of his attention', or 'He really doesn't care about you enough for that'. But these are not the voice of truth but rather lies that fail to do justice to the vast mercy to be found within the heart of Jesus.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
It was not enough for Bartimaeus to ask once. We see that he had to "Ask and keep on asking" (see Matthew 7:7, Amplified). In this way too he became a model for all future prayer. We can imitate him by the way he calls out, not vaguely to an unspecified power, but to Jesus, the Messiah, confident, not in himself, but in Jesus own mercy. We can imitate him by refusing to yield to any voices that try to keep us apart from that mercy. May we too cry out all the more, confident that Jesus will not pass us by.
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
May we be as ready as Bartimaeus to heed the call of Jesus, to leave behind our past, to spring up, and to go when we are called. Jesus has already done a miracle within us by teaching us to call out to him. How can we doubt that he will also defeat our darkness and grant us the salvation that will finally culminate in the vision of his glory.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (see Second Corinthians 3:18).
One thing this gift of spiritual vision will allow us to do is recognize in a new and deeper way the goodness of God as expressed in his creation, and in all his creatures, just as did the author of Sirach.
How beautiful are all his works!
even to the spark and fleeting vision!
The universe lives and abides forever;
to meet each need, each creature is preserved.
All of them differ, one from another,
yet none of them has he made in vain,
For each in turn, as it comes, is good;
can one ever see enough of their splendor?
Can we ever see enough of this splendor? Then may we too cry out to Jesus who alone can give us, from his abundant mercy, the ability to behold such beauty.
For upright is the word of the LORD
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
No comments:
Post a Comment