On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
Although Bartimaeus was blind he was able to perceive something in Jesus of Nazareth that many in the crowds did not yet know or about which they were at least uncertain. Bartimaeus called Jesus the son of David, a claim that recognized him as the messiah. His handicap may have made life difficult and many things challenging but it allowed him, somehow, to possess this keener spiritual sense.
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
There is often spiritual resistance when we try to come to Jesus. There are voices both internal and external that tell us why we ought not waste the master's time, how we are unworthy, and how our request is simply a nuisance beneath his concern. But at such times we must do what Bartimaeus did and stick with and insist on what we know. Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was the son of David. This simple fact was enough to balance out all the rebukes of the crowd and give him courage to insist and shout to Jesus all the louder. Perhaps he also knew the prophecy of Isaiah about the messiah that Jesus had made his own.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (see Luke 4:18-19).
There was a wide awareness of the obvious reality that blindness was an almost intractable problem, even for workers of miracles. As read read in the Gospel of John, "Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind" (see John 9:32). Yet for the Son of David even this might not be impossible. With the Son of David near there might be hope, even where there was otherwise no hope.
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
Jesus reached out to Bartimaeus through the disciples, perhaps to teach them that he wasn't a nuisance to be silenced. It was exactly to such as these that Jesus came and it was important that his followers realized this. Their job would often be to call out to those seeking Jesus and to guide them into his presence. They knew that to approach one so famous might take courage even or especially if he was in fact the Son of David. But when Jesus called someone it was time to move.
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Bartimaeus did not have to be told twice. He responded with an enthusiasm that characterized many of those who heard the call of Jesus, whether Matthew, Zacchaeus, or many others. Jesus is still calling us as well, but we seem to only be able to muster a half-hearted response. Has our courage failed? Has our hope in the promise of the messiah grown cold? Have we failed to cling to the truth we know over and against the voices of the crowd and of our own doubts?
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 told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Bartimaeus received what he desired because he held fast to the truth he had come to believe. He received physical sight as a testimony to the perceptiveness of his spiritual sight. It was confirmation for him and for the crowds that Jesus was the son of David. But not only that. It revealed that the son of David had a heart that was not primarily concerned freeing the nation from Roman oppression. Rather his heart was primarily concerned with restoring individual lives and hearts. This is exactly what Bartimaeus received. He didn't go off to start a business or to excitedly and independently practice some livelihood of which he was now capable. No. Rather he "followed him on the way". After all, he now realized that any other use of sight besides gazing on Jesus and his work could not compare.
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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