Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
Without Jesus, the light of the world, we are all blind in some measure. Without him we cannot respond to his command, "Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you" (see John 12:35). Like the Pharisees this might be hard to process and we may protest, "Are we also blind?", to which Jesus would reply, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains" (see John 9:40-41). We won't be condemned for our blindness. But if we insist that we can see in spite of all indications to the contrary we do become guilty. But this was not a problem for Bartimaeus. His life did not allow him the luxury of imagining his condition as other than it was. He had no recourse but to remain by the roadside begging in order to meet his needs. People such as him who truly knew their condition and harbored no illusions about themselves were often ready to receive Jesus, and to turn to him for help.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
Though he was blind Bartimaeus saw more in Jesus than most of those around him. Perhaps it was partly because he was less distracted by what was around him. Perhaps too it was because he wasn't so busy crafting his own facade. He heard what others heard about Jesus of Nazareth but somehow heard it more deeply and realized more of what it meant. He, and not they, was the one to acknowledge Jesus as the messianic "son of David". And he knew, somehow, that the messiah had the both the capability to do something about his condition and the heart of compassion that would make him do it.
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
The needy are often uncomfortable and inconvenient to the followers of Jesus. Shamefully, we often behave like the crowd and try to silence those who would be disruptive to our lives or to the smooth and streamlined operation of the day to day functioning of the Church. We often prefer to send people away even though Jesus is always about the work of gathering. Whether it was to feed crowds, to bless children, or to heal a blind man, Jesus always chose to gather and never to scatter. We should not imitate the blithe indifference of the crowd. Instead we should seek Jesus with the persistence of Bartimaeus. He asked and kept asking, sensing that this would not be held against him. Though his coming might have been like a friend at midnight trying to borrow bread he refused to be silent or depart without it (see Luke 11:5-10).
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
Jesus probably enlisted the crowd to do the calling so that they could learn to act in a way befitting disciples. The way they phrased the call did seem redolent of compassion, saying "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you". He threw aside his cloak, representing his old life up to that point, sprang up, and raced toward Jesus. He seemed to be halfway to Jesus before they even finished their speech. His blindness he probably made him too cautious to move that fast before. But there was a way in which the presence of Jesus was already illuminating him, stabilizing him, and drawing him safely to himself.
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."
Because Bartimaeus knew himself to be blind he was well positioned to recognize the light of the world in his midst. What Jesus did by healing his physical blindness was a confirmation of the deeper healing that happened within him because of the presence of Jesus. He was brought from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light (see Colossians 1:13), just as we all are in baptism, although he realized it more than most. The eyes of his heart were enlightened to realize the hope to which he was called (see Ephesians 1:18). And the fact that his literal eyes were opened was a indisputable physical confirmation of that fact.
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
Bartimaeus knew there was no better use for his sight than to follow Jesus, no better good upon which to gaze than Jesus himself. Because his eye was sound his whole body was filled with light (see Matthew 6:22).
We need the light of Jesus to see clearly and navigate safely through this light. We need this not once, but throughout our days. It's is all too possible to experience the light of Jesus but the resign ourselves to the dim half-light of trying to get by on our own. Let us too take courage and arise from this pitiable state. Jesus is calling us.
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