Today’s gospel passage (Mark 10:46-52) comes at the end of a long section where Jesus is forming his disciples. This section begins way back in Chapter 7 with the healing of a man who is deaf and dumb. In that miracle, the man is taught how to hear and to speak. These are necessary skills that we all need: to hear and the understand the Word of God, then share the message with others.
Later (in chapter 8) there is the two-stage healing of a blind man. That story illustrates the gradual opening of the disciples’ eyes as to the true identity and mission of Jesus. Today, the whole section ends with the last miracle story in Mark: the healing of yet another blind man. This is not merely coincidence.
Jesus with his disciples and a large crowd is seen leaving Jericho. A blind beggar, Bartimaeus, is sitting beside the road. He hears all the noise, is told that Jesus is passing by, and begins to call out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” But the people around him prevent his coming to Jesus. In our lives, many people, many activities, many concerns prevent us from coming to Jesus. Worse yet, there are many times when we, ourselves, have prevented someone else from approaching Jesus.
Bartimaeus will not be put off so easily. He really wants to get Jesus’ attention. He continues to call out even more loudly, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” A common theme in these Daily Reflections is how Jesus encourages us to keep on asking. How many times during our day does Jesus pass by us and we fail to recognize Him and fail to call Him? The problem is that too often we have fixed ideas as to where we are likely to see Him or the forms under which He will appear. It is easy to find Him in the tabernacle but less easy in a person that we do not like. But He can come in any form and in any person or situation, even the most unlikely. The person screaming obscenities at me may well be Jesus challenging me to give a Christian response.
“Call him over here,” says Jesus. Notice that Jesus does not go to the man. Nor does He call him directly. The people who just now were stopping him and telling him to shut up are being told to give him encouragement.
That is how we come to know Jesus too. People call us to Him or introduce Him to us. So many people have led me to Jesus: parents, family, friends, teachers, sermons, books, even a few films and TV programs. At the same time, there are people waiting to hear Jesus’ call, through us: in our family or our workplace. How often do we share our faith? How many people even know we are committed Christians? We need to realize that saying we are a private Christian is a contradiction in terms.
How foolish Bartimaeus would have been if he had stopped shouting because of the crowd’s opposition! Public opinion is very fickle.
Frequently the Gospel uses contrasts to teach a lesson. Bartimaeus, who has almost nothing, does have one possession. But he throws it off just to be close to Jesus. In a sense, he approaches Jesus naked of all belongings.
Our first parents were ashamed of their nakedness after sinning; and they hid from God. Jesus, who died naked on the cross, overturns the shame which sin brought. Bartimaeus now comes to Jesus, naked of his possessions and without shame.
Face to face now with Jesus, Bartimaeus is asked: “What can I do for you?” Jesus, the High Priest described in the Second Reading (Hebrews 5:1-6) as someone who, in sharing our human nature, has a deep understanding of our needs. “Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” And so Jesus asks the blind beggar, “What can I do for you?”
In last week’s Gospel, Jesus asked exactly the same question of the apostles James and John. Remember last week that I told you we were going to revisit this question today? Their answer: “Give us the two top spots in the Kingdom of your glory.” In reply they were told, very clearly, they would get only what they deserved. They also got some firm teaching about serving others and not looking for privileges.
In answer to the same question, Bartimaeus gives a very different answer: “Lord, that I may see.” In the context of this story, he is asking for much more than physical sight. His prayer is one we all need to make continually.
The secret of life is to be able to see, to see life’s real meaning and direction, to be people of vision, to know where God is to be found, where real truth, and real goodness, and real beauty are to be found. It is a prayer that is certain to be answered as it was here. “Go,” says Jesus, “your faith, has saved you, healed you, made you whole.” And immediately, the man was able to see.
Then what does the man do? He does the only thing that a person of vision could do: he followed Jesus on the road.
At the beginning of the story, we see a blind beggar sitting beside the road. This is the person who has not yet met Jesus. He is blind, an impoverished beggar, off the real track of life.
At the end of the story, we have a man who can see, has vision, who knows clearly where he is going. No longer is he a beggar but greatly enriched by that vision. No longer sitting passively, waiting to get or receive, but now actively walking with Jesus. No longer beside the road but now on the road, on the Way. Jesus is the Way: Jesus is Truth and Life. And this road, as we will see, leads to Jerusalem, to suffering, death and resurrection.
On our own, we are blind and poor with nothing of our own. As Christians, we have our eyes opened to the meaning of life. We are ready to walk with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem with clear vision, with true freedom.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!