Jesus has much on His mind as He is facing confrontation with religious and Roman authorities. The He hears one blind beggar, Bartimaeus, crying out. He recognizes Jesus as no ordinary prophet. Bartimaeus will not be silenced and he asks Jesus to let him see again. He knows that a major change is about to happen in his life and he anticipates it with enthusiasm, joy and hope. He is healed of his blindness. Bartimaeus is a special figure in Mark’s Gospel. Despite his blindness, he sees the royal and divine dimensions of Jesus’ identity, and he discerns that Jesus is compassionate and able to show mercy and to heal. When the crowd rebukes Bartimaeus for calling out, demanding that a blind beggar with no social status must be silent, Bartimaeus yells “all the louder” until Jesus hears him. He clearly expects to regain his sight. The story of Bartimaeus is like a blueprint for the ideal disciple: he believes that Jesus is the Messiah, he is called by Jesus, he has faith in Jesus and he experiences Jesus’ healing power. The story describes 2 energies coming together: the energy of Jesus and the energy of the believer. A blind humanity is searching for God and God is also looking for us.
The story prompts us to re-evaluate our own faith. Jesus stopped to talk to somebody who was regarded as a ”nobody”. Who are nobodies today? In todays narrative, we see how indifferent followers of Jesus were to the cry of a person in distress, but Jesus acknowledged the presence of the blind beggar and healed him. We need do name what blinds us. We are called by God to radical transformation. We need to say “yes” to the divine invitation to see, to live more vibrant and meaningful lives to reach out to people in need. Among other things, this story invites us to consider how faith is manifested, nurtured or stunted within communities.
Mark’s narrative compels us to consider the various roles characters play in this scene, and also the various situations in and around our community life: Bartimaeus with his needs and prophetic insights, Jesus with His compassion and grace, the crowd with its determination to keep Bartimaeus both blind and invisible, and others with the opportunity to guide him to Jesus with the hopeful words, Courage… get up; he is calling you. God wants to save us and we are yearning to be saved.