The Call of
Bartimaeus
So Jesus and his disciples, along with a large crowd of
people, are on their way out of Jerusalem. And on the side of the road is a
beggar, a blind man, named Bartimaeus. And when Bartimaeus hears that its Jesus
of Nazareth passing by, he stands and shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy
on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And the people in the crowd are a little ticked off. They’re
trying to listen to Jesus, and he’s over here making a big scene. They tell him
to be quiet. They say, “C’mon man, sit down.”
But Bartimaeus won’t have it. He keeps hollering, “Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me!” He knows that there is something more for him,
if he can just call out so that Jesus might hear. His call to Jesus is the most
basic form of prayer there is: “Jesus, have mercy on me….” When you are out of
tears and out of words and out of answers, here is a prayer that saves. But be
careful with that prayer. When you find the strength to pray it, like
Bartimaeus, you should expect transformation.
Finally, all this noise he’s making reaches Jesus and Jesus
says, “Bring him here.” Some people in the crowd pass the word to Bartimaeus.
They tell him, “Good news, Jesus has heard your cry, and he is calling you.”
When Bartimaeus hears he jumps up and he throws off his cloak and he starts
pushing through the crowd to the front. And when he finally gets there Jesus
says, “What do you want?” And Bartimaeus says, “Teacher, let me see again.”
Bartimaeus wants restoration. He wants restoration of his sight, but story
isn’t just about his eyes. He wants restoration to the community, so that he’s
no longer an object of pity. He wants restoration of his agency, so he is no
longer bound by his weakness but living into the fullness of life.
And Jesus’ response is short. He just says, “Go, your faith
has made you well.” It’s funny how this works, in the story. Jesus is trying to
tell his disciples that he is the Messiah, and that he will be betrayed,
killed, and rise again in three days. And they don’t see, and they don’t see,
and they don’t see, and then they pass by this blind man, all he knows is
rumor, he didn’t get the private instruction that the disciples got, but right
away, he does see. He shows faith where the disciples have only shown
cowardice, pride, and selfishness.
And when Jesus says those words, immediately, his sight is
returned to him. Now with his sight, Bartimaeus is free. He can go anywhere he
wants, and do anything he wants. Note what Jesus says, “Go, your faith has made
you well.” Do what you want. Bartimaeus knows that having experienced this
fullness, this restoration, he can’t go back to Jericho. He leaves his cloak
behind and follows Jesus.
Paul Achtemeier says this isn’t a miracle story, or a
healing story, it is a call story[1].
The point of the story isn’t to tell us how Jesus healed another blind man, but
how Jesus called Bartimaeus. It’s not like the story of the hemorrhaging woman
or Jairus’s daughter so much as it’s like the story of the burning bush, or
Ezekiel eating the scroll. Bartimaeus has experienced something that changed
his life. So I want us to think about this story not as another healing that
proves that Jesus can do miracles, but a story about how Jesus calls his
disciples, and consider what it means for how Jesus calls us today.
I want us to focus on a few key moments in this story. The
first is Bartimaeus’ decision to call out to Jesus for healing. I don’t think
we realize how much of a risk this is for him. There’s an old story about two
blind men. Since they can’t work, they have to go from town to town and beg for
money and food. And one day they come upon a famous surgeon, and he sees that
they are blind and he says “You know, I might be able to restore your sight if
you want to try.” And they say, “Yes, of course.” And so he takes one of them
into his operating room and he works, and they come out, and the man takes the
bandages off of his eyes and he says, “Oh, I can see! How wonderful this is! I
can see!” And then he has this realization and says, “Doc, I can see. I can’t
beg anymore. What am I going to do?” And the doctor explains that he will have
to live by his labor, and learn a trade and work for his living the way other
people do, isn’t that better? And he says, yeah, yeah, it is. And he invites
the other man into the operating room and he says, “Doctor, if it’s all right
with you, I’d rather not have the operation.” He’s afraid of being healed. The
very act of asking for healing is a great act of courage.
Even when our lives
are miserable, we can be afraid to change them. That fear of change can hold us
back, it can keep us from reaching out for something better. Is there something in your life that
you’re afraid to ask for? Is there a change for the better that you’re afraid
to make? Don’t hold yourself back because you’ve become used to your problems.
Believe that there is something better out there for you, and don’t be afraid
to ask for it.
The second thing I want to point out is the way Bartimaeus
interacts with the crowd. When Bartimaeus stands up and calls out to Jesus to
heal him, some people in the crowd are upset. The change that Bartimaeus seeks
threatens them. Bartimaeus is saying, “Come, Jesus, take my life, and make me
something new. Proclaim the kingdom through me!” And the folks around him are
saying, “Please, man, we are afraid of what might happen to us if Jesus comes
to you.” Have you ever had this happen to you? You have an experience with God,
a faith-defining moment, maybe on a retreat somewhere or maybe on your back
porch, and you’re so excited, and you’re telling a friend about this, and they
look at you and say, “You’re not gonna get all crazy are you?” The subtext of
that is of course, “You’re not going to do something with your faith that makes
me uncomfortable, are you?” Let me tell you these folks in Jericho would have
been a lot more comfortable if Bartimaeus would just sit back down on the side
of the road and go back to beggind for handouts.
But let’s not forget that there are others in the crowd who
hear Jesus’ words to Bartimaeus, and hold on to them, and pass them on to him,
to make sure that Jesus’ call doesn’t get lost. This too is worth noticing.
It’s like when we lose a loved one, and our faith shatters, and we can’t hear
God’s promise of resurrection, we can’t even bring ourselves to hear God. And
our friends, and our family don’t condemn us or turn their backs, they hold
those promises in trust for us, until we are ready to hear them. In the same
way we pass on God’s promises to our kids, over and over again to make sure
they hear them, so that Jesus’ offer of healing to them does not get lost in
the crowd.
The third moment I would like to focus on is what happens
when Bartimaeus learns that Jesus has called him forward. He immediately throws
off his cloak, and comes forward. Jesus tells us that if you have an old cloak
you don’t try to patch it with new, unshrunk cloth (Mk 2:21). If you do, it
will tear and your cloak will be even worse off than before. Another time Jesus
tells them that when the time comes, if you’ve left it behind, you should not
try to go back and get it (Mk 13:16). When Bartimaeus jumps up, he leaves his
old cloak behind, and with it he leaves his old life. When you come to follow
Jesus, you have to leave your old life behind. Simon and Andrew leave their
nets behind. James and John leave their father standing in the boat. But many
people try to follow Jesus, but can’t seem to let go of their cloaks. The rich
young man wants to follow Jesus, but he can’t let go of his wealth. Another man
wants to follow, but insists on taking care of his dead father before he goes.
We have to make sure that we don’t become so tied up in carrying our dead with
us that we don’t follow Jesus when he calls, or become so used to creature
comforts that we are not ready to suffer for Christ.
Over and over again we sit on the side of the road and let
Jesus pass us by. Sometimes we are too afraid of leaving our comfortable infirmity
to cry out, “Have mercy on me, Jesus.” Other times we cry out, but the people
around us tell us the changes we’re making are too strange, we’re upsetting
people with our faith, making a scene. And so we sit back down. Other times we
want to go so badly, but we are not ready to leave behind the things that tie
us down and hold us back. But what we learn from the story today is that it
begins with a simple, but courageous act: asking for help. “Jesus, son of
David, have mercy on me.” That act is enough.
The book of Hebrews tells us that “Faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.” Bartimaeus has faith. He
has the courage to speak up, the willingness to ask for something more.[2]
If you open your heart and ask Jesus to come into it your life will be
transformed. It opens our eyes to good news, and it restores us to freedom from
weakness and dependence. It isn’t easy, the people around you will try to push
you back down and fit us back into the slots that they’ve made for you. And
you’ll have to let go of some of the things you’ve been hanging on to for a
long time. But what we learn today is that wherever there is someone willing to
cry out for help, wherever there is faith, wherever Jesus Christ is Lord of
all, there is new power and new possibility.
[1] Achtemeier,
Paul. “And He Followed Him: Miracles and Discipleship in Mark 10:46-52” Semeia no. 11 1978. p. 115
[2] Walter
Brueggemann says that “Faith is the courage to speak, to announce for oneself a
new possibility.” Brueggemann, Walter. “Theological Education: Healing the
Blind Beggar” The Christian Century vol
103 no. 5 F 5-12, 1986. p. 115.
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