Blind Bartimaeus is one of my favourite people in the Bible. He is one of those insignificant characters
in the Gospels who only show up once to show us true faith. We’d think that would be the role assigned the
disciples, but oddly the disciples only show us an incomplete faith. They hear Jesus’ call and quite remarkably leave everything
behind to follow him yet they never quite get who he is or his mission of the
ministry of the Kingdom of God. Neither
do the religious authorities. Though
they should know what faith is, they actually wind up showing us anti-faith, a
very distant relationship with God that they (we) control by rules, rituals,
and judging others. Leaving everything
behind and following has no place in their religion. But here is Blind Bartimaeus, an
insignificant outcast, and he has the audacity to approach Jesus simply because
he knows that Jesus alone can bring salvation to his life.
Since salvation is tied to faith, let me step aside here for a moment
and define salvation. We have inherited
a rather downsized definition of salvation in comparison to what it actually is
in the Bible. We think of salvation as
simply going to heaven when we die because of believing Jesus died for our
sins. Oddly, salvation is never spoken
of in that way in the Bible. Rather, it
is an act of God that brings to a person or people healing, freedom from
oppression, or freedom from demonic possession in order to restore them to
authentic human community. It is an act
that either gives or restores life.
Salvation in its biggest sense is bodily resurrection into a new
creation and a new humanity where there is no longer sin and death. But most frequently salvation as we find it
in the is a present event in which God delivers us from what ails us and brings
us into the authentic loving community of his people.
Blind Bartimaeus is a prime example of salvation. Though he was blind he was looking for
salvation, a real act of God in the right now of his life to restore him to
true life. He was a blind beggar. In his day any physical disability was seen
as punishment from God for some great, secret offence. People with disabilities were ostracized. They were the bottom rung of the social
ladder. All they could do to live was
beg. It should be a lesson to us that
Jesus, the Messiah, whom the crowds were expecting soon to be king, would turn
aside to speak to one such as Bartimaeus.
But he did, for Bartimaeus had something called faith.
Bartimaeus
sat there at the road side and when he heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing he
began to cry out as loud as he could, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The crowds, annoyed by him, commanded him, “Be silent!” What right did this cursed blind beggar have
to address the Messiah? But, Bartimaeus
had faith. He could not see Jesus. He couldn’t just go to him. He could only keep shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me!” Jesus hears him and stops his triumphal entry
and gives the command, “Call him!” and out goes the good news to Bartimaeus, “Take courage! Rise!
He is calling you!”
Bartimaeus sheds his cloak, the clothes of his old beggarly self, and
jumps up from his roadside grave alive in hope and sets off groping in his
blurry darkness to find Jesus.
Suddenly
Bartimaeus hears a voice, “What do you want me to do?” The last time Jesus said that it was to John
and James, who several days before had come to Jesus asking him to do whatever
they asked of him. Prideful,
self-assured of their own worth, they thought themselves worthy of sitting at
Jesus the Messiah's right and left when he became king. They were power seeking, trying to use Jesus
as the means to fulfill their own ambitions.
But, Bartimaeus his request was for salvation, an act of God that would
restore him to life. “Let me see again!” He's asking for something God alone could
do. So, he realizes that Jesus isn't simply
the Messiah of Israel; he is somehow the Lord God of Israel. His request was one he could only make to
God himself. “Give me back my sight so
that I can live again. Give me back my
worth in peoples’
eyes. Give me back my human
dignity. Restore me to community. Have mercy on me.”
Jesus’ answer was brief and to
the point, “Go! Your faith has saved you.” Immediately, Bartimaeus began to see
again. The theologian Karl Barth defines
faith like this: “This
then is faith: the fidelity of men encountering the faithfulness of God. Now, when this occurs, the KRISIS introduced
by the resurrection of Jesus is set in motion, His appointment as Son of God is
made manifest, and the servant of God has reason to give thanks” (Barth, Karl; Commentary
on Romans, p. 32).
Bartimaeus was blind yet in faith he saw the faithfulness of God in
Jesus the Son of God and he trusted it.
Indeed, he regained his sight. He
regained his life. Bartimaeus the blind
man saw that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and clearly understood his
ministry of salvation.
Bartimaeus
was not blind from birth. Somehow in
life he stopped seeing. If we want to
play out this analogy seeing as living and faith arising in the midst of
blindness we could say that for what ever the reason he had to lose his life,
his sight, so that he could discover faith and truly come to know God through
Jesus in order to have true life. Things
happen in life that challenge our sight – the death of parents, spouses, or children;
marital infidelity and divorce; being rejected by our children; losing jobs;
life threatening illness – these are things that take our lives away and
often wipe us clean of sense of faith we may have had in life or God or
ourselves. But the example of
Bartimaeus, of his faith is the one we should hold on to. In times of grief, anger, and shame crying
out to Jesus for salvation is our only hope for truly, when the time is right,
he answers. It might take days, months,
even years of crying out but he answers and saves us, he calls us to himself
and gives us new sight, a new way of seeing life as being filled with him. Some of you
have been through this blindness and know this to be true and have reason to
give thanks. So give thanks and tell
about it. Some of you are blind at this
very moment. Cry out. Jesus does hear and will come to save. Often, he doesn’t come immediately because he’s using the blindness and
the crying out to heal even deeper hurts than the ones we are presently
suffering. Call out to Jesus. Don’t let anyone try to silence you. In time he will call you and you will be
healed. I’ve been there I know. Amen.
