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 what faith is. We’d think that would be the role of the
disciples, but oddly they 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 bringing
in the Kingdom of God. Neither do the
religious authorities show us faith.
Though they should be the experts on what faith is, they actually wind
up showing us “anti-faith”, a very distant
relationship with God that they (we) controlled by rules, rituals, and judging
others. Leaving everything behind and
following a vagabond “prophet” had no place in their “religion” because they believed “their” religion was the
underpinning of their society. But here’s Blind Bartimaeus, the
insignificant outcast. He has the
audacity to approach Jesus because he knows that Jesus alone can bring “salvation” to him. He has faith.
Do you ever think about what salvation is? If someone were to ask us, “are you saved?” our first thoughts are
about going to heaven when we die. We tend
to think of salvation as simply going to heaven when we die because of
believing Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins. But, this definition of salvation is rather
truncated in comparison to what the Bible says it is. I encourage you to go and check for yourselves
on this: the Bible never speaks of salvation in that way in. Rather, from the Old Testament to the New the
Bible presents salvation as 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.
Salvation is an act that either gives or restores life. In its biggest sense, salvation is bodily Resurrection
into a New Creation and a New Humanity where there is no longer sin and death
and this is what God has started in, through, and as Jesus Christ and is
working in us right now by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the big picture, but most frequently
salvation as we find it in the Bible is a “right now” event in a person’s life in which God
delivers us from what ails us or oppresses us and he then 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 that would 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 sin. People with disabilities were believed cursed
and were ostracized. All they could do
to live was beg.
Bartimaeus
sat there at the roadside and when he heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing by 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, “Shut up!” 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. The only thing he could do on his part was to
keep shouting, “Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus
heard him and stopped the roadshow and gave the command, “Call him!” and out went the good
news to Bartimaeus, “Take courage!
Get up! He is calling you!” In an image of Resurrection, Bartimaeus shed
his cloak, the clothes of his old beggarly self, and jumped up from his
roadside grave alive in hope and sets off groping in his blurry darkness to
find Jesus.
Suddenly
Bartimaeus heard 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 and
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 said. Now, this is something only God could
do. Bartimaeus sees that Jesus isn't
simply Israel’s
Messiah; he is somehow the Lord God of Israel. “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.” This is something only God can do.
Jesus’ answer was brief and to
the point, “Go! Your faith has saved you.” Immediately, Bartimaeus began to see again. Bartimaeus was blind yet in faith he saw the
faithfulness of God working 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 Jesus’ ministry of
salvation.
It
is likely that Bartimaeus was not blind from birth, but somehow in life he
stopped seeing. If we want to play out
this analogy of “seeing” being life-giving faith
arising in the midst of blindness, we could say that for whatever reason Bartimaeus
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, addictions – these are things that
take our lives away and often wipe us clean of any 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 in the “right now” is our only hope because…seriously…when the time is right, he
answers. It might take days, months,
even years of crying out but he answers and he saves us, he calls us to himself
and he 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 what I am saying is true and have reason to give thanks. So give thanks, but also tell about it
because there are people everywhere around you who need to know that there is
hope. 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.
