On first reading the gospel seems to be simple & straightforward. Blind man requests Jesus to heal him and he is healed. But there is more than meets the eye. There are two likeable blind men in scriptures: that of John 9 who was born blind and in today’s gospel, Bartimaeus. Both stood up in favor of Jesus in spite of what others say. When an evangelist names a person in their narratives it means they must have been well known and could have very well been a member of the early Christian community thus lending historicity to the Christ event. Christianity is founded in time and space. It is not a mythology.
Because of the heat, abrupt changes in temperatures between day and night and scarcity of water the number of people with eye diseases and blindness was rather great. The only livelihood available for them was begging.
Bartimaeus had great persistence – something which was commended by Jesus himself especially when praying. When he was told that Jesus was passing by and told to be quiet he knew that Jesus will hear him and so he kept on shouting Jesus son of David, have pity on me.” A realistic honest plea of an abject human being. He did not care what the crowd would say. Bartimaeus was a Jew longing for the coming of the Messiah and he knew that the Messiah would cure the blind according to the prophecies of the OT. Bartimaeus must have sensed the kindness of Jesus. Blind people usually compensate for the lost of sight with another sense in order to see. The blind can see, so to speak, much more than what the seeing cannot see. In opposition to the crowd Jesus was not annoyed by the shouting of Bartimaues. This is what he came for. To have compassion on the poor. Bartimaues jumps without hesitation when he heard that Jesus was calling him, he humbly states his wish, Have pity on me I wish to see. Today this word pity is an offensive word! I don’t want your pity! But when someone has no pity he or she becomes cruel. Pity is our safeguard against cruelty. Bartimaeus saw his once-in-a life-time chance and acts, acts right away. He does not put of his decision, he does not wait till it is too late. It is not enough to have some good feelings, a certain longing for doing something in our life, for putting aside a bad habit, for wishing this or wishing that, for giving more ourselves to Jesus, to be more holy. We have to act now for our intentions do not count when confronted by Jesus. We have to act now for tomorrow might be too late and certain things we can do only once. Bartimaeus’ knowledge of Jesus may be imperfect for he calls Jesus the son of David who for the Jews is a political hero, the one who will free the Jews from the yoke of the Romans as seen by the contemporaries of Jesus and even his disciples too. But in spite of his inadequate knowledge of Jesus Bartimaeus had faith in the Lord which soon will make his understanding of Christ more perfect. We do not have to be perfect theologians before we become Christians. Faith is compatible with imperfect knowledge as long as we study according to our talents and possibilities, that is, a desire to know more about one’s faith in Jesus. Faith is for most an embracing of the person of Jesus more than a consent to a truth and an insight in complicated definitions.
Jesus tells Bartimaeus: go your way your faith has saved you. But instead Bartimaeus complete in his trust in Jesus follows the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus at this point in time means going towards Jerusalem where he predicts his death for the sake of many. Bartimaues ‘ trust in Jesus enables him to follow Jesus in His way. The way of the political messiah will accomplish little in spite of its seeming power. It can for the most only conquer some nations and certainly not the world. And empires rise and fall as individuals do too. But it can never conquer the enemy of humankind which is death. Bartimaeus becomes a member of a community called Christians who is able to confront death to its face without fear and say where is your sting; for they know it is only a door to eternal life. Bartimaeus walked the way of Jesus because he learned gradually that pain, suffering, loss, loneliness, helplessness and finally death is the unavoidable experience of human beings. Everyone seems to avoid it and not confront it. We need to see more than ever to day like Bartimaues that we have to follow the way of Jesus in order to withstand the onslaught of evil coming from our way: our wars, our cruelty, our dishonesty, our greedy leaders; terrorism, unsureness in our own beliefs, our culture of death; our own ego centricity; our intransigence, exclusivity , our obsession for control, our refusal to change for the better , our adamant “my way or no way” at all. More than ever we need to cry today like Bartimaeus: Lord have pity on us! Make us see to follow you on Your Way