Throughout this gospel, we have witnessed healing stories, so today’s reading with its usual cast of characters — a person in need, a crowd, the disciples, and Jesus — might sound like it’s going to be the same familiar story but it isn’t. This story is one of the bookends for Mark’s central teaching about discipleship.
First, where we have seen people run to Jesus and bow before him (5:6, 7:25), fall at his feet (5:22) touch the hem of his robe (5:27), and even kneel before him (10:17), here, the man who wants to meet Jesus makes a scene. There’s nothing diminutive or self-deprecating about Bartimaeus. He isn’t going to leave it to chance that Jesus might notice him. When he hears Jesus is passing by, he shouts out and when people try to hush him, he just raises his volume even more.
In response, Jesus tells the
people – we don’t know whether it’s his disciples or the crowd – to call him to
Jesus. And hearing Jesus’ invitation, Bartimaeus springs up and throws off his
cloak. The words are vibrant and full of life and expectation, forming a
picture in your imagination when you hear them. Bartimaeus isn’t waiting on
friends or family to intercede for him. He has heard the stories of what Jesus
was doing and expects that meeting Jesus will change his life. He won’t need
his old cloak to keep warm on the side of the road because he will have a new
life.
The second thing that caught my attention is that when he meets him, Jesus asks Bartimeaus the very same question he asked James and John in last week’s gospel when the two had asked him to grant them whatever they asked. Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”
But this time the answer isn’t about who will sit on his right or his left. Bartimaeus simply asks Jesus to let him see.
Do you remember where earlier in Mark 8, Jesus had asked the Pharisees, “Do you have eyes, and fail to see?” (8:18) Sight in Mark is more than a physical sense. Jesus wasn’t questioning their physical sight, but their ability to believe and know Jesus.
Mark is the only gospel writer to name the man in this story, and the man’s name would have meant something to his audience. Bar-Timaeus, literally the son of Timaeus, could mean a son, but it could be any descendant of the one called Timaeus.
The name may not be familiar to us, but after the Iliad and the Odyssey one of Plato’s more popular dialogues was the dialogue of Timaeus. The dialogue tells the story of the title character, a ruler in southern Italy, and in it, Timaeus speculates that philosophy comes from seeing.
So now the blind beggar who is a descendant of Timaeus has his sight restored by Jesus. The one who believes is now able to see clearly.
Jesus helps us to see who God is.
And that gift of sight opens our eyes to the fullness of God’s kingdom.
And that brings us to the third way that this story won’t follow the familiar pattern of earlier encounters with Jesus.
This time, there’s no messianic secret-keeping. Jesus doesn’t tell Bartimaeus to go home and tell nobody what has happened, like he had when he healed the girl who he raised (5:42), the deaf man (7:36) and the man at Bethsaida (8:26). He knows he is on his way to Jerusalem; immediately after this, Jesus will enter Jerusalem in the triumphal entry that we celebrate on Palm Sunday.
So here, Jesus tells Bartimaeus, “Go; your faith has made you well” or “your faith has saved you.” And Bartimaeus responds by following Jesus.
For me, this text raises three questions about discipleship around expectation, encounter and engagement:
First, do I have the vibrant hope and expectation that Jesus will change my life?
And second, when I encounter Jesus, what do I want him to do for me?
And third, how do I engage my faith and respond to his invitation and restoration?
Throughout this gospel we’ve seen
the faltering discipleship of Jesus’ followers and now Mark introduces us to
Bartimaeus and suggests there’s another way. You can see it as loud and
intrusive or bold and expectant.
But Jesus invites each one of us to come to him and ask him for what we need. Maybe it is the closeness of a relationship with our Savior; maybe it is physical recovery or healing; or maybe it’s something else.
But having asked, then you can follow him, confident you have new life and everything is changed by knowing Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment