Totally Blind, But With 20/20 Vision

 

Messiah Lutheran Church, Fargo, ND

Pentecost 22/October 24, 2021

Mark 10:46-52

 

46 They came to Jericho. As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.

47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’

49Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’

50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

51Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’

52Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed [Jesus] on the way.

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Helen Keller, who was born in Alabama in 1880, became both blind and deaf as a result of a severe childhood illness. 

She was once asked what could be worse than being blind. 

To which she responded:   “having sight but no vision.”

Let me say that again:   asked what could be worse than being blind, Helen Keller answered:  “having sight but no vision.”

Because we often equate the two—sight and vision, that is—Helen Keller’s words may puzzle us…which is why we’ll be wise to pay close attention to this morning’s gospel lesson where we meet a man named Bartimaeus who utterly lacked sight but had amazing vision.

This story unfolds along a road leading out of Jericho. 

Jesus and his disciples are departing, and as they walk by a blind beggar sitting alongside the road, the man (whose name is Bartimaeus) starts shouting at them, yelling specifically at Jesus!

Now this sort of thing, of course, was nothing new for Jesus and his followers.   There were always beggars slowing them down:  poor souls, pathetic invalids, destitute panhandlers forever trying to capture Jesus’ attention.

But this man, this Bartimaeus used language they had not heard before:   “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Although Bartimaeus was “in the dark” in terms of his eyesight…he had “20/20” insight, he was already possessed by a vision of who Jesus really was:  the son of David, a descendant of Israel’s greatest king, God’s anointed one--the Messiah.

How, pray tell, did Bartimaeus know all that—if he was totally blind, after all?`   Just because he had no sight didn’t mean he lacked vision, an amazingly sharp, clear vision of Jesus’s true identity.

The crowd (including Jesus’ disciples) tried to silence him, but to no avail.  Bartimaeus wasn’t about to take “no” for an answer, and so he called out again, all the more loudly:  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

And then—to everyone’s astonishment—the beggar’s piercing plea stopped Jesus dead in his tracks.

“Call him here,” Jesus said to members of the crowd, who quickly changed their tune about shooing away this blind beggar, conveying instead Jesus’ invitation with urgency:   “Take heart; get up, [Jesus] is calling you.”

And then—just like that!—Bartimaeus got up, threw off his cloak and made a beeline straight for Jesus.

Now there’s a detail here that we dare not miss:  as he sprang to his feet and headed toward Jesus, our text tells us that Bartimaeus also threw off his cloak.     What’s intriguing about this detail, was the high value beggars placed upon their cloaks which were often their only outer garment, which sometimes doubled as shelter in a storm….and was used by blind beggars, who spread their cloaks out on the ground to collect the coins that passersby might toss their way.    (Not unlike the open guitar case that might be used by an ambitious street musician, hoping to attract some spare change from members of  her audience.)

Throwing off his cloak (which likely enfolded the latest fruits of his begging) blind Bartimaeus marks this moment as the turning point in his life.  It’s as if even before meeting Jesus, Bartimaeus has already had a vision about how his life is taking a new and exciting turn!

….which is exactly what happened. 

Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus responded, “My teacher, let me see again.”

Once again, there’s more treasure in this part of the story than at first meets the eye.   First, Bartimaeus calls Jesus “rabbi” (which meant “teacher”) but not just any rabbi—he claims, instead, a rather close, intimate connection with Jesus, calling him “my rabbi”…..and then when Bartimaeus answers Jesus’ question, rather than requesting that his blindness be cured…Bartimaeus pleads that he might see again.  

Other blind persons Jesus encountered in the gospels had been blind from birth….which meant they didn’t really know what they were missing—but not Bartimaeus:   he wants to see again, he remembers what it’s like to see, which only deepens his determination to have his eyesight restored.

Jesus immediately responds to Bartimaeus’ urgent request….and rather than spitting on his hand and touching Bartimaeus’s eyes as Jesus had already done to another blind man earlier in Mark’s gospel (8:22-26)….here Jesus lets his Word have free course, commanding Bartimaeus to “Go; (because) your faith has made you well.”

In the original language of the New Testament, the word Jesus uses here for “made well” could just as soon be translated:   “…your faith has saved you!”

Immediately, Bartimaeus can see again, and then—rather than turning his back on Jesus and rebuilding his life as one with both vision and eyesight….Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the way.”

You may recall other instances in the four gospels when Jesus heals someone and tells them to return to their home and family….or when Jesus forbids them to follow along with the rest of the disciples….but not here in Mark chapter 10.   Bartimaeus with his eyesight restored is dead set on using his vision to follow Jesus—and, in this instance, Jesus allows him to do so.

Why is that?  We don’t know, for sure, why Jesus allowed Bartimaeus to join his other disciples, but I think it may be because by this point in Mark’s gospel, Jesus has focused his travel itinerary on the end of his earthly journey….for Jericho, you see, was only 15 miles from Jerusalem where Jesus would soon be betrayed, put on trial, condemned and crucified.    This is Jesus’ chosen path, this is Jesus’ Way….which refers to more than a certain path or a well-traveled road….but to the entire Way of the gospel that Jesus walked for you and for me, by suffering, dying, being buried and rising again in the power of the Resurrection.

In the end Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the way”…not just the highway from Jericho to Jerusalem, but the whole future-opening Way of living a life made new by Jesus Christ.

But, my friends, there’s one last question we need to ponder.   Jesus healed many, many persons according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John…..and yet, of all the recipients of Jesus’ healing power, only one of them is named for us….and that’s Bartimaeus.

Why do you suppose that was?    What was it about this particular blind man that we know his name:   Bartimaeus?     Along with other Bible scholars, who have pored over this text for centuries, I’m inclined to guess that Bartimaeus’ name was remembered because he did in fact follow Jesus to the Cross and the Grave and three days later to Easter morning.

Bartimaeus’s name is remembered perhaps because he may still have been around when Mark’s gospel was published, probably between the years 30 and 50 A.D.   Bartimaeus may have been someone who was known by members of the first generation of Christians….a living link between the days when Jesus walked the earth and the days when the Christian movement was spreading out, across the world.

So, my friends, what we have here this morning in this gospel lesson is so much more than Jesus showing his power to work wonders.

What we have here, rather, is nothing less than a vision of all that is entailed in becoming a follower of Jesus.   This was the vision that was already dawning on Bartimaeus when he first met Jesus, alongside the road from Jericho to Jerusalem.

Bartimaeus’s amazing vision was grounded in his grasping of who Jesus was, even before his eyesight was restored.

Bartimaeus’s saving vision was shown forth by his determination to let nothing hinder him from seeing Jesus.

Bartimaeus’s life-changing vision was propelled by his expectation that Jesus would transform him and lead him to leave behind his old way of life (marked here by his casting-aside of his beggar’s cloak).

Bartimaeus’s revolutionary vision came alive when, having caught Jesus’ attention, he asked for the one thing he lacked—the eyesight he would need for the next chapter in his life, a life of following Jesus.

Dear beloved ones:  what we have here in this compelling story is a sweeping panorama of the whole Christian life “in miniature”…as Blind In-the-dark Bartimaeus becomes Disciple Bartimaeus…a faithful, clear-eyed, determined follower of Jesus Christ?

And how did that happen?   It wasn’t magic or hocus-pocus—that’s for sure!

Jesus himself put his finger on exactly what transformed Bartimaeus when he declared to him:  “your faith has made you well!”  

Faith, you see, is always, always, always God’s greatest gift to us….because faith opens our eyes to let us see all the good gifts—forgiveness, freedom and a future without end—all the good gifts that God showers down upon us, every day of our life, including this day, here and now!

In the name of Jesus.   Amen.