“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. - Mark 10:52
Blind Bartimaeus is the last story in the center section of Mark’s Gospel, and the second such healing, mirrored by the blind man in Mark 8:21-26. The first healing didn’t initially seem to “take,” and appeared strangely difficult for Jesus. The stories between these healings contain three revelations of Jesus’ mysterious identity, the first from the lips of Jesus’ oldest disciple, Peter, who boldly declared that Jesus was the awaited Messiah. The section also contains three corresponding predictions from Jesus of the brutal way in which He must suffer and be killed. Each of these predictions is, at best, completely misunderstood or, at worst, directly opposed by his disciples (starring Peter, once again).
Jesus asked the first blind man if he could see–Jesus’ own disciples could see half as well as the half-healed man could–everything was blurry (Mark 8:24). Jesus asks Bartimaeus the deeper question: “What do you want?” (10:51). The disciples wanted to be great and the rich man wanted to be right. May our desires echo the heaven-rending cries of a desperate father, “Help my unbelief!” (9:24) and a blind Bartimaeus, “I want to see!” (10:51) After all, what good is “all things are possible,” (9:23) if we don’t want what God wants?
Reflection:
- What do you need to boldly bring to Jesus in faith?
- How can you persist in prayer, even when discouraged?
- How can Bartimaeus’ story encourage you to overcome obstacles?
- Art: Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus, by Johann Heinrich Stöver, 1861, photo by Marion Halft – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19541671
- Songs: “Trust in God” by Elevation Worship