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As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable
crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he
began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
Mark 10:46–47
Imagine the humiliation you might experience if your only way to
survive each day was to sit on the side of the road and beg. As a
blind man at that time, Bartimaeus was not able to work and support
himself. Many saw his blindness as a curse from God and the result
of his sin or the sins of his parents. He would have been treated
as an outcast of society and as a burden to his family and
community. Thus, the mental and emotional trauma a blind person
experienced at that time would have been just as difficult to deal
with as the physical blindness itself.
The symbolism in this story is extraordinary and teaches us many
things about our Christian journey. First, we must strive to
identify with Bartimaeus’ humility and weakness. On a spiritual
level, we are all blind and, in our fallen natural state, we are
spiritual outcasts. This means that we cannot attain Heaven by
ourselves.
Bartimaeus is a symbol of our fallen natural state. We need to
humble ourselves every day and see ourselves as people in dire need
who are incapable of saving our own souls. Bartimaeus is also a
symbol of what we must do in order to be drawn out of the blindness
and misery we experience in life. The moment he heard that Jesus
was walking by, he cried out for mercy. But he didn’t just cry out
to our Lord. He did so with perseverance. The people who heard him
crying out rebuked him and told him to stop. But their rebukes only
led him to be more fervent in his prayer. Also, it appears that
Jesus ignored him at first. Why would Jesus do that? It certainly
wasn’t because Jesus didn’t care. It was because our Lord knew that
Bartimaeus would persevere and He wanted him to do so. Jesus wanted
Bartimaeus’ prayer to become more resolute, and it did.
The prayer of Bartimaeus must become the way we pray. It is very
easy to become discouraged in life and to lose hope. When that
happens, our prayer becomes weak and ineffective. At times, we will
experience many other temptations to give up on prayer. The rebukes
by the crowd are a symbol of the many temptations we will
experience to give up on prayer. When those temptations come, we
must double our effort and strengthen our resolve. Jesus’ silence
at first must also be seen as an invitation to pray with greater
faith. If we pray and feel as though God is not listening, we must
know that God does hear us and His initial silence is His way of
inviting us closer and to a deeper level of faith and prayer.
When Jesus stopped and told the disciples to bring Bartimaeus to
Him, Bartimaeus immediately got up, threw off his cloak and went to
our Lord. His cloak is a symbol of everything we need to shed in
life that keeps us from immediately and quickly responding to the
promptings of grace. Though there is nothing wrong with having a
cloak, in that moment it was a slight hindrance to his prompt
response to Jesus. So also with us; we must be ready and willing to
eliminate anything that keeps us from responding to God the moment
He calls to us.
Finally, Bartimaeus’ prayer was perfect. “Master, I want to see.”
Spiritually speaking, we must work to foster the deepest desire to
see God, to see our Lord. If we desire the gift of faith, the
ability to see spiritual truths and understand them, then our Lord
will answer that prayer. Our Lord will also say to us, “Go your
way; your faith has saved you.”
Reflect, today, upon this poor blind beggar, Bartimaeus. See in his
humble soul a model of how you must see yourself and of how you
must pray. Observe the humility of your fallen state, the isolation
you experience from your sin, and the perseverance you need to have
in prayer. Follow the example of Bartimaeus, and our Lord will
remove the blindness of your heart so that you can follow Him more
fully every day.
My healing Lord, by myself I am weak, a beggar and a sinner. My
only hope is to cry out to You in my need and to do so with much
zeal. Please do restore my sight, dear Lord. Heal me and help me to
see You so that I can follow You wherever You lead. Jesus, I trust
in You.
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Featured images above: The Healing of the Blind Bartimaeus by
Workshop of Fernando Gallego, via Wikimedia Commons
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