THEN THEY CAME to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Original Meaning
JESUS’ LAST HEALING in the Gospel of Mark is set in Jericho on the edge of the wilderness. Galilean Jews on pilgrimage to Jerusalem would detour around the Samaritans’ area by passing through Perea on the Jordan’s east side. They would cross over the Jordan again at Jericho and then take their journey’s final leg up the steep road to Jerusalem. Anticipating the generosity of pilgrims headed toward the Holy City, a blind man reduced to beggary sits by the roadside. Such a man in the ancient world was totally dependent on others for charity and for guidance and protection (see Lev. 19:4). He was one of society’s expendables.
That is exactly how the crowd treats him, for they offer him no help. When he cries out to Jesus as the Son of David, they chide him for making a nuisance of himself. They do not bring him to Jesus and beg him to heal him, as the people of Bethsaida did (8:22)—though Mark does not identify the blind man in Bethsaida as a beggar. This crowd must think that so august a figure as Jesus would not want to bother with a helpless, blind mendicant (see David’s well-known distaste for the blind, 2 Sam. 5:6–8). Mark, however, gives this beggar dignity by giving his name, Bartimaeus.1
The blind man will not be put off by reproaches from the crowd and yells more desperately. Jesus has reached the last stage of his journey to Jerusalem. Despite the shadow of the cross looming ever larger across his path, he can still hear the cries of others in distress. The crowd tries to make the man stop his clamor; Jesus stops for him. The crowd usually gets things wrong. No one is too insignificant to Jesus to command his attention. A leper, a woman with a hemorrhage, little children, and now a blind beggar all received Jesus’ care.
Bartimaeus sees with a sixth sense that the man passing by is more than simply a widely acclaimed prophet and miracle worker from Nazareth and cries out to him as the “Son of David” (the only time this title appears in Mark). As Jesus moves closer to Jerusalem and his shameful death, his identity as the Messiah, the Son of David, can be noised abroad. This cry of Bartimaeus thus prepares for Jesus’ dramatic entry into Jerusalem (11:1–11). Most associated the title “Son of David” with nationalistic and militaristic visions (see Ps. Sol. 17:21–25). When Jesus arrives on a colt he forces the issue of his messianic identity, and the crowd responds by exulting in the coming kingdom of their father, David (11:9–10). The soldiers know of Jesus’ royal pretensions and mock them. Pilate will have him executed as the “King of the Jews.” This present episode reveals that as the Son of David, Jesus expresses his royal authority in works of healing and mercy for the despised outcast, not in rounding up recruits for a revolution. This Son of David hears the cries of the oppressed, gives sight to the blind, and brings blessing and peace.
The crowds tell Bartimaeus to keep quiet. Jesus, however, stops and says, “Call him”—further evidence that he came to serve, not to be acclaimed. Jesus answers Bartimaeus’s insistent cries for help with an urgent call of his own. The verb “call” (phoneo) is repeated three times in verse 49: Jesus tells the crowd to “call him”; “they called to the blind man,” saying, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”2 Jesus does not call him to discipleship as he did the fishermen by the sea, but Bartimaeus responds just as rapidly as those first disciples. He springs up to come to Jesus, who then asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (10:51).
This question may seem an odd one to ask a blind man, but Jesus forces him to reflect on what he truly wants from him. His answer, “Rabbouni [lit.], I want to see,” demonstrates enough faith to transform him from a blind man begging along the way (10:46; see 4:4, 15) to a person who sees and follows Jesus on the way (10:52).3 He believes that Jesus is able to fulfill Isaiah 35:5 and give sight to the blind. The whole scene recalls Isaiah’s promise in 42:16:
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.4
Marshall notes that in this healing there is “a conspicuous lack of emphasis on the course of the miracle itself … no healing word or gesture, no demonstration of the cure, and no choral acclamation.”5 This miracle takes on symbolic significance as it caps the discipleship theme in this section. Jesus has told others he has healed to go (1:44; 2:11; 5:19, 34; 7:29) and that their faith has saved them (see 5:34). Bartimaeus, however, does not choose to go off his own way. With his eyes now open, he decides to follow Jesus as every disciple is called to do (8:34). Like the first disciples Jesus called, he abandons his former way of life and leaves everything. The cloak he leaves behind is not much perhaps, but it is his sole worldly possession and a necessity (Ex. 22:26–27; Deut. 24:12–13). The cloak would have been placed before him to collect alms by day and would have been his source of warmth by night. He will have no encumbrances in following Jesus. Leaving just a garment may seem easier that selling all that one has (10:21), but that is why Jesus indicated how hard it was for those having possessions to enter the kingdom (10:24–25).
Bridging Contexts
THE DISCIPLES SHOW themselves to be spiritually blind, and Jesus attempts to open their eyes to God’s requirement that he must give his life and to the demand that they must take up their cross and follow him. This scene links the healing of blindness to discipleship issues. Jesus opens the eyes of blind men at the beginning of this large section (8:22–26) and at the end. In interpreting this passage, therefore, one should not simply treat it as another healing miracle but recognize its implications for discipleship.
The parallels with the request of James and John in the preceding incident (10:32–40) help clarify these implications. James and John approach Jesus as they are “on their way” (10:32). Bartimaeus cries out for mercy as he sits “by the roadside [way]” (10:46); and when Jesus restores his sight, he “followed Jesus along the road [way]” (10:52). The “way” (hodos) is significant in this section (8:27; 9:33–34; 10:32). Moreover, Jesus asks both the sons of Zebedee and Bartimaeus the same question, “What do you want me to do for you?” (10:36, 51). The disciples’ answer to this question is telling: They want to sit on thrones with Jesus and reign with him in triumph. Bartimaeus sits in the dust, makes no demand for glory, but cries out from his wretched poverty: He only wants to see. The disciples see Jesus as a Messiah who will bring them mastery and glory; Bartimaeus sees him as the Son of David who brings him healing and sight. Jesus cannot grant the disciples’ request for power, but he can grant a blind man’s request for vision.
Jesus can heal physical blindness, but more than that, he wants to heal spiritual blindness. On a literal level, Bartimaeus wants his physical sight and is as optimistic as the leper was (1:40–42) that Jesus, the Son of David, can work a miracle to restore his sight. On a spiritual level, he voices what every disciple should want—to be able to see. The calling and decision of Bartimaeus to follow Jesus reveal that discipleship is opened to all who identify with Jesus in faith and is not just confined to Jesus’ specific call to follow.6 One can become a disciple by putting one’s faith in Jesus and choosing to follow him.
Contemporary Significance
THE FAMILIAR LINE from “Amazing Grace”—“I was once lost but now I am found, Was blind, but now I see”—understands conversion as a move from blindness to sight. The healing of Bartimaeus can be a type for the healing of our spiritual blindness today. We will look at this incident for what light it sheds on the transformation from blindness to sight in conversion; we will also examine the uncaring attitude of the crowd, who try to hinder the man’s pleas for help.
Blindness to sight. Many resonate with this blind man’s encounter with Jesus. It matches the healing grace they have received in their own lives. They know what it is like to sit figuratively in the dust, a beggar for grace, calling out desperately for help and shouting all the louder when others would drown out their cries or try to silence them. They know what it is like to learn that Jesus cares—enough to hear the cry above the din of the crowd, to stop, and to extend the call that gladdens the heart.
If we treat this healing as a paradigm for the contemporary restoration of sight, we see several motifs. (1) Healing does not always come easily for those whom Jesus heals. Before Bartimaeus receives healing from Jesus, he must overcome the crowd’s determination to throttle his cries for help. He persists in calling out Jesus’ name until he hears Jesus call out his own name.
We have seen this dogged determination in the stories of other healings in the Gospel. The Syrophoenician woman will not give up hope that Jesus will heal her daughter even though she is not a Jew and Jesus initially rebuffs her (7:24–30). Jairus must ignore the mockery of the mourners that Jesus can do nothing for his dead child (5:35–43). Friends must force their way through a crowd and a roof to bring their paralyzed companion to Jesus (2:1–12). The leper and the woman with the flow of blood must disregard laws that forbid them from having contact with Jesus to receive his help (1:40–45; 5:25–34). A desperate father must overcome his doubt that Jesus can do anything to help his tormented son when the disciples have already failed (9:14–29). Healing comes to those who are persistent and are not quickly discouraged by whatever hurdles others may place in their way. How many want to see so desperately that they will ignore the put-downs of the crowd to secure that vision?
(2) If healing requires persistence, one must be intentional in coming to Jesus for relief. Bartimaeus does not simply want to meet the famous prophet from Nazareth in some misty-eyed emotionalism. He cries out specifically to Jesus because he believes that he will have mercy on him and can give him his sight.
Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” might seem dense since the plight of this blind man is obvious. But this query makes perfect sense in the context of Mark 10, where what other characters wanted provides a marked contrast. The Pharisees wanted to outsmart him and trap him (10:2). The rich man wanted eternal security at minimum cost (10:17). James and John wanted to be the top officials in the kingdom bureaucracy (10:35–36). A blind beggar might want only money, but Bartimaeus wants to see again.
“What do you want me to do for you?” is the most important question God ever asks us, and the one to which we most frequently give the wrong answer. We ask for all the wrong things in life. One can think of many examples, but Mark provides two notable ones. Herod asks his dancing step-daughter essentially the same question, “Ask me for anything you want” (6:22). Her answer: “The head of John the Baptist.” Pilate asks the crowd the same question (15:9, 12). Their answer: “Barabbas” and “Crucify him!” Our answer to this question will reveal whether we want death or life, whether we want to be healed from our blindness or selfishly want to use God to do our bidding and fulfill our own desires.
(3) The aphorism “He who hesitates is lost” applies in this situation. Bartimaeus cannot hesitate: “Maybe I will wait until Jesus passes this way again in a less crowded, less hectic time.” Those who are healed in Mark act decisively and throw pride and caution to the wind to seize the one chance they get when Jesus passes by. Otherwise, the opportunity for healing will be lost.
(4) After being healed, Bartimaeus moves into action. Mark initially describes the blind man as “sitting by the roadside [way].” To sit along the side of the way can be perilous to one’s salvation (see 4:15). One cannot sit on the sidelines as a spectator while others lay their lives on the line. When people are healed from a debilitating disease, they usually want to make things right in their life. When one receives sight, one must follow the way behind Jesus.
The crowd’s reaction. The crowd’s negative reaction to the blind man’s cries for help raises the issue of our compassion for those in need. The community may want to silence embarrassing cries that serve to accentuate the helplessness of those whom they have failed to help. Cries of desperation make most people uncomfortable, particularly when they come from our midst. The sad thing is that churches have often turned their backs on those with disabilities, made no effort to reach them, and pretended that they did not exist. Those who are able-bodied sometimes feel uncomfortable around the disabled. Our worry that we might say the wrong thing to such people can cause discomfort. Obviously, this crowd surrounding Bartimaeus does not worry about saying the wrong thing and shows complete insensitivity to his needs until Jesus singles him out as special.
This lesson has not been learned, and those with disabilities are all too frequently shunted aside and ignored today. I heard of a church that had several persons confined to wheelchairs. For the worship service they were wheeled to the front of the sanctuary, where there was the most room and their chairs would not block the aisle. A member actually objected that their presence detracted from his worship, and he thought that it would deter others from joining the church. He argued that the church needed to set up a special place for them where they would not be so prominent—“the first thing you see when you come into the sanctuary.”
I have tried to understand the motivation behind this man’s objection. Perhaps he did not want the unsettling evidence of others’ personal suffering to disturb his worship. Perhaps he did not want to be reminded how fragile life and health are. Maybe he was trying to convince himself that disease, disasters, and disabilities can somehow be avoided in life through religious behavior. The church, if it is to be the church of Jesus Christ, can never be like the crowds that try to repress the urgent yells of those who desperately need help or try to cover up the tragedies that strike people’s lives. Like Jesus, we must be willing to listen, to stop, and to respond.