Bartimaeus

Bartimaeus screamed into his darkness.

“Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me!”

His solo target audience unseen, the blind beggar’s words pepper-sprayed the crowd. His cries were heard and quickly judged as offensive to the day’s code of conduct. Blind beggars don’t demand. Blind beggars beg.

He was sternly ordered to be quiet.

But desperate hope amplified Bartimaeus’ voice.

“Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me!”

Suddenly, his cries pierced the status quo and “Jesus stood still.”(Mark 10:49)

Through his darkness, Bartimaeus heard, “Take heart; get up, He is calling you.”

With those words Bartimaeus’ past and present dissolved. Forgotten were the circumstances that resulted in the blindman sitting alone on the roadside begging but his future rose like a bright and beautiful sunrise. Having been called by Jesus, a life of begging and blindness was shed with as little effort as it took to him to toss off his cloak.

Springing to his feet, Bartimaeus followed the voices directing him to the one he’d heard about; the one who made the dreams of blind men come true. And Bartimaeus, just like all other sightless beggars, had the same dream; to see.

Meeting Jesus was also just a dream to Bartimaeus, as he sat begging along side the road in Jericho. Then one day the miracle worker came within hearing distance.

In the moment’s excitement, Bartimaeus may not have been immediately cognizant of the gravity of his impulsive actions. But the simple act of tossing off his cloak, put his very survival in jeopardy.

The common mental picture generated by the gospel writer’s description (Mark 10:50) of Bartimaeus “tossing off” his cloak is that he grabbed the cloth drapped around his shoulders and threw it into the air. According to ancient historians, however, the beggar’s cloak was most likely spread out in front of him as he sat on the ground. Since law-abiding Jews didn’t come near to blind beggars, they would throw alms into their cloaks.

It’s not hard to imagine coins flying through the air as Bartimaeus tosses his cloak off of his lap and legs. The accuracy of this picture is backed up by Mark’s report that the beggar tossed the cloak and then sprung to his feet. The substantial cloth would have encumbered his standing and needed to be shed first.

What Bartimaeus had just “tossed off” was probably the most important of his few possessions. The heavy cloth may have been his sole source of shelter and warmth.

Clearly nothing was more valuable to Bartimaeus at that moment than going to Jesus.

So the blind beggar, stumbling in his darkness, quickly moved through the crowd assisted by helping hands. Everyone was desperate to get Bartimaeus to Jesus. All were eager to see a miracle but none more than the blind man.

This was his chance. And what Bartimaeus didn’t know, this was his last chance. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem where he would die. He would not pass that way again.

Bartimaeus’ short walk to Jesus took him out of one world and into another. With the toss of his cloak, he shed his old life. Left laying on the ground behind him with the cloak were poverty, struggle and blindness. Ahead of him was freedom and sight.

“What do you want me to do for you?” are the words of Jesus recorded in Mark 10:51. “My teacher, let me see again,” is Bartimaeus’ reply.

Then he hears, “Go; your faith has made you well” and before he can even understand what Jesus’ words mean, Bartimaeus’ sight is “immediately” restored.

Joy unspeakable hit Bartimaeus like a lightening bolt. The dream had come true. The Son of David had extended mercy and he saw.

Now there was no thought of returning to his former world; that of a beggar forced by the economy of the day to the lowest place; sitting in the dirt, animal waste and human sewage depending on everyone around him, friend and strangers, to sustain his very life. Bartimaeus leaves that place with no hesitation, no regrets.

But where does he go? According to Mark, he followed the one who healed him and whose face was the first face he saw when his sight was restored.

Why wouldn’t Bartimaeus leave? His old life had nothing to offer him. But in Jesus’ world, in God’s economy, he had everything.