The passage of the Gospel we have just heard comes at the end of Chapter 10 in Mark’s Gospel. If you have noticed, we have read quite a bit of Chapter 10 in the past weeks: Two weeks ago, with the story of the rich man coming to ask Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life; last week, with James and John asking for the seats of honor in the kingdom. The story of Bartimaeus today not only concludes this chapter but it also serves as a transition to what comes next in the Gospel. Jesus, as we have just heard, is in Jericho, which means he is getting closer to Jerusalem. In chapter 11, he will arrive in the holy city, and as you know it, it will be the unfolding of his last week on earth, before the crucifixion. So our passage is a conclusion. It marks the end of Jesus’ ministry and the end of Jesus’ journey, it is actually Jesus’ last healing, Jesus’ last miracle. This passage is also a bridge to something different, it takes us into Jesus’ passion. And I would like today to spend a little time of that, on this passage as a transition. Because of our lectionary, we are used to hear stories from the Gospel as if they stood on themselves, and that’s quite true, there is much to learn in each story as they are, and yet we can learn so much more not only if we look back (at what has just happened before) but also if we look forward, where the narration is taking us. So let’s get started, having first a look at the story in itself.
1 – The story in itself
Well, this may sound a little unusual to start with that, but you know the first thing I notice, actually the first thing that really strikes me, is that it is such a happy story. And not just happy because there is a happy ending, it’s joyful from beginning to end, and it’s at time even funny, it’s full of tenderness. It touches us, does not it? This man was in outer darkness both literally because of his infirmity but also because he was also on the margins of society. There is actually a connection between the fact that he was blind and the fact that he was a beggar: He couldn’t work because he couldn’t see, and so not only he couldn’t make a living, but he couldn’t participate in his community. There were probably some good people who helped him, yet he had to spent his life sitting in the dust of the road at the entrance of the city, going nowhere when all were busy trading, selling and buying, making connections, making money (Jericho was a beautiful, rich city). And then Jesus shows up and that’s so unexpected, that’s the opportunity of a lifetime and the man is so excited he cannot keep quiet when all try to be respectful of the Master. And the crowd tries to shut him down, to dismiss him as if he was unimportant, but among all the people Jesus notices and calls him and then the crowd changes its mind about Bartimaeus and supports him, encourages him. Take heart, get up, he is calling you. And then Bartimaeus jumps like a spring, he does not think twice about whether he is worthy or not, he leaves behind the cloak that used to hide his shame, his misery, and he is at Jesus’ feet and Jesus with a tender compassion aasks him what he wants as if he does not even notice there’s something wrong with him and Bartimaeus asks and regains his sight on the spot and Jesus does not even takes credit for the miracle. In his kindness he tells the man: Your faith has made you well, making him an example for all. And the man follows Jesus on the road, I can only imagine him bouncing and making a little dance.
And so yes, it is a story that makes us smile and touches us and warms our hearts, but if we are attentive to the unfolding of our emotions, we may also notices that the story has also this strange effect to make us feel a bit sad as well. At least, it makes me feel a bit sad too. Most of you right now are reading the book of Revelation, and in Chapter 2 there is this passage where Jesus addresses the church in Ephesus and although Jesus has plenty of good things to say to this church, although they are plenty of things those people do right, Jesus says:I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. I think this is what makes me feel a bit sad when I hear the story, because Bartimaeus is so into it, and I can’t help thinking: Well, what about me? What about us Christians and us, Episcoplians, the Frozen Chosen? What have we done with our first love?When I hear what the Episcopal Church has to say about society and justice, there are so many good things, but more often that not I can’t help thinking: What have we done of our love for Jesus? And who are we in the crowd surrounding Bartimaeus? Are we the ones who help others find Jesus, do we encourage them to run to Jesus or isn’t most of our worship an invitation to keep quiet? Do we still believe in miracles, or have we become too wise for our own good?
Questions that may need some pondering. What’s important to understand I think is that Bartimaeus wants to see, to recover his sight, of course, yet Mark shows us that there is also this thing that Bartimaeus has found something worth seeing, and suddenly he can’t stand his infirmity anymore. Imagine that: The Son of David, the Messiah, is passing by and it is the worst day to be a blind man because you won’t see his face. You can be deprived of financial means, and health, and a job, and even people’s respect, but will you also miss the Messiah because of what nature has made you? Bartimaeus seems to disagree with that, and so does Jesus. This story is a story of healing for sure, but it’s also a tale of falling in love with God, of converting. Out of darkness, Bartimaeus chooses to turn to the light.
That’s where we have a turning point in this Gospel and we start understanding that physical blindness/sight is of course a metaphor for spiritual blindness/sight. We’ll understand that better if we have in mind what’s just happened in Chapter 10.
2. Looking back
As I said at the beginning, the story of Bartimaeus comes after two important stories in Chapter 10: The story of the rich man and the story of James and John. Mark tells the story of Bartimaeus in a way that makes us understand that Bartimaeus is the counter example of these characters, he is the good example, what a true disciple is.
– Remember how Mark told the story of the rich man who went away, sad, when Jesus invited him to follow, and the man went away because he had great wealth? Bartimaeus possesses one thing in the world, his cloak, and he happily leaves it behind. What’s funny is that he does not wait for Jesus’s invitation to follow: After he’s healed, Jesus actually tells him to go, but Bartimaeus refuses to leave. He does not choose Jesus out of obligation, but out of love and, certainly, out of gratefulness. Doesn’t it cur to the heart when we think about how often Christians take Jesus for granted and try to calculate what they need to give, whether in terms of money, time, or even hope. At the time, in the Greek world, people could recognize those philosophers called the Cynics because they were wearing those cloaks. Maybe when Mark tells us to leave our cloak behind he also invites us to leave our cynicism behind (There is certainly a lot of that today, especially during the elections).
Mark invites us to also have hope, and enthusiasm and to believe that Jesus can make miracles for us. He won‘t solve all our problems (He actually may bring us new problems!) but Jesus will change our lives, and Jesus will sustain us and heal us from our spiritual infirmities.
– That’s when we also remember the story of John and James, who asked for the first places in the Kingdom of God. Did you notice that Jesus asks Bartimaeus the same question he asked the two disciples before: “What do you want me to do for you?“. But instead of asking for privileges, Bartimaeus humbles himself, ask for mercy, which is grace, rather than glorification. Bartimaeus acknowledges that he is blind not only physically but also spiritually. How often is it that we consider ourselves as the ones who see, as the ones who know, instead of asking Jesus to lead us to the truth, asking us to give us a better understanding? This is when it would be very interesting to read this passage of Mark in parallel with John Gospel, when Jesus said to the Pharisees: “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (John 9:41).
Three times now Jesus has announced his passion, his death, and the disciples still don’ t get it. They don’t understand Jesus is the servant, the one who loves and humbles himself, and that this is who they need to be if they want to follow. But this last part we understand if we look at what’s coming next in the Gospel.
3. Looking ahead
Just a few words about what comes next because I’ve already talked too long, but I think that there are two important points to notice. Mark places Bartimaeus’ story at this point in the narration to make it clear that:
– To see Jesus is to see the cross. As long as we come to Jesus for position and privilege we don’t understand who he is as God’s Messiah. He is the servant, humble and suffering who obeys until the end God’s commandment to love (See Isaiah’s reading from last week)
– There is hope though. It is very interesting that in this passage, Bartimaeus asks Jesus to see again when in his Gospel, John talks about a man blind from birth. The disciples who followed enthusiastically Jesus at the beginning have lost their sight, they are at this stage where they are confused about Jesus, don’t understand his mission and during the passion, they will all lose their faith. But there is this hidden promise that they will see again, at Jesus’s Resurrection and when they receive the Holy Spirit. It is the same for us. We go through this life following Jesus, and hurts and disappointments as well as tragedies can make us lose sight of him. But we will see him again.
As we have noticed at the beginning, Bartimaeus’ story is this happy story that makes the transtion between the end of Jesus’s ministry and the beginning of Jesus’ passion. I think it’s there to remind us that with Jesus, because of Jesus, all our stories, in spite of the cross, will be happy again if we keep our eyes on him, if we keep following him. We also are to take heart, he is still calling us.