Finally, after several weeks in a row of different people asking Jesus questions, we find someone who asks the right question in the right way. A blind man named Bartimaeus is sitting by the roadside as Jesus passes by. He calls out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.”

This man, who must have been important in the Church later on as his name was long remembered, identifies Jesus as Messiah and begs, not for greatness or a place of honor, but for the Lord’s pity. As we equate pity with the Lord’s mercy, he is expressing his desire to have his sins forgiven so that he might have his sight. Since the Jewish people saw this man as a sinner, or at least as one who suffered the consequence of the sin of his parents, his action here is both bold and humble at the same time.

Bartimaeus stands before us as clear example of the burning desire within us all to seek the healing and merciful presence of God. Although he is blind, he recognizes in Jesus God’s compassionate presence. He knows well his status within society, and we see this expressed clearly as those around him seek to silence him so that he does not bother Jesus. Those standing around wanted Jesus to pay attention to them instead, perhaps, not because they sought healing, or God’s mercy, but because they were drawn to his notoriety. A person in the situation of Bartimeaus was to keep quiet and draw no attention to himself. He was permitted to beg for alms but was generally treated with either disdain or disregard by his fellow countrymen. It is not until Jesus takes notice of him that the people around him get excited that Jesus has called for him to come forward.

Whether the crowd reacted the way they did to stop Bartimaeus from crying out: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me” was because the people were afraid to identify Jesus as Son of David, or because they were mocking him for his profession of that faith is uncertain. What we do know, however, is that if the people gathered around were hoping that Jesus would also silence him, they got it wrong.
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In asking to gain his sight Bartimaeus not only expresses faith that Jesus can do that which was presumed impossible – to give sight to one who was born blind – but he also recognizes Jesus as the messiah of God; the Son of David. Bartimaeus is more like others we have encountered in the ministry of Jesus. He lacks the political ambition of James and John who ask to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in the Kingdom. He is unlike the rich man as he has nothing worldly to give up. Yet for this man, too, the desire to be touched by Jesus comes at a cost. While on one hand his sins are forgiven and he can now see for the first time in his life, he has also lost his only means of livelihood and must now learn to make his own way in the world.

In healing him Jesus does, as he does to all of the others, and that is to send him away. Jesus does not invite those whom he heals to follow after him. Rather, he sends them back to their ordinary lives, but now transformed through the healing power of God. There they become disciples, and yet even missionaries, as they are living testimony to the healing power of God in their lives.

Yet Bartimaeus chose instead to follow along with Jesus and not to head back to his family and the familiar. Of all the people whose healing is recorded in the Gospels he is the only one who follows along. While Jesus told him he could go it was not because Jesus did not want him as a disciple, but rather that Jesus could see what this man really wanted. By being forgiven of his sins he then felt worthy of discipleship. While the rich young man approached Jesus as a righteous man seeking discipleship, Bartimaeus approaches Jesus as a sinner seeking healing first. He then chooses to become a follower of Jesus, and to learn from him. He not only wanted to see, he not only wanted mercy, he also wanted to learn from Jesus and to become a disciple.

Here for the first time, we have seen Jesus respond to the power of humility and the desire for the Lord’s healing presence and touch.

This is true discipleship.

Father Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.