Mark 10:52
And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
How could this be?
How could this man be made whole again by faith alone?
Well...what do we know?
He was blind and had no hope for healing. Somehow, he had foreknowledge about Jesus, and he believed that Jesus could heal him, so he persistently cried out in that faith. We know that Jesus heard his cries, summoned him to himself, and he listened to his request. Jesus honored the man’s faith. Bartimaeus regained his sight. And he followed after Jesus and praising God.
And this encounter comes after an eventful eighty-five-mile-long hike coming down from Caesarea Philippi to Capernaum heading for Jerusalem. They're soon going to cross over the Jordan, but first they meet the blind man Bartimaeus begging by the roadside. Along the road Jesus has been teaching about everything from divorce and marriage to the cost of discipleship trying to build up faith in his followers. And almost as a kind of bookend to those lessons, one more blind man who has persistent faith is restored before they entered into Jerusalem.
Bartimaeus hears from the disciple that Jesus wants him to come to him. So, he throws off his cloak, symbolic of leaving behind his old life, and he "springs" to his feet and runs to Jesus. I suppose somehow, he understood where Jesus was. But apparently, he found him.
Jesus says to him...
Mark 10:51a
"What do you want me to do for you?"
And Bartimaeus answers...
Mark 10:51b
"Rabbi, let me recover my sight."
Immediately his sight is restored, and he joins the growing group of followers.
In the span of forty-five verses, we’ve travelled from Capernaum to Jericho. From here the journey must travel west through the valley of the shadow of death toward Jerusalem.
Elsewhere in the gospel Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man, but Bartimaeus calls out to him as "Jesus son of David". Bartimaeus is calling him Messiah and this faith made him well. That proclamation is the rock upon which Jesus builds his church. He knew Jesus had the authority and the power to heal. And healing is what Bartimaeus wanted. And he didn't treat Jesus like everyone else he daily begged from. In fact, he threw off that relationship and just came to Jesus man to man, not manipulate to manipulate. He knows that Jesus has the authority and power to heal. This wasn't Bartimaeus the beggar, this was Bartimaeus, a blind believer in the Christ, who wanted to be healed of his blindness and who wanted to follow him.
No eye of the needle stumbling block in his way. No hard heartedness and pride polluting his faith. Only Jesus' church of followers stood between him and Bartimaeus. Earlier James and John had to take Jesus aside, apart from the rest, to ask him for the selfish blessing they wanted. But now here Bartimaeus shouted out loud for all the hear his heart. And he gets his audience. No mud and spit, not even a touch. Just restoration. Jesus speaks and it's done.
"Your faith has made you well"
And Bartimaeus goes from "sitting by the roadside" to "following Jesus on the way".
Now he's among the others. Saved. The apostles didn't do it, in fact it never occurred to them they should. In fact, they tried to hold him back. Now these men who were recently arguing among themselves about their positions of glory in God's kingdom have to make room for another among them.
Bartimaeus wasn't seeking privilege; he simply wanted his sight back. And he was aware of who it was that he was asking it from. He is the image of a true disciple of Christ, someone who knows that his restoration relies only upon grace. He was blind but not spiritually blinded by pride and hard heartedness.
Spiritual blindness keeps a person from knowing the truth, and from seeing God. Throughout this gospel we've watched as, one after another, the disciples and the people they've encountered have expressed either great faith or great hard heartedness. Bartimaeus was a blind man who lived without hope, but he had great spiritual insight.
All these others, these spiritually blinded people we've seen, are people who are looking for other things. They're looking for answers to the challenges of life from science. They're looking for solutions for their cultural differences from governments. They're trying to resolve their spiritual uncertainties by imputing for themselves a system of religious restorative practices and traditions. And they hear about the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and they get in a bind. They can't accept him by faith alone. They decide instead to sit back down and beg alongside the road of traditions.
Bartimaeus believed Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah. Bartimaeus believed that Jesus of Nazareth loved him and would help him.
And he prays the prayer of salvation...
“Jesus! Have mercy on me!”
What's been missing on this road trip through Mark's gospel? What is the defining characteristic of the spiritually blinded ones?
They all have one thing in common. They either have never had a relationship with God's Holy Spirit, or they've outright rejected Him.
Salvation is...
Titus 3:5
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost".
And I think Stephen nailed it regarding spiritual blindness when he preached his sermon to the temple authorities.
Acts 7:51-53
"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."
When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus wanted him to come he leaped at the chance. These others all have either objected outright to the gospel call of salvation in Jesus, or they've struggled with some predetermined truths they were more accustomed to keeping in their hearts and minds.
As if to illustrate in them that the words of Jesus are profoundly true...
John 10:27
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me"
And all these others are goats, spiritually blind goats. They refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit. They cling to their traditions and blind guides with all their idols. They cannot hear the Holy Spirit over the sound of their mantras. They cannot see the truth for the forest of idols. They are spiritually blind goats.
John 9:41 Jesus said to them:
“If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains."
Their sin remains because they refuse to come to Jesus alone for propitious mercy. Their sin remains because they chose to follow others.
The only sacrifice God accepts for His salvation is the penitent sacrifice of faith and the plea of faith for mercy in Christ Jesus. Jesus taught this in the lesson about the prayer of salvation.
Luke 18:13
"But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’"
Immediately, in one moment, this extreme sinner achieves righteousness. Not with moral keeping. Not with merit. Not with works. Not with rituals and ceremonies. No sacraments. No pleas to anyone other than Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because the ONLY sacrifice God accepts is PERFECT righteousness. And ONLY Jesus has that righteousness to give.
Don't believe me...Jesus puts a nail in it here:
Luke 18:14
"For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
You can't do anything to help yourself. Blind Bartimaeus understood that. And he responded to mercy by following him. He chose wisely.