Mark's Gospel consists of more than “the Jesus Story.” Each of the gospels has a sub-text which applies to those who hear or read the gospel and respond to the grace of Christ embodied in it. The sub-text for Mark is that the narrative describes the essence of faithful discipleship for those in his audience who comprehend God’s saving activity in Christ. For Mark the healing of the blind man in Jericho emphasizes this point which comes to its fulfilment in the Passion narrative which is soon to unfold.
Bartimaeus of Jericho is the last person to respond to Jesus before he began his final approach to Jerusalem and the cross. Since the declaration of his messiahship at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus had been making his way slowly south from Galilee toward the center of Jewish religious activity, Jerusalem. As he went, he consistently taught his disciples about his pending death and resurrection. They neither understood him nor recognized the cost of following him. Indeed, the final mistake they made was to fight among themselves about their positions in the pecking order in the messianic kingdom they believed he was about to establish. How could they have been so blind? We read about the mental and spiritual denseness of the disciples and get the image of Jesus as a bobble head doll, because he must have spent a lot of time shaking his head at the disciples’ failure to grasp even the simplest things he tried to teach them.
The disciples had seen and heard Jesus for more than two years now. Bartimaeus couldn’t see, but he had heard about a man who was saying powerful things and doing wonderful deeds of mercy. He also had a sufficient understanding of his religious heritage to know that the promised Messiah would be from the house of David. That would have been on his mind as Passover approached.
Bartimaeus may not have had all the information needed to connect the dots, but he took his chance. I’m sure he has been disappointed on past occasions by quacks and charlatans. So he shouted his affirmation above the din, “Son of David, show me mercy!” And he nails it.
We are so used to dealing with snippets of scripture that we forget that the gospel writers had very specific ideas about Jesus which guided them in the order and way they recounted the stories of Jesus. The story of Bartimaeus is not an isolated story, at least not in the thinking of Mark. The Bartimaeus event, coming just before Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what we know as Palm Sunday, culminates a series of events in Mark’s literary arc.
Near the beginning of this last chapter of the traveling Jesus, Jesus blessed children, rebuking his disciples for trying to send them packing to the nursery out of earshot. “Whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it.” Children know something that we adults have either forgotten or stomped out of our spiritual thinking.
A piece down the road a man earnestly asks Jesus what he must do to obtain eternal life. One word keys Jesus into the man’s problem. “Obtain.” The man has evidently made “obtaining” an art form. So Jesus tells him to put it all in reverse: divest. “Sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.” The man went away heart-broken.
In a quiet time later on, the brothers James and John corner Jesus and try to weasel their way onto the short list of those in charge when Jesus is no longer around. (At least they did catch on that he wasn’t going to be around after a while.) They eagerly assert that they can pass the promotion tests – drinking from Jesus’ cup and receiving the same baptism. However they missed the full content of those tests, which they will undergo. But Jesus said it wasn’t up to him who gets the kingdom vice-presidencies.
Mark then threads the narrative around to Bartimaeus, who senses something in all the skit-skat about Jesus and the vibes of the crowd of Passover pilgrims proceeding through Jericho towards Jerusalem. Jesus invites him off the side of the road. “What do you want me to do for you?” “Teacher, I want to see.”
So in the space of one chapter of Mark’s account we meet four men: the rich man, James, John, and Bartimaeus. If all four of them were guests at one of our worship services or activities, who might get the most attention? Which one would you consider the best candidate for church membership? There is a blind man who is going to need a lot of help – physically as well as financially. The Deacons will be wary. There are the two conniving brothers who will beg the Nominating Committee to propose them as session elders so that they can experience the adrenalin rush of power. Then there is the rich man. I can just see the Finance and Stewardship folks salivating at the prospect of balanced budgets and expanded endowments. And the mission folks won’t be far behind seeking gifts for special projects.
Commentator R. T. France notes:
“The last potential recruit we met was an admirable, respectable, and wealthy man, but to the disciples’ consternation he has not been welcomed into Jesus’ entourage. Now we meet a man at quite the other end of the scale of social acceptability, a blind beggar. And it is he, rather than the rich man who will end up following Jesus [on the way] with his sight restored, whereas the rich man has gone away ‘blind’. This man has nothing to lose, nothing to sell, and so his commitment can be immediate and complete. While we hear nothing of his subsequent discipleship, the fact that Mark records his name and his father’s name suggests that he became a familiar character in the disciple group.”(1)If the key concept about the rich man was the verb “obtain” and his subsequent inability to shed belongings, then the key concept for Bartimaeus is in the participial phrase, “throwing his coat to the side.”
The scripture version that many of us were raised on says that he cast away “his garment.” recent translations have adopted the words “cloak” or “coat.” I think that none of those terms really fit. Here is a beggar who spends his days sitting by the side of the Jerusalem road. Who knows where he spends his nights. My guess is that he didn’t own a coat, not as we think of a coat. Rather than a cloak, I envision him having a blanket, something like a Mexican serape. He’ll throw it over his shoulders and wrap it around himself when it was chilly. Or he could pull it up over head when the sun beat down at midday. It would protect him on those few occasions when the rain would pelt down.
A blanket is best for being settled in one place. It is a hindrance to moving. You can get caught up in the folds as you try to get to your feet or trip over the trailing end if you try to run. For all the comfort and security which a blanket offers, it has its drawbacks.
As the unnamed rich man made a point of obtaining (and had hoped to obtain Jesus as well), the poor blind man named Bartimaeus eagerly threw aside his encumbering covering in order to be received by Jesus.
What encumbers us? What hampers us from getting up and going to Jesus when he call us? What blankets our lives?
The answer to those questions is as unique as each of us. The possible answers are pride, fear, independence, constraining self-control, misunderstanding, security, pig-headedness, bravery, comfort, addiction, narrow-mindedness, narcissism, ignorance, insecurity, peer pressure. I am sure there a lot more. I won’t ask you to call out the name of your blanket. But I will ask you to say its name to yourself.
Naming your blanket is the first step towards unclasping your death-grip on it in preparation to flinging it out of the way in order to get to Jesus. You have to get rid of the blanket if you want to see, to be healed, to live in the grace-filled life that Jesus offers, to follow Jesus on the way.
Bartimaeus demonstrated both perseverance and obedience. He persistently overcame the barriers to his healing and becoming a disciple of Jesus. He was blind and could not get to Jesus; he was rebuked when he called out for mercy. Yet he ignored the reaction of the crowd and came to Jesus. He obeyed immediately by jumping to his feet, leaving behind his only comfort and possession. He knew his desperate condition. Perhaps that is our final barrier. Perhaps we are so enwrapped in the blankets of our living we don't feel our need for him. Do you recognize your spiritual blindness? Are you willing to leave your blanket behind and everything that it represents? Can you respond quickly to Christ’s call?(2)
Throw off your blanket and let Jesus’ words swell in your being: “Go, your faith has healed you.”
Be healed and follow Jesus on the way. There is life without the blanket. May that be your life and may all the thanks be to Christ. Amen.
(1) R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2014), 422.
(2) “Mark,” Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 309.
Unless noted otherwise, all scripture references are from The Common English Bible, © 2011 www.commonenglishbible.com.
Copyright © 2015 First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Reprinted by permission.
