An Outsider's Insight

Read Mark 10:46-52

Mark tells so many stories of Jesus and his miracles of healing. But this one is special. At the end of this story, there is a new disciple. We know his name: Bartimaeus. Maybe the twelve got to know him quite well.

This man, Bartimaeus, is the most remarkable man of faith. In other healing stories, in the four gospels, there are different responses to Jesus. Just one leper in ten returned to say thanks to Jesus. We celebrate that one thankful person, but even he didn’t join Jesus. The Gentile woman from Syro-Phoenicia showed great faith which caused Jesus to heal her daughter, but she didn’t join Jesus. And Jesus didn’t expect them to join him.

Jesus didn’t expect Bartimaeus to join him, either! He was healed, now he could go. Jesus often said that – “Go!” “Go! Your faith has healed you”.

But Bartimaeus didn’t go – he didn’t go away. He stayed. He stayed with the group and “followed Jesus along the road” (Mk 10:52).

Bartimaeus showed great faith. We can see that from verse 50. “Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus”. Because he couldn’t see, he was a beggar. People would throw money into his cloak. That’s how beggars got money to survive. But he threw his cloak aside. He went away from his cloak. Without sight, it would be hard to get again. Maybe someone would steal it. So Bartimaeus showed great faith. He gave up everything for what Jesus might give.

At this point, Jesus hadn’t made any promises. Jesus had heard Bartimaeus ask for help, and simply asked the crowd to call for him. Now, face-to-face, Jesus asked the question. “What do you want me to do for you?” (v 51).

“What do you want me to do for you?” Is that question familiar? We heard it last week! James and John had asked Jesus for an open-cheque favour. And Jesus had to ask, “What do you want me to do for you?” Do you remember what they wanted? Special status. Seats next to Jesus in glory. Jesus said no. He couldn’t do that.

Jesus could say “No”. But he was happy to say “yes” to Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus had a simple request: “Rabbi, I want to see” (v 51).

What a shameful difference there is between Bartimaeus and the most experienced disciples of Jesus! Along with Peter, James and John had seen Jesus transfigured on the mountain. They had seen that Jesus was ranked by God with Moses and Elijah. They were thinking forward to another time like that – a time of glory. But Jesus reminded them that their job was to serve.

Sometimes church people can lose the plot. They can believe that their years of work, doing the church work that they do, gives them special status. They can think that they know what will please God. It’s a dangerous attitude.

We can see here that Bartimaeus was the one who got the favour of Jesus. We can see that Bartimaeus was the one who focused on faith. We see that Bartimaeus – unlike the rich young ruler – was happy to leave behind all he had to follow Jesus.

We can see that Bartimaeus – the blind man – was the one who actually had the eyes of faith. He was the one with true insight.

We need to approach God with innocent trust, like a child.We need to accept that new Christians can have a lot to teach us.Like Bartimaeus, the outsiders are often those with the insights.Lord, give us humility, and the desire also to see.