Blind Bartimaeus

Mark 10: 46-52 (NASB)
Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me."
Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

Bartimaeus was not only blind but a beggar as well. In Jesus’ time beggars were recognized by their “uniform.” They wore a certain garment that identified them as beggars. The Bible does not say how long Bartimaeus had been a beggar or how long he had occupied the place on the outskirts of Jericho but he had a need and no source of filling it. Beggars are needy. They are in need of something and they wear a beggar’s uniform and their identification lies in the rags of need and want. Bartimaeus is an example of need and want.

We all have a longing in us. We need something. Did you know that God put it there? Eccl. 3: 10 says “God has put eternity into men’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” God has put an awareness of a life after death in man. Some refuse to believe this; some believe but ignore the truth or twist it to say what they want to believe. But each of us has a need, a longing—God put it there so we would seek Him and yet we go through life seeking satisfaction, coming away always disappointed because we thought, “This time, this is it.” And so we set up a cycle. Like Bartimaeus’s identification with begging, some of us go through life begging without even knowing it. It’s that deep, dark secret of wanting to be loved, wanting to be needed; needing. Needing what we never had, what we were never given from parents and family. It amazes me to watch so many parents with their children. They become targets of anger, the ears of those needy parents, not realizing their children had feelings and are to be nourished and nurtured instead of ignored, slammed, slapped and/or cursed at. Begging parents beget begging children, creating a sense of longing instead of belonging.

And so some “get over it” and go onto a productive life. Some don’t. Some go begging inside and become blind to the fact that life could be different if only they could see the way out.

Jesus never passed that way again. He was on His way to Jerusalem to die on a cruel cross. Bartimaeus called out to Jesus and Jesus stopped. Jesus knew what Bartimaeus wanted before he ever asked but it let Bartimaeus know or see his need of Jesus and that Jesus had the answer to his need. Faith will get Jesus’ attention! He asked
Bartimaeus “What do you want me to do for you?” This was just a test question: Want vs. Need. Bartimaeus needed to be able to see. I wonder when he regained his sight if he saw his need and decided to follow Jesus to find satisfaction. One thing I do know is this: If Bartimaeus hadn’t called out then and stopped Jesus, he would have missed his miracle of sight. Jesus was on His way to die. Bartimaeus regained his sight and threw off his begging garment, broke the habit of begging and got up and followed Jesus.

Some of you are blind and begging inside. What do you want Jesus to do for you? He's more than willing and able. If you call out to Jesus, He'll do for you what he did for Bartimaeus.