And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road

 Now they came to Jericho.  As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.  Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer.  Rise, He is calling you."  And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.  So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

- Mark 10:46-52

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.  And as they followed they were afraid.  Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:  "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."  And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 Now they came to Jericho.  As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.  Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer.  Rise, He is calling you."  And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.  So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.  My study bible comments on this passage that the restoration of sight to the blind was a sign expected to be performed by the Messiah (Isaiah 39:18; 35:4-5).  This was a power God had reserved for Himself (compare John 9:32).  Son of David is a messianic title, an expression by Bartimaeus of his faith that Jesus was the Christ. 

The text tells us a certain process that happens in Bartimaeus' encounter with Jesus.  First, he repeatedly cries out, showing his faith that Jesus is the Messiah by calling Him "Son of David."   He not only shows faith, but also persistence in his pleas to Christ, despite the fact that he's told to be quiet by the crowds.  The text says that Jesus stood still and commanded Bartimaeus to be called.  This is an interesting image of Jesus, and one that has an imperial quality to it.  He stood still and took time out to issue a command to call Bartimaeus.  It gives us a kind of icon of Christ commanding angels to respond to a plea or prayer.  In the Greek, the word for "call" has an indication of shouting with a loud voice.  This verse gives us a sense of the crowd echoing with loud voices toward Bartimaeus after Jesus tells them to "call" him, a way in which a message comes across a long distance.   It's as if Bartimaeus is far removed from Christ in distances that span much more than merely space, and yet Christ hears and gives the command through multiple messengers that he be called across that distance.  We may be spiritually far from Christ, but in this sense of the crowd relaying the loud calls toward Bartimaeus, Christ's response may be relayed to us through hierarchies of messengers, angels and saints, or perhaps those more spiritually wise than we are, that He has heard.  Even in His great distance from us, Christ may "stand still" for us and respond.  Perhaps most interesting of all that as Bartimaeus rises and comes to Christ, he throws aside his garment.  A garment is frequently meant to indicate persona or role, something we "put on," and Bartimaeus casts off the "old man" (Ephesians 4:22-24) as he comes to Christ.   He's ready to leave his current state, his whole identity behind, to come to Christ to be renewed and healed.  Like an emperor willingly hearing the plea of a subject, Jesus asks Bartimaeus, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  The power in this picture is clear:  it all rests with Jesus.  Bartimaeus is granted his desire, and given his sight.  And it is affirmed by Christ that it is Bartimaeus' faith that has made him well.  What does the new man Bartimaeus do?  He joins the crowd of disciples who follow Christ on the road to Jerusalem.   Jericho was a rather notorious town which was associated with sin -- a form of blindness.  Bartimaeus leaves this place where he is a blind beggar, and because of his faith and Christ's response, he continues -- now seeing -- on the road to Jerusalem with Jesus and the disciples.  Can we presume that in Jerusalem, Bartimaeus will see everything?  That is, all of Christ's Passion?  Will he now become a witness to the Crucifixion in Jerusalem?  To the cleansing of the temple, the disputes with the leadership, the pronouncement of Pilate, and the crowd that shouts for Jesus' death?  If we are to understand the implications of this healing, Bartimaeus is, in a certain sense, the old Israel, who cries to the Son of David -- and who will now witness what will happen with the Messiah and what is to come.  He will presumably remain with the disciples in Jerusalem and come to know of the Resurrection and the story of the empty tomb.  Perhaps he will even be present at one of the occasions when Christ appears, such as at the Ascension.  All we can do is guess -- but the text leads us to an interesting place.  Surely for these details of Bartimaeus and  his story to appear in the Gospel, he must have been known to the early Church.  Bartimaeus may be, in some sense, the whole of Israel, formerly blind but now seeing, and witnessing -- like the disciples -- what is done to the Messiah, and the fullness of what is to come.  He gains his sight in order to become a witness to this extraordinary story of Christ, a new covenant being born, a revelation for the ages and fulfillment of all the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17).  Like Bartimaeus, let us pray that our blindness be healed, and be prepared to become someone new for this incredible process of grace we can witness, and the transformation and changes it brings.  Let us note that to receive sight is not the end of our story, but only the beginning.