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!"  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 aid 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 they 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 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 of all 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!"  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 aid to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.  Let us first note that Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, and Jericho is on this road.  Jericho was a low-lying city, which was associated with sin (Luke 10:30, 19:1).   Often blindness is symbolically associated with sin, and sin's detriment to ourselves as a sense in which there is something we lack or that we are missing, that keeps us from completeness, wholeness.  Moreover, the restoration of sight to the blind was a sign which was expected of the Messiah (Isaiah 29:18, 35:4-5), a power that was reserved by God for God  (compare John 9:32).  My study bible points out that Bartimaeus shows his faith that Jesus was the Christ, by calling Him Son of David, a title for the Messiah.  A traditional spiritual interpretation of this story is that Jericho, with its reputation for sin, is a symbol of fallen humanity.  Christ passing through  is an image of the Incarnation itself.  Christ's restoration of Bartimaeus' sight is a metaphor for His restoration of humanity to glory.  As human nature is made whole by Christ, it can now follow Christ on the road to the Kingdom, shown in Christ's subsequent Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (11:1-11).

If we think of blindness as a metaphor, we think of a person who misses something because they can't see it.  It's as if you have a set of facts from which you must operate in life, like, for example, approaching a street one must cross, only one can't see the cars coming or the obstacles in the way.  Blindness becomes a metaphor, in that sense, for not knowing what we are doing, not truly understanding the whole picture of our reality.  (Of course this is not at all to throw disparagement on those who are physically blind!  This is meant to portray only a metaphor for a spiritual condition.)  Frequently, in an argument, one might reproach another for not understanding or accepting what one considers to be obvious, by telling one's opponent, "You are blind!"  Jesus also uses blindness as a metaphor for spiritual darkness by saying of the religious leaders, "They are blind leaders of the blind" (Matthew 15:14).  In this way He meant to convey that they were misguided by what they could not see or perceive, and their own leadership would lead to stumbling for all who followed them.  So, in this context, we might ask ourselves regarding this story of blind Bartimaeus, what it is that Jesus brings to the world, and to us as individuals, that we need in order to truly see.  That is, in spiritual terms, what does Jesus give us that illuminates our lives, our places in the world and the cosmos, that adds a dimension both necessary for our wholeness and which is missing from a sinful point of view.  If we think of sin not as something horribly evil on our part, but as something denoting ignorance (for which blindness is metaphor), then we come to a certain kind of perspective we might not usually have on the matter.  Christ offers us enlightenment, also a metaphor for a restoration of the ability to see.  He opens our eyes (another metaphor) to possibilities of the fullness of life that we can't encounter in a worldly perspective, because a worldly perspective misses the mystical reality that nurtures body, soul, and spirit in wholeness.  As Jesus is in today's reading passing through Jericho, let us consider another metaphor for ourselves at this time.  We pass through a kind of Jericho, an affliction that leaves us vulnerable, even crippled at the moment.  The entire world experiences together at this time a pandemic of the coronavirus.  Virtually the entire economy of the world is shut down -- as over 150 countries are afflicted -- in order to combat the spread of this virus for which we have no vaccine and no known cure.   There is an enormous amount of fear associated with this circumstance, and just as with the faith Christ asks of us, fear is the wrong direction for those of us who put our faith in Christ.  Our way is to continue to walk forward and place our trust in Him, looking for the illumination we need to go through, the bright spots of light we can follow, and the endurance which He teaches His disciples of all ages and through all time.  Christ asks us for courage, and that is a part of the light we need, as well.  Jericho is a "low-lying city" -- and so we might pass through what we could call a low point.  But "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  As our timing coincides with Lent, we understand that as Christians, it is already a time for more focused prayer, inspirational literature, Scripture reading, and even if we do so virtually, corporate worship.  We also have open to us to pray at home the Prayers of the Hours, the various services the Church has used throughout the centuries in monasteries.  Praying through the Psalms is another good practice for Lent.  All of these Lenten practices help to build up our strength and fortitude.  They build our courage.  They give us a sense that what we need is not panic and fear, nor anxiety, but the bedrock of our faith that has always fully accepted that life will have difficulties, and never have we been blind to the understanding of the nature of our world, and even the evil that is within it, including affliction and illness.  As Christians, and with the One whom we call our Leader, we follow Him through danger and difficulty, and not with blindness to any of the reality of our world.  Jesus, in today's reading, is on His way to Jerusalem, on His way to Palm Sunday, which is right around the corner (this Sunday, or next week for the Eastern Orthodox).  So we find ourselves together with Him.  He is the cure for our blindness, for our fear and anxiety, for the courage He offers and the faith He strengthens, for His love which always teaches and leads in the light.  Let us step up to this moment and really fulfill our mission as His disciples, and be the fullness of what we can be in His healing and wholeness for humanity.  He teaches us endurance and calm in the storm (see this reading, and this one).    Let us look to His light, and not be one of the blind led by the spiritually blind.  At this time, with all things, it is our faith that will make us well, helping to cling to the positive, using all things for good purpose, and setting ourselves on a steady course through our difficulties, keeping our eyes open for the best way forward.  Moreover, we use our God-given gift of intelligence to do our best and prudently approach our efforts at mitigation, acting responsibly on behalf of all, and following the best advice of experts.  Let us remember that Bartimaeus' prayer is the basis of the prayer of the Church through the ages, the best short prayer we can utter, even doing so perpetually as a good practice, "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me!"  Let us also follow Jesus on the road.