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Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho, the first city that Joshua conquered with the people of Israel in Canaan as they crossed the Jordan river. This passage has not mentioned anything Jesus did in Jericho. It only said, “as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.” (v46) In former accounts of Mark, Jesus has healed many people, namely Simon’s mother-in-law (1:30), a leper (1:40), a palsied man (2:3), a man with a withered hand (3:1), a man with unclean spirit in Gadarenes (5:2), Jairus’ daughter (5:23), a woman of blood disease (5:25), the Greek woman’s daughter with an unclean spirit (7:25), a deaf man with speech problem (7:32), a blind man (8:22), a man’s son with a dumb spirit (9:17). Amazingly, in all these healing accounts, the names of those who were healed were not given at all. On the contrary, this blind beggar’s name as well as his father’s name were disclosed. There are two indications for it:
1. He was a well-known beggar, who had been begging for a long time in Jericho.
2. His name was to be remembered as a man of strong faith.
Matt 20:29-34 recorded the same account but mentioned two blind men instead of one, and their names were not mentioned. Whether one or two blind men were actually healed is not that important in terms of the message the author intends to bring out. Mark only focuses on the blind man whose name was Bartimaeus.
Highway seems to be the common place for a beggar to stay for reason of heavy traffic flow. Bartimaeus “sat by the highway side begging.” As soon as he “heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, ‘Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.’ ” (v47) The beggar, prior to asking Jesus for healing, had to overcome some difficulties:
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He was blind. He could not see Jesus’ face. Nor could he come before Jesus, unless someone led him. But for now, nobody cared to lead him to Jesus.
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It was a noisy environment. Since it was a highway where Jesus was passing and he was followed by a great number of people, it was very difficult for the blind beggar to catch Jesus’ attention. The only thing he could do is to cry aloud.
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Moreover, he was stopped and scolded by the people due to his annoyance. As he kept crying out, “many charged him that he should hold his peace.” (v48) Why? It is natural that people generally despised a beggar, who contributed nothing to the society. A blind beggar was even more despised. Nobody would want to hear his voice. The beggar encountered opposition from the majority.
In face of all these obstacles, he expressed his strong faith in Jesus:
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He called Jesus “son of David”. While he heard people shouting that “Jesus of Nazareth” was coming, he kept crying out “son of David” (v47, 48). There is a huge difference between the two. In John 1:45-46, after Philip was called by Jesus to follow him, he looked for his friend Nathanael (i.e. Bartholomew) and said to Nathanael, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” However, on hearing the title “Jesus of Nazareth”, Nathanael immediately scoffed at this name and said, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Why did he despise the inhabitants of this city so much? Apparently, the city of Nazareth was merely a small city, uncomparable to any prosperous city in Israel. The inhabitants there were extremely poor and uneducated. Therefore, he felt it very unsuitable to link the honourable Messiah to this tiny city. While the crowd recognized Jesus as a man from a small city, Bartimeus deeply believed that this Jesus was the Messiah, the heir of the throne that God promised to give King David according to the prophets’ saying.
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He did not give up calling for Jesus’ attention. Even though he was scolded and told to stop crying, he not only did not give up “but he cried the more a great deal, ‘Thou son of David, have mercy on me.’ ” (v48). He knew that he had to raise his voice and cry louder, or he could not gain the attention of Jesus. He kept crying until Jesus heard him, because he did not want to miss this golden opportunity.
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He asked Jesus to “have mercy” on him. (v48) He believed that Jesus was the merciful Lord. Besides, he strongly believed that Jesus was able to recover his sight. (v51) He believed that Jesus had the power of healing any disease. Whether he would exercise his power on him wholly depended on whether he was willing to show him mercy.
His crying effort was not wasted. It was his persistence in face of external pressure and his strong faith expressed by his voice, plus the special title of Jesus he used, that touched Jesus’ heart. Jesus immediately asked people to bring the beggar to him. While everyone saw him a nuisance, Jesus started to pay full attention to him! Bartimaeus was immediately comforted by the people, who said to him, “Be of good comfort, rise; he called thee.” (v49) He knew at once that he had the hope of being healed. With a joyful heart, “he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.” (v50) When Jesus asked him, “ 'What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?' The blind man said unto him, 'Lord, that I might receive my sight.' ” (v51) Jesus said, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” (v52) “Go thy way” does not necessarily mean that Jesus asked him not to follow him. It may be Jesus’ encouragement to tell the blind beggar to step out and walk by himself. He no longer needed any guiding staff or anyone to lead him. “Thy faith hath made thee whole” was the final important message that Jesus wanted to convey to the beggar and everyone else: God’s showing of mercy and miracle depends on man’s exercise of their faith in Him (including His power and love).
Why did Jesus not even bother to touch the eyes of Bartimaeus in the healing process? In Mark 8:23, he healed a blind man by spitting on his eyes and putting his hands on him. (See ‘Note’) This time, he only spoke without any specific move. However, Matt 20:34 says in the same account that “Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes.” In my opinion, Mark emphasized the point that Jesus wanted to strengthen Bartimaeus’ faith that the so-called “son of David” he named Jesus was indeed the powerful Messiah. “Immediately he received his sight.” (v52) Apparently, this is Mark’s writing style of showing the power of Jesus’ action.
Now Jesus finally fulfilled Bartimaeus’ wish. In response to Jesus’ healing, Bartimaeus “followed Jesus in the way”. (v52) The recovery of his sight brought a whole new life to this beggar. I believe he always put on his garment as he sat on the road to beg. The garment had been with him for years. As soon as Jesus called him, he cast away his garment. This unusual act implied that he dropped his profession as a beggar. He no longer had to put on that garment to beg anymore. It was at this moment that his act proved his determination to receive mercy from Jesus. It was at this moment that he believed Jesus was going to change his life. Yes, he received his sight and there was no need to beg for the meals anymore. He chose to follow Jesus; he joyfully walked with Jesus in hopes of experiencing the change of his life all the way. It was truly a thanksgiving act pleased by the Lord as well as a concrete testimony of God’s mercy and power on him while walking past the streets of Jericho.
Note
Please review ‘Compare 2 cases of healing the blind’ (Mark 8:22-26).