“…Take heart; get up, he is calling you” (Mark 10:49)
Mark 10:46-52 (Year B: The fifth Sunday before Advent or the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 28th October, 2018)
In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading which is common to most Christian churches, the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 126; and Hebrews 7:23-28. Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Mark may be found in Matthew 20:29-34 and in Luke 18:35-43.
If this Sunday is celebrated as ‘Bible Sunday’, the Gospel of John 5:36-47 may be used. Alternatively, if the Feast of St Simon and St Jude is celebrated, the Gospel of Luke 6:12-16 may be used.
The current impasse
But where is Bartimaeus today? We may ask.
Is there someone who is begging for help nearby?
Next to you on the train and looking vacant but in the depths of despair?
Someone in your own family circle who does not know how to articulate what is going on inside their head?
Someone who is a work colleague but hiding deep wounds?
Someone on Grafton Street, Dublin and sleeping rough waiting to be moved on at 5.30am when the shopping street needs to be ‘cleared’ of unpleasant sights, sounds and smells before people arrive for work, commerce or pleasure?
Someone fast asleep in a warm 24-hour internet café on Talbot Street, Dublin because that’s the only place in which to sleep and survive?
A family from the Irish Traveller community seeking emergency accommodation after a recent tragedy?
A young child grasping for life, warmth and nourishment as an adult carries her through muddy waters on an international frontier somewhere in October 2018?
Still younger children struggling to live?
Mothers facing life-changing and life-threatening situations and not receiving any support or practical help?
Many stories about the blind, the lame, the leper or other outcasts of ‘respectable ‘, ‘law-abiding’ and ‘religious’ society abound in the New Testament. At a distance of 2,000 years we can cast a comfort blanket around these stories. Or, we can fill out a direct debit to some excellent charity struggling with a tide of human suffering in various parts of the globe. Or, we can wake up to the call to act today, now in my immediate circles of influence and relationships.
Stories from the past..
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to give sight to the blind; to heal, to set free and to proclaim good news (Luke 4:18-19). Today, millions seek a ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:19) and they don’t find it. The gospel writer, Mark, summarises the key points of Jesus’ ministry at the very beginning of his gospel and again in this short passage (10:46-52). It concerns:
Faith
Repentance
Healing
Following
Mission (being sent)
It seems fitting that Mark should remind his audience, again, of the foundational pillars of the Gospel as we move from a period of ministry of healing and preaching to a new phase in the final story of what was about to happen in Jerusalem.
A blind man – Bartimaeus – was sitting by the road waiting for help. He had not given up because, we are told, he cried out for help to Jesus. Was he abandoned by his family? Did he have any family? Where did he come from and was he blind from birth? The fact that he was given a name by Mark might suggest that he became a disciple known among the early followers of Jesus?
We don't know for sure but we can assume that according to the cultural and religious norms of that time conditions of sickness or disability were often associated with sin. In other words, it was believed, that people who found themselves in such situations were paying the price for their own sin or that of their parents or forebears. A religion of ordinances, fines, punishments and restitution was in full sway.
For Mark, the scene is set in Jericho as Jesus heads for Jerusalem for the end-game. A blind man is on the way. There is more than a hint of the story of the Good Samaritan about this passage. Loving the actual real person next to us in the present moment of life can be so blindingly obvious that it is the very thing we miss as we are 'busy' with our many petty goals and deadlines. The cries of Bartimaeus and his presence might be seen as inconvenient, embarrassing and impeding our progress. But, Jesus senses someone in despair whom he can help there and then.
Each one of us is called..
Bartimeus calls out in faith - 'Jesus, son of David have mercy on me'. This was a cry from the depths of his heart born of anguish, continuous affliction and, to cap it all, social stigma and the lowest of esteem. In this story, the call to Bartimaeus comes through intermediaries before Jesus directly addresses Bartimaeus. Today, God uses people to extend a call to yet other people. Are we mediators of God's call to others or are we more like obstacles by the way we live and think and speak?
On being healed, Bartimaeus begins to follow Jesus. And it reasonable to conclude that he was likely to have been among those sent by Jesus and that followed him 'on the road' to Jerusalem and beyond).
And so today..
On our journey through life we meet with people who are broken. Or, perhaps, we experience brokenness ourselves on the side of life's journey. The gospels assure us that, in his risen body, the Christ of God is never far from us. Indeed, through faith he lives in our hearts even when we seem to have no sense of faith or presence or reassurance of same.
And walking on the road with Jesus is the result of making our peace with the One who heals us where nobody else can. There is a saying that 'seeing is believing'. However, in this passage of Mark we have a reversal of the normal sequence: 'believing is seeing' as Bartimaeus put his trust in God's power at work in Jesus whom he could not yet see.
A light is lit in our souls when we trust in this power. The real Bartimaeus is found when we go out from our own prisons and discover the freedom of the Gospel. As St Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6:
For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(words above = 990)
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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse
Preliminaries
Jesus and his disciples, according to Mark, are on the their way to Jerusalem. They passed through Jericho on the way. Jericho is about 30 Km from Jerusalem – a day’s journey by foot. This episode involving a blind beggar appears almost like an appendix following an important phase in Jesus’ ministry and before Jesus’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem as Mark recounts it.
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.We may note that the blind beggar has a name: Bartimaeus. Of the three synoptic gospels, only Mark names him. Bartimaeus – the sone of Timaeus – had the honour of calling Jesus by his title ‘Son of David’.
This is the scene for what happened on the road from Jericho (or to Jericho if we go with the detail of Luke's gospel). In proclaiming God’s Kingdom Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah (31:8-9)
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back.10:47: The cry of one who is on the margins
When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’
10:48: The reaction of others to this cry
Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!
10:49-50: Jesus’ response
Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
10:51-52: A conversation and a call
Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
This parallels the conversation in Mark 10 involving James, John and Jesus. On this occasion, there is requests for seats of honour. A humiliated and marginalised blind man simply wanted to see. But, there was more to physical sight, here. Like us, he wanted to see real truth, real goodness and real beauty. Deep down, that is what all of wants but we sometimes do not know how or where to look for this vision. It is the simple faith or trust of the beggar that opens up a way for Jesus to heal this man. The healing runs so deep that this man simply followed Jesus. He became one of his disciples and we may be sure that he ended up in Jerusalem that day or later.
An interesting divergence in the same basic story is to be found in the account of Matthew (20:29-34) where it is said that two blind men were called and healed. Matthew is concerned about the communal aspect of discipleship. Where 'two or three are gathered' there is the healing power of Jesus whether as when he walked on the waters or when he healed, here, on the road from Jericho or when on the cross surrounded by two accused thieves.
In the other New Testament Reading for this Sunday and from the Letter to the Hebrews (7:23-28), Jesus is presented as the perfect, unique and all-sufficient sacrifice that takes our sins away and sets us free. He is the answer to sin – our sin whether individual or whether embedded in the very structures of society. But, not only that, Jesus is the way to complete liberation and fullness of life.
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