Not long ago I had an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic. I need to have some surgery done next year and my wife and I were visiting with the surgeon. It was the first time I have ever been to the Cleveland Clinic and I was lost. That place is massive! It took us a while to find the parking garage and then we had no idea of how to get from the garage to the building where my doctor had his office. After wandering around some hallways for a while, my wife suggested that I ask a young woman who looked like an employee for directions. Guys don’t ask for directions. If we can’t find it on the maps app, then we will discover it on our own. Well after wandering for a while longer and hearing the evident frustration of my wife, I stopped another person who looked like an employee and asked for directions. She pointed across the street to a tall brownish building and we were on our way. It wasn’t too long before we arrived at the doctor’s office. One of the receptionists who checked me in, was the young woman my wife told me to ask for directions. I was reminded of that for quite a while afterward. I share this story because it reflects some of the elements of the Gospel story of Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus was a blind man in an era when there was little that a blind person could do except live on the margins of society and beg for a few coins to survive. This is exactly what Bartimaeus was doing. He sat alone by the side of the road, covered in dust, begging.
His sense of desperation suggests that he hadn’t always been blind. He understood the enormity of his loss. If he had been blind from birth, he would have lacked that understanding and been more resigned to blindness. So, when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth, the miracle worker, was walking down the road, he called out to Jesus with both all the frustration and hope in his heart. “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” This wasn’t a whispered prayer. It was a shout, with everything that Bartimaeus had in him. It was so loud that the people around him told him to shut up. Did he listen to them? No, he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
It worked. Jesus heard his cry and told the disciples to “Call Bartimaeus”. The disciples didn’t seem put out by Jesus’ instruction. They seemed glad that Jesus heard Bartimaeus, as they told Bartimaeus to take courage. They probably escorted Bartimaeus to the side of Jesus, as he was blind and would likely need such help.
The exchange between them was simple. What do you want me to do for you?” “I want to see.” Jesus restored his sight and sent him on his way with the statement that his faith had saved him. The last sentence in this Gospel story is telling because once his sight was restored, he didn’t wander off but followed Jesus.
Life isn’t always what we want it to be. It is certainly a cherished gift from God, but it can be difficult at times. Among some of us, particularly men, there is a tendency to hunker down in difficult times and work through the difficulty. We’re tough, we don’t need help. To ask someone for help is an admission of our own weakness, an inability to achieve the goal on our own. We don’t like to depend on others.
However, there is wisdom in knowing when to reach out for help. Our salvation is not our own doing, it is a gift from God realized through Jesus Christ. Our challenge is to accept that gift. Reaching out to Christ for his help, is the essence of wisdom, as we see with Bartimaeus in the Gospel story. There is practical wisdom as well in being open to the help that God gives us through one another.
God calls us to serve one another. That service can only be realized when we are willing to accept the service of others as a gift of grace. Whether that service is in getting needed directions, as in my story, or being healed from blindness, as in the Gospel story. We are not isolated individuals independent of one another but rather we are the Body of Christ, ministering to one another and to the world around us.
The Gospel reading is rich in material for reflection.
* We see the encouragement and help offered by the disciples to Bartimaeus, an encouragement and help that we might copy with those in need whom we encounter.
* We see the single-minded focus of what Bartimaeus desires from Christ; that he can see. It was that desire that motivated Bartimaeus to call out to Jesus and seek his help.
* We see Bartimaeus being healed and Christ attributing the healing to Bartimaeus’ faith that Christ could heal him.
The final point in the reading is very important. It tells us that given the gift of sight, Bartimaeus didn’t waste it but became a disciple. His life was utterly changed because of his encounter with Christ. As a result of his faith in Christ and asking for help, he was able to perceive the world around him. He was able to perceive its beauty. He was able to perceive the suffering of others and those aspects of the world that were not that beautiful. In following Jesus, he used that new found perception to become another Christ and to be a vehicle of grace in this world much in need of grace.
The challenge that Bartimaeus places before us in today’s reading is in asking us to question our willingness to reach out and accept the help that we need; help whose source is Christ and that may come to us through our brothers and sisters. We are also asked what are we going to do with the help and grace that we have been given? Are we going to allow it to bear fruit in our life that will nourish others?