The story of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, sitting along the way, waiting for
Christ to pass by and to restore his sight is a masterpiece of spiritual
insight. Although brief, the story contains within it a portrait of divine
activity in the human condition, in the heart of everyman. The evangelist Mark
uses the episode to summarize the effects of Christ on the human soul, requiring
our willing cooperation.
The blindness of the beggar represents the truth that each of us is spiritually blind (to one degree or another), and that each of us is a vulnerable creature. If we are not literally begging for our daily bread, we are nevertheless dependent on the God who gives and sustains life. In other words, you and I are in the story. Christ embodies divine truth and love available to anyone who will but ask, who will open up his or her heart, and let the living God flow in. That the crowds at first tell the blind man to be quiet is typical of crowds in our human condition, typical of mass behavior: if we follow the crowds, and do as they do, we will miss the chance to encounter the living God. We must work contrary to the crowd, and seek God. Bartimaeus ignores the noisy crowd, and presses on to receive divine assistance: “Jesus, have mercy on me.”
The response of Christ shows us that God is ever available, ever willing to assist us, to open up the eye of our heart. But we must ask for divine assistance. God and man must work together for the human soul to experience the grace of God. In the story, Christ asks exactly the right question: “What would you have me do for you?” That question is valid here and now, and is being asked by Christ in the silence of your heart. You receive from God to the extent that you ask for God, letting Him live in you, and you live in accordance with the Lord. The blind beggar wants to see, but he is really asking for more than he probably knows: He is asking not only for physical sight, but for his eyes to be opened to the Presence of the living God. Proof that the blind beggar receives physical and spiritual sight is seen in the result: He follows Jesus up the road. And where is the road going? Up to Jerusalem, to where the cross awaits Christ. This man has become a disciple, and so is following Jesus on the way that is Christ--to the place where God becomes fully available to man. That is on the cross. Without our sharing in the cross, God is just a word to us, or perhaps a kind of love-god that does for us whatever we want. In our sharing in the cross, in dying to ourselves, Christ lives his life in us, with us, to make us fully one with him forever. “In his light we see light.”
The blindness of the beggar represents the truth that each of us is spiritually blind (to one degree or another), and that each of us is a vulnerable creature. If we are not literally begging for our daily bread, we are nevertheless dependent on the God who gives and sustains life. In other words, you and I are in the story. Christ embodies divine truth and love available to anyone who will but ask, who will open up his or her heart, and let the living God flow in. That the crowds at first tell the blind man to be quiet is typical of crowds in our human condition, typical of mass behavior: if we follow the crowds, and do as they do, we will miss the chance to encounter the living God. We must work contrary to the crowd, and seek God. Bartimaeus ignores the noisy crowd, and presses on to receive divine assistance: “Jesus, have mercy on me.”
The response of Christ shows us that God is ever available, ever willing to assist us, to open up the eye of our heart. But we must ask for divine assistance. God and man must work together for the human soul to experience the grace of God. In the story, Christ asks exactly the right question: “What would you have me do for you?” That question is valid here and now, and is being asked by Christ in the silence of your heart. You receive from God to the extent that you ask for God, letting Him live in you, and you live in accordance with the Lord. The blind beggar wants to see, but he is really asking for more than he probably knows: He is asking not only for physical sight, but for his eyes to be opened to the Presence of the living God. Proof that the blind beggar receives physical and spiritual sight is seen in the result: He follows Jesus up the road. And where is the road going? Up to Jerusalem, to where the cross awaits Christ. This man has become a disciple, and so is following Jesus on the way that is Christ--to the place where God becomes fully available to man. That is on the cross. Without our sharing in the cross, God is just a word to us, or perhaps a kind of love-god that does for us whatever we want. In our sharing in the cross, in dying to ourselves, Christ lives his life in us, with us, to make us fully one with him forever. “In his light we see light.”
