Mark 10:46-52 tells the story of the healing of Bartimaeus. It’s not really an unusual story, Jesus performs many healings in the Gospels, even restoring sight to the blind as we see here.
But there is one detail which strikes me as a little strange, and it’s the question that Jesus puts to Bartimaeus:
“What do you want me to do for you?”
I suppose there are a lot of things Bartimaeus might ask for—a few coins or a bit of food for instance—but his request really is the obvious one. Jesus is a famed healer. Bartimaeus is blind. The question seems unnecessary:
“Teacher, I want to see!”
Why does Jesus even need to ask?
Well, I think the answer is found in Jesus’ response to those who asked why he and his disciples were willing to eat with tax collectors and sinners. “Because,” Jesus told them, “healthy people don’t need a doctor, but those who are sick do.”
The point isn’t that some people are healthy and others aren’t. In many ways the people who refused to have anything to do with “sinners” were in worse health, spiritually speaking, than the “sinners” they rejected. But that simply serves to emphasise the point: healing begins with awareness.
And Bartimaeus is very aware of his situation. How could he not be?
But he’s aware of something else. He’s aware of who Jesus. He is “Son of David”—a messianic title. To cry out to Jesus, and to name him “Son of David,” are both acts of faith.
Bartimaeus is aware of who he is, of what he needs. And he is aware of who Jesus is, that he is the one who can meet his need.
When Jesus asks “what do you want me to do for you?” he’s asking Bartimaeus to put his cards on the table. He does so, and is healed.
That could have been the end of the story but we find one more interesting detail in the conclusion to the story: “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.”
That last line matters.
Think of the story of the healing of the ten lepers in Luke 17. Here ten people are healed, but only one returns to give thanks to Jesus. As for the other nine? It seems like healing was enough. Who needs Jesus anymore?
Bartimaeus is different. He doesn’t take Jesus for granted. Once healed, “he followed Jesus on the road.”
But why?
Not because of Jesus’ healing power. Bartimaeus doesn’t need it any more. And not gratitude either. Because it could only be gratitude for Jesus’ healing power which, again, Bartimaeus doesn’t need any more. We need to dig a little deeper.
When we do, it turns out that “deeper” is exactly the word we’re looking for!
Through his encounter with Jesus it appears that Bartimaeus has come to a deeper understanding of who Jesus is. And here it turns out that we can read the story metaphorically as well as literally because Jesus has opened Bartimaeus eyes in more ways than one.
Which is why the story of Bartimaeus is relevant to us all. It teaches us that awareness comes through encounter with Jesus. Which is why encounter is such a central theme in Christian spirituality.
But remember the principle we started with: “healthy people don’t need a doctor, but those who are sick do.”
Awareness doesn’t just involve an awareness of who Jesus is. It also involves an awareness of who we are.
But that “who we are” isn’t always so obvious. Our “sickness” isn’t always so easy to diagnose.
Often we think our need is obvious. A difficult marriage. A frustrating job. Conflict with a friend. We point to the surface issue—“X is the problem.” But what if X is only a symptom of something deeper?
And it doesn’t even need to be a fault or “sin” – it might just be as simple as ordinary human limitation. We’re not God, after all, and so it shouldn’t be any surprise that we have limitations.
Whatever the case may be, we’re don’t always have great awareness of who we ourselves are, much less who God is.
And so the benefits of contemplation—a word that simply speaks to us of paying attention.
There’s lots of ways to “pay attention” but here’s one simple exercise you might try: spend five minutes in silence reflecting upon these four questions:
- Who am I?
- Who is Jesus?
- Who is Jesus for me?
- Who am I for Jesus?
To be clear, these are not exam questions. There is no “right” answer. Even if you find it impossible to sit in silence for five minutes: Congratulations! You’re now aware of something you weren’t aware of before! If you find one question more important than the others: Congratulations! You’re (again!) now aware of something you weren’t aware of before! There quite literally is no way to “fail” at contemplation—the point is simply awareness. Because only when you become aware can you answer Jesus’ question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
Here let me just close with yet another detail from the Bartimaeus story. When Bartimaeus first called out to Jesus, he found opposition. We should expect that too. It might be external voices which tell us contemplative practice is unnecessary, or “not Christian,” or whatever. It might be internal voices of doubt, distraction, or restlessness.
I like how Bartimaeus responds: he yells louder! And then when he realises Jesus is calling him, he “throws off his garment” and comes to Jesus. To me, it’s a metaphor that shows that encounter with Jesus needs to be a priority. It needs to be important enough that we are willing to persist. From personal experience, I can assure you that persistence pays off.
Over time a commitment to contemplate who Jesus is, and who we are, who he is for us, and who we are for him, leads to ever deepening awareness.
Contemplation is our calling out to Jesus, just as Bartimaeus did, and like him we can expect to respond. “Be of good cheer, Jesus is calling you!” is as much an encouragement to you as it was to Bartimaeus.
That’s the point where encounter begins. And from grows awareness.
It’s in that ever deepening awareness that we find our reason to follow Jesus on the road.