Mark 10:46-52
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” 50 Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51 And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
Yet again we encounter a story of someone’s faith healing them. In the end of verse 52, Mark says that Bartimaeus after regaining his sight, started following Jesus on the road. One suggestion before we move further: stop thinking about this as a physical miracle. The bible is a spiritual book of spiritual accounts; let us not neglect the spiritual side of things and I am not referring to the miraculous healing of the man’s eyesight. There is a miracle much bigger here than that.
The miracle, as a result of Baritmaeus’ faith, is that he was able to follow Jesus. Yes, it was made a bit easier because the man could now see, but we often forget that the gift of faith and strength to follow Jesus is a miracle in itself. It is a greater miracle than the man’s physical blindness being cured because his spiritual blindness is an eternal issue; his physical blindness was a temporary problem. Did you notice Bartimaeus’ conviction of Jesus healing him? He asked Jesus to have mercy upon him and asked him to regain his sight. He didn’t question whether or not Jesus could do it, but if He would. This is a great difference in mentality. Remember in Mark 9 when the father of the possessed boy said to Jesus:
22 “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23 And Jesus said to him, ” ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
Our question should never be if Jesus can do something, but rather if He will. This is seeking God’s will and seeking first the Kingdom of God (of which Jesus embodies). This is why Jesus states that anything is possible to him who believes. Our spiritual healing is only blocked by our unbelief in God’s ability. This is why James says about asking God for spiritual insight in the beginning of chapter 1:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Even more profoundly, Jesus reveals that the seeking of God’s will and His Kingdom will always result in receiving it in Luke 11:
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11 “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
So when we look at this story about Bartimaeus being healed, we can see that the man did not only receive physical sight, but also spiritual sight as a result of his faith. Let us think, before we finish, about how long Bartimaeus might have been waiting with that faith. The bible reveals a lot about the principle of patience and how the “bible greats” all had to wait on the Lord. I don’t think that Bartimaeus only had that faith when Jesus showed up. He had that faith as soon as he heard of Jesus and who He was. In Romans 10:17 the Apostle Paul says:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Bartimaeus heard the word of Christ from others and believed and the day He had the chance, He asked Him to give Him sight. Bartimaeus’ faith sustained him until the day he got to see Jesus face to face. His faith gave him hope. Maybe he didn’t fully realize that he would receive spiritual sight as well, but his faith that Jesus could heal him was all the faith he needed. We generally focus on our physical needs over our spiritual needs. Yet it is our spiritual issues that require more healing than our physical ones because our spiritual needs are more important.
