BARTIMAEUS AND THE PHYSICIAN

BARTIMAEUS

Mark 10:46-52

        In considering the account of Bartimaeus we find ourselves still in the company of Jesus on His way to His Cross. It is set in the same geographical surroundings as that of Zachaeus, that is to say, the events recorded took place in connection with His visit to Jericho. In the account of Zachaeus we saw our Lord entering the city, and then within the Sty dealing with Zachaeus. Matthew and Mark refer to things that happened when He was leaving the city (t is in itself a matter of great interest that on this final journey our Lord took His way to this city.

        We halt for a few minutes with a matter which is not of utmost importance, perhaps, but is at least of interest to the Bible student. The majority of harmonists attempting to set out the account of Jesus in chronological sequence have confused similarity with identity. The account which we have in Mark is treated as a variant of that found in Matthew, giving an account of the healing of two blind men, and with the account in Luke of the healing of one. Now let me repeat what I have already said that the matter is of no really serious importance, but I may state at this point that I believe that these are distinct stories. We must keep in mind that Jericho was a great city of at least a hundred thousand inhabitants, and at its gates, whether on the one side or the other, and clustered upon the wayside near the gates, would always be a multitude of beggars. Moreover unquestionably at this time many of them would be blind.

        Luke tells us of our Lord's meeting with one blind man, and is very careful to say, "As He drew nigh unto Jericho." His dealing with this man took place as He was entering the city. Mark tells us the account of Bartimaeus, and distinctly says that He met him as He was going out of the city. Matthew tells us of two that He encountered as He went out. Possibly Bartimaeus was one of the two Matthew refers to, although he does not name him. I admit that there is a great similarity in the details of these stories, but there is no reason to think they are identical.

        We confine ourselves to Mark's account of Bartimaeus. The account is brief and dramatic in itself, and is full of value when considered in the atmosphere of the time when it occurred.

        If we begin our reading with the statement made in 10:32, "And they were in the way, going up to Jerusalem," we shall find that everything in the paragraph there beginning, circles around one verse, the forty-fifth. The Lord was speaking to His disciples, and in so doing in that atmosphere He made this tremendous and overwhelming declaration: "For verily the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."

        In our consideration of the account of Zachaeus we noticed how upon that occasion He uttered another of His most important sayings: "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost."

        We saw how the account of Zachaeus illustrates that saying, showing us at once in the case of the man, the real meaning of being lost, and revealing by Christ's action what it is to seek and save the lost.

        Here again we have apparently incidentally a great and inclusive word of our Lord. While we are familiar with it in the form in which we find it in our versions, it may be to our advantage to slightly change the wording in order to emphasize the sense. We may read it therefore: "Verily, the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

        The saying is startling because, and of necessity, we are constantly serving the Son of man; yet here He said that the purpose of His coming was not to be served, that is, not for personal boasting in any form. The purpose of His coming into the world was that He might serve. Now all that must be kept in mind as we come to this account of Bartimaeus, and Christ's dealing with him, as passing from the city, He met him.

        This man was evidently well known, for Mark names him, Bartimaeus, and then repeats the naming by translating, "the son of Timaeus." The natural deduction from this method of introduction is that the man and his father were well known in the circle of the disciples. The account is not merely that of the opening of the eyes of the man, but of the beginning of his definite discipleship. Very probably his father also had been, or, became a disciple of Jesus. Here, however, he is first seen as blind, and as with a blind beggar, living upon the charity of the casual passerby, sitting by the wayside, receiving gifts, unable to see anything that was going on around him; but as blind people so constantly are, acute in hearing and understanding as he listened.

        One day he heard an unusual sound that is the sound of an unusual crowd, the tramp of a great multitude passing by the place where he sat begging. Undoubtedly he asked the meaning of this, and received the answer. Here, of course, is the origin of the great hymn with which Ira D. Sankey made us so familiar in bygone days:

"What means this eager, anxious throng,

Which moves with busy haste along

These wondrous gatherings day by day,

What means this strange commotion, pray?

In accents hushed the throng reply,

'Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.'"

        We can imagine Bartimaeus asking this very question, and receiving this answer.

        Now fastening our attention upon the man in action we notice first that directly he knew that Jesus of Nazareth made a direct appeal to Him. Still sitting in the place where he had been a beggar, living on alms, he cried out: "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me."

        This method of appeal makes it perfectly clear that he had some previous knowledge of Jesus and that he had heard of Him. He designated Him in words that were equivalent to a confession or at least an admission of His Messiahship, "Jesus, Thou Son of David." Whether it was a venture made half in the darkness it is impossible to say, but it is quite evident that this man, trusting for a living on the charity of the casual passer-by, was now reaching out after some gift other than any he had ever received, because possibly that this Prophet, of Whom he had heard so much, was indeed the Messiah; and he sought His compassion as he said: "Have mercy on me." It is clear that he was not asking for alms of Jesus in the usual sense of the word. He recognized the special meaning in the moving of that crowd when he found Who it was that was at its center; and we have this vision of him rising above material necessity a certain sense, and seeking the one inestimable gift he lacked, that of sight. Moreover, his appeal was made to the compassion of Jesus.

        The next impression made upon us is that of his persistence. Mark says, "Many rebuked him." He does not distinctly say that the disciples did so, but in all probability they did. If so, their rebuke, as on other occasions, was a part of their attentive care for the Lord. There rested upon our Lord at this time the shadows of His coming suffering, and undoubtedly, they were conscious of this fact. He had been in the city of Jericho, and in the home of Zacchaeus. They knew He was leaving the city, and more than ever steadfastly and definitely setting His face towards Jerusalem. What more natural than that they should think that as He started out on this final stage of the journey, He must not be disturbed by the plea of a blind beggar. We remember how not long before this, these disciples endeavored to prevent children coming to Him, and undoubtedly it was for the same reason. Therefore they attempted to prevent Bartimaeus disturbing the Lord.

        Then his persistence is seen in the declaration that "he cried out the more a great deal." We can hear the voice of this man in his earnest desire, rising above the tramping of the crowds. He repeated the same words over and over again: "Thou Son of David, have mercy on me."

        Then in looking carefully at Bartimaeus, we have to remember in advance that Jesus stood still and commanded His disciples to call the man. When He did so we read that "casting away his garment," he "sprang up and came to Jesus." We see him acting with promptness and decision. Possibly now the disciples, or some others standing by, would guide him as he approached the Lord; but his own action in flinging away the garment that might impede his progress, was made.

        Then when our Lord asked him: "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" the definiteness of his reply is marked: "Rabboni that I should may receive my sight."

        Quite literally what he said was, Rabboni, that I may look-up. Asked what he wanted, he knew at once and declared it, the blessing of being able to lift his eyes, and lifting them, to see and seeing the Lord Himself He would follow as the first thing. He declared the utmost consciousness of need without hesitation and without qualification.

        Then once more, after he had received his sight, we are told as the final thing concerning him that "he followed Him in the way"; which means infinitely more than that he joined the crowd. The following of Jesus in the way was his acceptance of the logical issue of the thing that had happened to him. He had flung himself out on the compassion of the Son of David. He had received his reply in all fullness. He could see. He had looked into the face of Jesus by this time, and I dare venture to affirm that he had eyes at first for no other Face. Then he had seen Jesus begin to move away, along the way, with His face steadfastly set towards Jerusalem. He then did the only logical thing "He followed Him in the way." The pathway of true disciples.

        It is here that the attitude and activity of Christ is seen set in relation to the circumstances of the time.

        "They were in the way, going up to Jerusalem."

        They had been in Jericho, the city under the curse of God from the standpoint of Jewish opinion, the city which at the time was nevertheless full of beauty in all material ways. In that city He had found Zachaeus, and had revealed the meaning of His mission as the Son of man, seeking and saving the lost. Now leaving the city behind them, they are travailing to Jerusalem. At this point Mark makes the illuminating statement, "Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed." We see the Lord then moving forward in loneliness. All the ineffable sorrows of His passion were with Him, and He walked alone. The disciples loved Him, but none of them understood Him. For six months they had walked in a mystery ever since He had told them at Caesarea Philippi that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer, and be killed, and rise again.

        And not the disciples alone, but the crowds were evidently impressed by something full of mystery. They were afraid. He was alone. His disciples were amazed, and dare not ask Him any questions. The multitudes seeing something of all this, were filled with fear. It was a silent and hushed movement. Then it was that He took the twelve alone, evidently away from the crowd, and repeated to them the things He had been telling them for these past six months. Indeed, upon this occasion He referred to it all with tremendous and awe-inspiring particularity. He declared that He was going up and that they would spit on Him and mock Him and scourge Him and kill Him. But He did not end there. He added: "And the third day He would rise again."

        It is a matter that one has often referred to, though it cannot be too often insisted upon, that from the moment when He first revealed to these disciples at Caesarea Philippi the necessity for His Cross, He never made reference thereto, but that at the same time He foretold His resurrection. And Paul did also in his accounting of what He said.

        It was now that James and John came to Him with their request. Let us be careful that we do not join the ten apostles who were angry with them. In the very hour when He was insisting afresh upon the coming of His Cross, they preferred their request. We learn from another of the evangelists that the request was made through their mother, who said: "Command that these my two sons may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand, in Thy kingdom."

        The request made by the mother was undoubtedly that of the sons themselves, and it is of the utmost importance that we recognize that in spite of what He was now telling them about His coming suffering, which they could by no means understand, they still believed that it was inevitable that He was coming into His Kingdom.

        Moreover, if we are inclined to criticize them, it is important to remember that Jesus did not do so. Looking at them, He asked: "Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? Or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"

        They replied, "We are able." They meant what they said. They were quite sincere, and it is arresting that our Lord told them they should drink His cup, and be baptized with His baptism. How little they understood of how they would fail Him directly but how perfectly He understood that ultimately they would indeed be partakers of His sufferings.

        The account reads on naturally. The ten were angry with these men for seeking positions of power; and He rebuked not the two, for the request; but the ten, for their criticism. He then declared to them the very genius of His Kingdom that it was not one to be established by force of compelling men to serve. It was rather one that inspired men to the service of others. Positions of power in His Kingdom are not opportunities for the exercise of mastery, but for the rendering of service. Here it was that He said: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."

        It was in this atmosphere that He came to Jericho, passed through it, won Zachaeus, and departing, responded to the cry of this blind man.

        He heard the cry of anguish, and knowing all that lay behind it, He stood still. He stood still on His way to the Cross. We remember the occasion upon which in Tyre and Sidon He had entered into a house, and would not that any man should know He was there; and He could not be hid, when a woman in her agony appealed to Him. So now, He Who was on His way to the Cross for the fulfillment of His mission in the world, to give His life a ransom for many, in answer to the cry of a blind beggar, He stood still. He halted the procession to the Cross in the spirit of the Cross.

        When He told His disciples to call the man to Him, they, addressing Bartimaeus said, "Be of good courage." That is the one occasion when we have a record of His disciples using that expression. On the other hand we have five occasions recorded when Jesus employed it, facing conditions of human need and dereliction. The disciples had caught, if I may venture so to state it, the trick of His speech, and said to Bartimaeus the thing they had heard Him say to others, "Be of good courage."

        When the man came, and the Lord had asked: "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" and received with quick directness the answer: "Lord, that I may receive my sight," the word of Jesus was uttered: "Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole."

At once his eyes were opened.

        The whole account is speaking to us a message larger than that of the merely historic incident. The miracle is a parable. As Dr. Arthur T. Pierson said long ago: "Every parable of Jesus was a miracle of wisdom; and every miracle of Jesus was a parable of teaching."

        ****This miracle was most certainly a parable of teaching. Bartimaeus and his circumstances were local, and the incident is definitely historic; but as we look we see him representing humanity on the highway, blind and begging. We look over the world today, and that is exactly what we see, humanity going hither and thither, blind to all the highest facts of life; and always begging, seeking something to satisfy their deepest need, which they never find.****

        Moreover the account illuminates the Cross. He had said: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; and to give His life a ransom for many."

        Here was a man in need, a soul in agony, seeking His compassion; and that was exactly what filled His heart; and His purpose in the world was to serve humanity in that way. He was on His way to give His life a ransom, and therefore I say with great reverence, and with tremendous conviction, He could not help stopping when He heard that cry.

        Thus we are warranted in putting together two sentences from the whole paragraph: "He was on His way, going up to Jerusalem." and "He followed Him in the way."

        We have no further details, but we know that in the account we see Jesus, with all the shadows gathering about Him, and the sorrows of His passion surging in His soul, carrying out the very intention of His going as He paused and answered the cry of the blind beggar.

        The whole thing is the revealing of the facts still abiding today. Today any human soul, conscious of need, of spiritual sight, and of moral cleansing, who will make his or her appeal to Jesus of Nazareth, as He passes by, that same Lord will pause and give that soul what it needs.