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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although none of us may be, strictly speaking, “blind”, many of us have problems with our eyes. We wear glasses and/or contacts, or maybe even a prosthetic. We undergo procedures and surgeries, and perhaps we still have to put up with poor vision. Now, as in the time of the Bible, bad genes, old age, war wounds, and other accidents cause eye problems, and, though there were then and may be now some natural or other human solutions, when it comes right down to it, only the super-natural powers of God can restore sight to the blind. (See Schrage, TDNT 8:271, 273.) The God-man Jesus Christ did just that and more for Bartimaeus in today’s Gospel Reading, and Jesus does that and more for us. For, Jesus had mercy on Bartimaeus, and “Jesus has mercy on us”.
The Divinelyinspired St. Mark does not explicitly tell us, but many conclude that Bartimaeus had been able to see at one time. Nor are we told what caused Bartimaeus’s blindness, though in other cases people back then attributed blindness to specific sins. With Jesus, we would deny that, that in most cases, blindness is caused by specific sin, but we would grant that, in general, blindness, like other physical maladies, including death, is the result of sin’s being in the world and of our being sinful. And, just as only the supernatural powers of God can restore sight to the blind, so only the supernatural powers of God ultimately can deal with sin.
Apparently Bartimaeus had heard enough about Jesus to recognize Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah or the Christ, Who could not only grant him his sight but also grant him salvation. So, when Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was going by him, Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus as the Son of David and asked for mercy. Many, apparently in the great crowd travelling with Jesus, or perhaps along the roadside watching, rebuked Bartimaeus, telling him to be silent (in narrating that, St. Mark may even make a play on words in the original Greek). Although we are not told explicitly why “they” rebuked him, some guess that they were embarrassed by Bartimaeus’s almost indecent cries (Nocent, 4:276), perhaps embarrassed because a blind man saw Jesus for Who He really was. Regardless, we can tell that they hostile-ly and without foundation tried to correct Bartimaeus, presumptuously taking for themselves a prerogative that rightly belongs to God (Stauffer, TDNT 2:623, 625), and, even worse in this case, they tried to stop Bartimeaus from seeking mercy from the Godman Jesus Christ.
Now, to be sure, there is a place for people to “rebuke” or “correct” one another, especially for brothers and sisters in Christ to do so, in keeping with God’s Word, specifically His law that confronts us with our sin. And, we should not be embarrassed by those who see Jesus for Who He is and so call out to Jesus for mercy, but we should be among them! By nature, we are not. Even if our eyes physically work perfectly, because of the original sin we inherit, at least at first we are spiritually blind. Even though we are physically alive, apart from Christ in trespasses and sins we are spiritually dead. And, because of original sin and the actual sins it leads us to we commit, we deserve nothing but death here in time and torment in hell for eternity.
Yet, as Jesus did with Bartimaeus, Jesus does with us: the Word about Jesus reaches us, Jesus Himself comes to us, hears our cries for mercy, calls us to Himself, and grants our cries for mercy. Like the people in today’s Old Testament Reading (Jeremiah 31:7-9) who went into the Babylonian exile weeping but, after pleas for God’s mercy, returned amid consolation (Nocent, 4:277278), we sorrowfully confess our sin, plead for God’s mercy, and are consoled by God’s Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, for the sake of Jesus Christ Who suffered and died for us.
Among the parts of St. Mark’s Gospel account that were skipped, as our lectionary series moved forward to today’s Gospel Reading, was Jesus’s third prophecy or prediction of His suffering, death, and resurrection (Mark 10:32-34). Not only Jesus’s own prophecy but all the Old and New Testament prophecy of the Messiah or the Christ finds its fulfillment in Him, as He died on the cross for us, in our place, that we might have the forgiveness of sins, and so also life and salvation. Even before the miracle that recovered Bartimaeus’s sight and so demonstrated it, there seemed to have been little doubt in Bartimaeus’s mind that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah or the Christ. Bartimaeus called out to Him for mercy, God’s mercy, the mercy of salvation from the future judgment that we all deserve on account of our sins. Yet, out of God’s great love for Bartimaeus and for us, we are not judged but saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. (The English Standard Version that was read has Jesus tell Bartimaeus that his faith “has made [him] well”, but a better translation may be that his faith has “saved” him.) As we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 7:23-28), Jesus saves to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, having sacrificed Himself once for all.
The benefits of Jesus’s sacrificing Himself once for all are given to us who repent and believe through God’s Means of Grace: His Word and His Sacraments, which are His Word in ways that we can feel, see, and taste. As the Word about Jesus reached Bartimeaus, so the Word about Jesus reaches us, through the reading of that Word and the preaching of that Word, revealing Jesus to us and leading us to trust Him. As the son of Timaeus called out to the Son of David, so do we, and in the Word and water of Holy Baptism we are made children of God, enabled to so call out to Him for mercy. Bartimaeus’s plea for mercy may have included a confession of sin, and, in effect, he was absolved, as we who privately confess our sin to our pastors are individually Absolved. And, though blind offspring of Aaron the High Priest were kept from offering the bread of God but not from eating it (Leviticus 21:1624), so we who are baptized and absolved come to the Sacrament of the Altar and there eat and drink bread and wine that are the Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed for you and for me, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
That Jesus called Bartimaeus to come to Him transformed the crowd (Marcus, ad loc Mark 10:49-52, p.764), which then gave encouragement to Bartimaeus, who responded to Jesus’s call in faith, even specifying the miracle that Jesus would do for him, in addition to granting him eternal salvation, and then following Jesus on the way of discipleship. That Jesus through His Means of Grace has called and saved us also gives us encouragement as we respond in faith, pray, and follow Jesus on the way of discipleship. We do not need to fear anything that the world may bring, for Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33)! Still, in this world, we are those whom Jesus has made holy and who at the same time also remain sinful, and so we repeatedly and persistently cry out to the Lord for mercy—the mercy of eternal salvation and other “miracles” that we want Jesus to do for us, recognizing that He will surely grant us spiritual blessings, in keeping with His general revealed will, but that He may or may not grant us physical blessings, for which His specific will is not revealed. Yet, we know that whatever afflictions and sorrow He permits us to face will come to an end in His way and time, as He ultimately delivers us from life in this world to life in the next.
Jesus had mercy on Bartimaeus, and “Jesus has mercy on us”. Bartimaeus recovered his sight, but, for all we know, he may have had more eye trouble later, and he surely died in due time, as will we. Yet, whatever eye and other physical problems we might experience now, including death—those will be permanently resolved in the resurrected and glorified bodies that we who repent and believe will receive. The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). Thanks be to God for His love, mercy, and grace, in Christ Jesus our dear Lord!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +