I want to see!

It was tough coming up with something for my reflection on today’s Gospel.  It is the story of a blind man named Bartimaeus who, upon hearing that Jesus is walking by, cries out “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  At first the people with Jesus and the rest of the crowd try to quiet him, thinking him to be “just another blind beggar.”  But Jesus tells them to bring Bartimaeus to him saying, “Take courage; get up! Jesus is calling you!” Jesus then asks the blind man “What do you want from me?”  “I want to see!”, is Bartimaeus’ prayer.  Jesus is moved with pity and restores sight to him. 

After doing a little research today (Hey! I’m getting used to this ‘retirement’ gig!) I found out something interesting.  Of all the healing stories in the Gospels, this is the only one where we are told the name of the person healed and so that must mean something.  Mark gives us the name “Bartimaeus” –He is the son of Timaeus.  “Bar” meaning “son of”.  It is also a name which is a hybrid of both Aramaic and Greek and has two different meanings in each.  First, the name Bartimaeus in Aramaic means "son of defilement." So, Bartimaeus could be a nickname given to him because he was a blind beggar and popular belief of the time said that blindness was a punishment for sin. On the other hand, the name Bartimaeus in Greek means "son of honor." And so, by giving us this name with its double meaning, Mark might be telling us something important. Bartimaeus is supposed to be a man of honor in God’s sight, but he is instead being treated as a man of defilement. What Jesus did for him was not simply heal his physical sight but, more than that, Jesus restored his God-given destiny and dignity. “Take courage; get up! Jesus is calling you!” Jesus heals not only Bartimaeus’ eyes, He heals his soul, his dignity, his very humanity.

And, I think, this is the challenge Jesus places in our lives too. In our increasingly fractured world, Bartimaeus is all around us. We encounter Bartimaeus in the many homeless and hungry on the streets each day. We see him in the people whose human dignity has been stripped away because of their race, their ethnicity, their political affiliation, their gender, their immigration status, or any of the countless ways our world decides some are unworthy of dignity. Our world today constantly turns people into sons and daughters of defilement; not worthy of our time, our concern, our care, or compassion. But, Jesus once again calls us to open our eyes so that we can see everyone sons and daughters of honor, of dignity, of holiness; worthy of our love and care.

True and lasting healing lies in lifting up hearts that are broken, in reconciling relationships that are shattered, in seeking out forgiveness when we have wronged another, in looking into the eyes of someone that the world has forgotten and saying, “I see you. You have value and dignity. You are loved and treasured in my eyes and in the eyes of God.” How easy it is for us to choose to be healers too – we have the power to heal our world.

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked Bartimaeus. May our answer be the same as his, “I want to see.” Jesus, Son of David, have pity on us for the times when we have been blinded to your presence around us; especially in those who need to be lifted up the most. Master, we want to see.