Has anyone seen our reader board today? It shouts: “TRY PRAYING”. I think a lot of us are praying hard about the election and other concerns we have. But are we doing our best job of praying?
Bartimaeus is praying today. He isn’t saying his prayers like a child, next to his bed at night. He isn’t in a church, kneeling on a soft pew, quietly whispering to God. He isn’t murmuring “Thy will be done, Lord.” Bartimaeus is praying and it isn’t namby pamby praying! Here, with his dirty cloak on the side of the road, being pushed away by the crowd, here is how he prays: “Son of David, Mercy! Have mercy on me!” Bartimaeus is yelling and screaming. He isn’t asking for mercy; he is demanding mercy.
How does the crowd react? Well, remember that in those times, the crowd would have believed that Bartimaeus is blind because he is being punished by God. He is a blind beggar because he has sinned. There weren’t white canes and schools for the blind and seeing eye dogs in those days. Blindness, along with poverty, barrenness, illness, and leprosy, was a deserved curse. There just wasn’t a lot of empathy for the impaired.
So the crowd doesn’t say, “Oh dear, let’s make way for this poor, blind man. Let’s help him come nearer to Jesus.” Nope. They shunted him aside and told him to hush up!
What does Bartimaeus do? He yells louder! (Aren’t you liking him more and more?) “Son of David, Mercy! Have mercy on me!”
Jesus stands still. Jesus stops in the middle of the road, in the middle of the crowd, Jesus stops. “Call him here.” The crowd turns to Bartimaeus. “Hey - it is your lucky day! Come on, Jesus wants to talk to you.”
So now, now, they are kind to the blind beggar. Maybe now they want Jesus to see their compassion for the less fortunate. They are changing in their ways because of the presence of Jesus.
Now, Bartimaeus has only one possession; a cloak he spread over his knees to catch whatever coins were thrown at him. His cloak is the tool of his trade. He throws it away as he gropes, hands held out, to meet Jesus.
Jesus asks him politely, “What can I do for you?”
“Rabbuni, I want to see.” He uses the same word that will be used a few days from now at the tomb by Mary as she recognizes Jesus. Rabbuni. Rabbi. Master.
“On your way.” says Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.” Jesus rewards Bartimaeus’ blind faith. Note that Jesus doesn’t say, “Follow me.” He tells the beggar to go.
In that very instant, Bartimaeus recovers his sight. He looks down, sees his dirty bare feet, then slowly looks up into the face of Jesus. Their eyes lock and Bartimaeus will never be the same. He turns and follows Jesus down the road.
This blind man ‘sees’ Jesus. It seems that he sees Jesus even before he is healed because he calls out to him, demanding mercy. He sees Jesus with his heart.
Let’s stop for a minute and wonder about something. Put yourself into this scene and imagine that you, like Bartimaeus, like the disciples, like Zacchaeus, like Mary Magdalene; imagine that you come face to face with Jesus. Everything stops as you look deep into his eyes. Jesus asks you politely, “What can I do for you?” What would you say? What would you say to Jesus? Would you ask for healing? Would you ask Jesus to help someone else? I know, with certainty, that I would just cry because that is what I always do. I would waste my time with Jesus, unable to talk through my tears. But maybe Jesus wouldn’t mind.
Bartimaeus follows Jesus but he will have very little time to be with Jesus because in just a few days he will be on the cross. That seems like a tremendous tragedy, but the good news is that our previously blind beggar will really have all the rest of his life with Jesus, just as we do.
How does Bartimaeus pray? He yells and demands. He does not pray with cautious words; he isn’t murmuring into his clenched hands. In contrast, I find that I pray with reservation, with caution. I don’t want to bug God too much; I don’t want to be selfish.
My feet don’t work well and I’m often in pain. But I seldom pray for healing as that just seems too much to ask. I also, frankly, don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. When I pray, I hedge my bets and mostly just pray for strength to bear my pain.
I want to pray more like Bartimaeus prays when he yells: Son of David, have mercy on me!” There is great faith in that demand, faith that God will hear you and answer your prayer.
Think of another example of prayer in the bible: there is the story of Jacob wrestling with God in the Hebrew Bible. Here is how Jacob prayed to God: He got on the floor with him and wrestled so hard that Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. This is not a quiet, pious prayer. This is muscular, full body praying!
How do you pray? Do you trust that God is big enough, strong enough, powerful enough to answer your prayers? Bartimaeus understood this and believed. God can take our prayers, our cries, our heartfelt yells. God can handle our full-throated prayers. So, when Jesus asks, “what can I do for you?”, let us pray like Bartimaeus, with full faith that God will hear us and have mercy on us.
Amen