Proper 25 Year B (RCL) Gospel notes

[Mark 10:46-52]

- Last miracle before Jesus reaches Jerusalem

- not a faceless, nameless person in need of healing:
We are told not only his name but his father's name (although Bartimaeus would mean, quite literally, "Son of Timaeus"-- so is it his proper name, like being named "Junior," or just that we are told his father's name?) Augustine of Hippo speculated that, as the only recipient of healing whose name and father's name we are told, Bartimaeus must have at one point have been an important/rich personage, before he became blind.

Bartimaeus' faith is insistent and persistent, calling out twice (the second time "even more loudly") despite the attempts of the crowds to hush him. This is faith that refuses to be cowed by resistence.

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" This is a spontaneous version or variant of the "Jesus Prayer" so important in Orthodox practice. This very ancient prayer is considered one of the most profound prayers in Eastern Christianity. In its shortest form, it reads:
"Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
Its shortest form would be simply: "Jesus, have mercy."
The blind man's cry for mercy echoes down the centuries of Christian practice and piety to this very day. This most simple prayer, the acknowledgement of our need for mercy, and Jesus' ability to grant it, is the core or kernel of our salvation.

- "Jesus stood still"
Mark's Jesus is constantly driven, busy, moving, never able to catch his breath but hurried by the driving pace of the Mark's narrative from place to place, from this miracle story to the next. (For instance, consider the beginning of this very pericope. "Jesus arrives at Jericho; ...and as Jesus was leaving Jericho...") It is interesting that in the midst of Jesus' very busy itenerary of healings and exorcisms, all of which are hurtling him at a rapid pace towards Jerusalem, he pauses to stand still and listen to the cry of Bartimaeus.
Also, we have the sense that this crowd has great energy and noise. They seem swept up with Jesus in his progress towards Jerusalem, caught up in the action and excitement and Messianic fervor which will reach their crescendo on Palm Sunday. In this middle of this bustling, noisy crowd, some are trying to quiet those who seem on the fringes, crying out to Jesus. They are going somewhere-- they are headed towards Jerusalem-- and the man they are following has better things to do, they think, than be distracted by a blind beggar. In the midst of this noisy, boistrous, energetic crowd, Jesus takes the time to stand still.
Jesus is, to use Systems Theory language, the "nonanxious presence" in the midst of all this hubbub. He has the grace and the presence of mind not to get swept up in all of the excitement and arguments which have coalesced around him, but to stand still and have the crowds call Bartimaeus to him.

- "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."
The very same crowd which was trying to silence Bartimaeus is told to call him to Jesus. Some among the crowd had taken it upon themselves to act as the gatekeepers to Jesus, the boundary-guardians, the bouncers who would keep the riff-raff away. Jesus turns those who would drive people away into those who welcome. He makes the very same people who wanted to exclude into the agents of inclusion.
- I am reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Like the priest and the Levite who hurried past the wounded man on the street on their way to more important things, the crowds want to keep the interruption of Bartimaeus' cry from Jesus, to hurry on to more important things in Jerusalem. By forcing them to stop and take the time to bring Bart to him, Jesus is in effect keeping the crowd from playing the part of those hurried figures in that parable, inviting them instead to play the part of the Good Samaritan to stopped to help.
- Amazingly, the crowd's passions turn on a dime. At this point, they turn to Bartimaeus excitedly and say, "Take heart, get up, he is calling you." What an empathetic invitation from the same crowd that shushed him moments before! It is as if, having realized that their teacher considered

- Unlike most of Jesus' miracles in Mark, there is no "Messianic secret," no exhortation to the one healed/exorcised to not to say anything about Jesus afterwards. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the time for secrecy is past, and his ministry is becomeing more and more public. Now that his time is coming, Jesus no longer commands silence.
- Ironically, it is as if the crowds are continuing to keep the Messianic Secret anyway. The crowds try to keep Jesus under wraps, secret, protected, insular. They want to close the way off to Jesus, to keep others from learning more about the one they are following. Instead, Jesus insists that they bring the man right to him.