Growing up in the church, I always knew that Jesus healed blind people, but the stories sort of ran together. Then, when I became a serious student of Scripture, they became more distinct. In John, Jesus healed a man blind from birth, which ignited a firestorm of controversy. In Matthew, Jesus heals two blind men at the same time. And then there is Mark. There is a blind man in Mark who has a name. His name is Bartimaeus. That by itself is unusual. How many of the names do we know, of all the people Jesus healed? Lazarus? But for some reason we know that one blind man named Bartimaeus. And we also know the question Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
It is a question which resonates throughout the ages.
What do you want me to do for you? He answered, "Rabbi, I want to see."
But there's another blind man in Mark, and I'm not sure how I got through all the years of my childhood and four years of seminary and several years in the parish without ever noticing him. I read all of the gospels and never really noticed him. He's a couple of chapters before Bartimaeus and, like most everyone else, we don't know his name. Just that several people begged Jesus to heal him, and so Jesus did.
Except it was not so simple as that.
The first time Jesus lays his hands on him and heals him, he can see people, but they look like "trees walking." Everything is fuzzy. It is like Jesus has done a 'half-miracle.' He has only sort of healed the man. I'm used to Jesus doing everything perfectly the first time, so this seems odd. It's so odd, in fact, that only Mark tells the story. It's as if Matthew and Luke took a look at it and said, 'nah. Nobody is going to believe this.'
On the other hand, how many times have you experienced an instantaneous and miraculous healing? I have heard of them, but, truth be told, I have never experienced one. Gradual healing is much more in my experience. I take the medicine and I start to feel better, but I'm not all the way healed. I have to keep taking it.
I love the story of the blind man Jesus healed, the one who was not Bartimaeus. I imagine myself not in Bartimaeus who was totally healed, but in the nameless man who knows he was touched by Jesus, but still has a way to go.
I'd love to have the total clarity of Bartimaeus. This is true of both my ministry and my life. I'm leading my congregation and I think I know the path ahead but it turns out that I'm a little nearsighted, and some of the details are fuzzy. Which means that I have to ask Jesus for sight -- again. According to Mark, chapter 8, that is all right. I can come to Jesus, again and again. I have to keep taking the medicine.
Gospel medicine.
When I wonder just what the gospel medicine is, I can't help noticing what happens between Mark chapter 8 and Mark chapter 10. Jesus predicts his death and resurrection. Three times. What becomes clearer is the necessity of suffering. It is the cross which provides he medicine.
"What do you want me to do for you?" It's such a simple question, but sometimes, I have to admit, I'd rather see trees walking than the sharp reality of the cross. Perhaps that's why the healing is more often gradual. Maybe it's easier to bear that way.
1 comment:
I wrote about that last week in my essay... what is between these two bookends of blind men being healed. But, as usual, you've done it so elegantly.
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