Miracle of Faith, Pt. 6: "Rags to Riches"

RAGS TO RICHES (MARK 10:46-52)
Joel Gregory told a story of a blind, poor and hungry Indian beggar who sat beside a road, starved from the scarcity of travelers and how much rice they could give him. One day he heard the thunder of a chariot in the distance. It was the grand entourage of the Maharajah, who was known to have performed miracles for the poor. This was a moment that had never come before. Surely the Great One would stop and give him baskets of rice.

Indeed, the golden chariot of the Maharajah stopped before the poor beggar. The Great One stepped down and the beggar fell before him. However, the beggar couldn't believe the stinginess of the Great Maharajah, who said to him, “Give me your rice.”

An unpleasant, a repulsive, dark scowl masked the face of the beggar. He reached into his bowl and flung a grain of rice toward the Maharajah. The Great One said, “Is that all?” Next, the beggar spat on the ground, cursed and, in disgust, threw him another grain of rice. The Great One turned, entered his chariot and was gone.

The beggar – angry, moody and grouchy - fingered the remaining rice he had in his bowl. He felt something hard, glistening, something different from rice. He pulled it out. It was a grain of gold. He poured out his rice, caring nothing for it now and found another grain of gold. The poor beggar regretted what he had done. If only had he trusted the Great One, he would have had a grain of gold for every grain of rice! (Adapted, Pulpit Helps 2/93)

When Jesus passed Jericho on the way to Jerusalem, he healed blind Bartimaeus (Lk 18:37), who never stopped shouting for His help, asking for His mercy and clamoring for His attention. Jericho, historically, was famous for its falling walls (Josh 6:26). It was a dangerous place for travelers, as told fictionally by Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30), but it was a redemptive spot not only for the beggar Bartimaeus but also for the tax-collector Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1). Mark's gospel differs from Matthew’s gospel (20:29-34) by focusing only on one blind beggar, not two, and differs from Luke’s account (18:35-43) by naming the blind and personalizing him.

Is faith a sympathy for one’s plight, a sadness for one’s troubles? Why is faith a positive response and not a negative or passive to God’s goodness? Why is faith the surest riches, reserve and resource in the eyes of God?

Let Your View Be Known
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mk 10:46-47)

People with disability are often picked on, cast aside and taken lightly. Not only do they suffer from emotional insecurities, they have to endure physical inconveniences and social insinuations. Blind people are a challenge to the most supportive family, an eyesore to the most tolerant public and a target of most neighborhood bullies. They suffer injuries, accidents and even death at the hands of ignorant family members who consider them a taboo, a punishment and a freak.

Most people have heard of the three blind mice nursery rhyme. Historical buffs attest that the farmer’s wife did not cut of their tails with a carving knife for no rhyme or reason! The gruesome nursery rhyme was, in fact, a real social, political and historical drama in its day. The “farmer's wife” was supposedly England’s Queen Mary I, whose displeasure with three ratty noblemen resulted in more than just a body part severed; they were burned at the stake. http://www.mother.com/~prdesign/ThreeMice.html

Blind beggars live an unbearable life. They solicit for a living because their family members are too poor to raise them, too ashamed to have them or too superstitious to acknowledge them. Blind people at that time relied on the kindness of strangers for livelihood, news and most things.

Bartimaeus and the crowd were on a different wavelength, had a different opinion and were on different sides of an issue. This passage also appears in Matthew 20:29-34 and Mark 10:46-52. When Bartimaeus asked the crowd what the commotion was about, they chorused, “Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.” However, Bartimaeus did not concur with their assertion or agree with the title. The outwardly blind but inwardly seeing beggar did not shout for Jesus of Nazareth, but for a different name and gave a different interpretation: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Jesus of Nazareth refereed to the humanity of Jesus (Acts 2:22), but Jesus, Son of David, appealed to His divinity. Many, like Nathanael, see Jesus of Nazareth as the son of Joseph (John 1:45). So, Jesus of Nazareth referred to His immediate ancestry, but Jesus, Son of David referred to His royal ancestry. The former described his earthly roots and local dwelling (Matt 2:23) but the latter his divine origins and heavenly roots. The Nazareth label was popular to unbelievers, mockers and detractors such as the soldiers and officials who arrested Jesus (John 18:3-5), the girl who forced out Peter’s denial of Jesus (Matt 26:71) and evil spirits that challenged His authority (Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34). It was also what disciples called Jesus before they understood the full meaning of the resurrection (Luke 24:18-19). The repentant, transformed and empowered Peter, in his ministry and preaching as leader of the early church, used a theologically different title for the risen Christ. After the resurrection, Jesus was “Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” not just “Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 3:6, Acts 4:10)

Such odds were against blind Bartimaeus. Mark informs readers that the crowd was a large crowd (v 40). However, their noisy clamoring and apparent certainty was suspended, shot and shattered by the blind man who stated, argued and cried otherwise. In the corresponding passage of Luke 18:38, Luke uses a more specific word to describe the blind man’s shouting. Mark uses the general word “krazo” to describe the blind man’s shouting, but Luke instead employs the more specific “boao,” or to holler for help in a more tumultuous and disruptive way. This seldom-used word for “cry” is commonly associated with John the Baptist’s crying in the wilderness (Matt 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23) and to Jesus’ loud crying on the cross (Mark 15:34). Other than John the Baptist and Jesus’ intense crying, this word usually describes a collective or group cry, such as believers who cry day and night for justice (Luke 18:7), the crying unclean spirits who were cast out (Acts 8:7) and the crowd’s vehement opposition to the gospel in Acts (17:6, 21:34). So the blind man produced a shock and made heads turn when he took on the large crowd and matched the group in volume and intensity.

Bartimaeus should be applauded. He was blind, but he was not dumb or deaf. His ears flapped open and his mouth worked overtime at the mention of Jesus’ name. The eyes of faith enabled him to see and his depth of insight empowered him to act. His insight functioned when his sight could not, and understanding and learning were possible even when reading and education were impossible.

Let Your Voice Be Heard
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." (Mk 10:48-51)

During a nursing student’s second month of nursing school, the class professor gave the students a pop quiz. Being a conscientious student, the student had breezed through the questions until reading the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” Surely this was some kind of joke(, the student thought).

The student had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired, and in her 50s, but how would I know her name. The student handed in the paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward the quiz grade. “Absolutely,” said the professor to the students’ dismay, “In our careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say ‘hello.’” (Her name was Dorothy.)

Bartimaeus knew what he wanted when the opportunity presented itself. He had confidence that Jesus could hear his voice above the commotion of the moment, no matter what people in his way say to him, think about him or feel around him. The crowd was trying to do Jesus a favor by silencing, denouncing and chiding the blind man. They probably thought that he was an outcast, a drifter or a crook and felt that he was rude, stubborn and noisy. The real truth was that they were appalled with, alarmed by and angry at the blind man’s stubborn designation of Jesus as “Son of David.”

Further, if Bartimaeus had shouted once without success, shouldn’t he save his breath, leave Jesus alone and lower his voice? So a shouting match began. The large crowd roared fiercely, noisily and directly at him and in his face, trying their utmost to put him down, shut him up and make him leave. Not only that, they also attempted to cut off his path to Jesus, no matter how loud, often and moving his pleas were. Luke records that the shouters were people that were leading the way and, naturally, blocking access to Jesus (Lk 18:39). The human chain should have been quite enough to put blind Bartimaeus in his place and discouraged him from attempting to come through, but he was anything but demoralized, disappointed and distressed. Bartimaeus persisted on, stayed around and got through to Jesus. Blockades and rebuke could not stop him. The rebuke (v 48) he suffered was consistently recorded in all three Synoptic gospels (Matt 20:31, Mark 10:48). The only other people who suffered as much rebuke and received that much coverage in the gospels were the equally defenseless children that were brought before Jesus to bless (Matt 19:13, Mark 10:13, Luke 18:15).

In the end, Bartimaeus' courage was rewarded. Jesus asked about him, sent for him and talked to him. The Messiah never turned down a man who raised his volume, caused a racket, craved his attention, cry for injustice and refused to leave. Bartimaeus was right. Jesus always halted for the blind, talked with them and healed their sight whether they be in Jericho, in Capernaum where he healed two blind men (Mt 9:27), or in Bethsaida where he opened the eyes of another (Mk 8:22). He took time with them, took trouble with them and took care of them. Even in Jerusalem, he healed blind people who came to him at the temple before the watchful eyes of the chief priests and the teachers of the law (Mt 21:14-15), who later sent him to his death.

Let Your Void Be Filled
52 "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mk 10:52)

One day a ragged beggar went door to door, asking for a few cents to buy something to eat. As he grumbled at his misfortune he wondered why people with so much money were always never satisfied and always wanted more. He knew a businessman who, after making his riches, built ships to compete for the lucrative overseas trade, but lost everything overnight when his ships were sunk by a great storm.

The beggar said to himself: “As for me, if I had only enough to eat and wear I would not want anything more.” Just at that moment Fortune appeared and said to him: “I have long wished to help you. And I will pour gold into your wallet on one condition: all that falls into our wallet shall be your gold; but every piece that falls upon the ground shall become dust. Do you understand?”

The beggar said eagerly,” Yes, I understand.” However, Fortune reminded him, “Your wallet is old, so do not load it too heavily.”

The beggar could hardly wait. He quickly opened his wallet and a stream of yellow coins poured into it. The wallet soon began to grow heavy. Fortune warned the beggar that his wallet would not hold the coins much longer, but the beggar cried out “More. A few more. Two more, one more.” Back to a few more again. Soon the wallet split and the gold coins all fell to the ground and turned to dust. (The Moral Compass 169-70, William J. Bennett, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1995)

A Chinese axiom says: “A beggar of habit has no desire to be a king.”

Someone once said when the poor and hungry came to Jesus, He didn't give them money, and rarely any food; Christ gave them love and service and the greatest gift of all – Himself.

It's been said, “Beggars cannot be choosers.” Beggars have no choice but to take things on the chin and take what people gave them. However, Bartimaeus made a choice that day to break from the past and to follow Jesus to Jerusalem because Jesus did not treat Bartimaeus the way people did. Jesus did not talk to or talk about Bartimaeus, but talked with him, asking him an open-ended question and giving him a choice. Jesus was unafraid of and unashamed of the blind when he was seen with them in public. Rather, He had plenty of love, affection and compassion for them.

Bartimaeus could have returned to his parents, stayed in Jericho and lived a normal life, but he chose to be a follower of Jesus, a companion to Jerusalem and a witness of his death. A beggar is often seen as one who repeatedly ask for alms, gifts, or both. However, Bartimaeus was not an ordinary beggar with the incessant wish for things or request for sight. Of course, he wanted to see, but not necessary to see the things of the world. He wanted to look at his Savior’s face; and not just a glimpse. From the day on, he never left his side. He was free to leave, to return home and to live normal lives, but he made a wise choice to follow Jesus.

Following Jesus was not a hard decision to make for the blind man. Bartimaeus was the first blind man healed by Jesus in public before a crowd (v 46). The two blind men at Capernaum were healed inside the house Jesus was residing (Mt 9:27). Also, Jesus took the blind man in Bethsaida outside the village to heal him (Mark 8:23). In a third instance, Jesus healed another blind man before his own disciples (Jn 9:1-6). Bartimaeus had never known or heard of anyone with so much compassion blind people. Jesus' eyes, ears, mouth, fingers and heart were always accessible to the blind. He conversed with them, gave them vision and taught them what to do (Mt 9:30), where to go (Mk 8:26) and how to believe (Jn 9:37). He asked them, heard them and, more importantly, touched them. In all four instances of personal encounters with the blind, Jesus touched them (Mt 9:29, 20:34, Mk 8:23, Jn 9:6). The parallel passage from Matthew 20:34 also makes note that Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes.

Readers do not know the names of the Canaanite woman, the centurion who had great faith or the men and women Jesus praised for their faith, including the paralytic, the two blind men from Capernaum, the woman with a bleeding disorder, the woman who anointed Jesus and the ten lepers. Of all the people who had faith in Jesus to heal, Bartimaeus' name was the only one provided for a reason. Bartimaeus experienced with other disciples their Master’s cruel cross, lonely burial and empty tomb.

Conclusion: Insight is more powerful than sight. People may cut off your path to Jesus, but they can never cut off your heart for God, hope in Him and hunger for Him. Of course, loud noises or crazy antics make an impression, but only deep faith makes the difference. Be a true disciple today. Do you long for things that satisfy temporarily or briefly? Do you follow Him part of the time, part of the way or follow Him all the way? Are you growing in your faith of Him, building on your knowledge of Him and testifying of your riches in Him?