“What Do You Want?” - October 25, 2015

Mark 10:46-52

“As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’  Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’  Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”  [Mark 10:46-51]

“What do you want me to do for you?”  Isn’t it obvious?  The man is blind.  He only knows that Jesus is nearby, not where he is, exactly, so he shouts to get Jesus’ attention.  People try to quiet him, but he only gets more stirred up.  This may be his last chance.  He certainly couldn’t chase him to catch up.  He couldn’t sneak up on him in a crowd, the way a woman with a hemorrhage did one time.  If he would get his attention, it had to be by shouting, which he did.  It worked, too.  Jesus went over to him and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Again, isn’t it obvious?

            Yes and no.

            One of the amazing things about Jesus is the profound respect he showed people.  He really and truly saw each and every person and looked at them as someone unique in the eyes of God, individual and special, a deliberate creation.  As such, he didn’t make assumptions that you or I might make.  You and I might first off see a blind man, one named Bartimaeus.  Jesus saw – and this is crucial – a man named Bartimaeus, who was blind.

            Which was the defining thing about him?  Who is was as a person, or the difficulties that that person had?

            A lot of times people who have full use of their bodies, or if not full, something within the usual range of ability, make assumptions about people who are in a different situation.  One assumption is that the difficulty or disability is the main thing about them.  Madysen, who works in our nursery every Sunday morning, taking care of the babies, does not have full use of both arms.  Nevertheless, she is perfectly capable of changing a diaper and holding a crying infant and juggling all the tasks that any parent has to handle at some point.  Many of us knew Minnie Thacker, whose condition was far more problematic than Madysen’s, and who could not have done what Maddie does, but who nevertheless painted beautiful paintings and taught ceramics to soldiers who had been wounded in Vietnam. 

The physical condition is real, and part of someone’s life, but it isn’t necessarily the biggest issue at every moment.  I read last week that Stevie Wonder is getting divorced.  I don’t know who initiated it or why, but I cannot imagine that if it was his wife who went to him and said, “I’m filing for divorce,” his first thought would have been, “Oh no!  I’m blind!”  It probably would have been either, “Oh no!  Is it over?” or “At last!”  People with disabilities lead whole lives with all the same issues as anyone else.

So Jesus’ question: “What do you want me to do for you?” honored Bartimaeus in the most wonderful way.  “You tell me.  You tell me who you are.  You tell me what is important for you, and what may be your deepest need.  Let the request come from you, not from my idea of you.”

Bartimaeus did speak.  He did ask for his sight.  But it was more than that.  The blind man said to him,

“‘My teacher, let me see again.’” [Mark 10:52]

In that word “again” there must have been a lifetime of experience.  Once he had seen.  We don’t know what had happened, but he knew what he was missing.  The gospel refers to him as “a blind beggar” and perhaps when he had had his sight he had also been able to work and to earn his own bread.  Perhaps he had had a far more dignified life than sitting down beside the road and having people tell him to be quiet and not to disturb anyone.  Perhaps nobody had ordered him around like the crowd did that day and others had considered him capable, the way that now – out of all the people there – Jesus alone thought of him.  Perhaps what he wanted was a chance of having others treat him once again the way that Jesus was treating him: as a whole human being.

“‘My teacher, let me see again.’”

It would not just have been sight that he longed for, but the life that he had lost when the sight left him.  His request of Jesus was for everything.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.” [Mark 10:52]

When he received his sight, he followed.  He followed because he had found someone who understood and who understands.  He followed because Jesus had seen what everybody else had been blind to.  Jesus had seen Bartimaeus.

            As for you and me, he sees us, too.  He sees the real us.  He sees the stuff, good and bad, that is inside us.  He sees the things that have made us who we are.  He knows the things that keep us from becoming whom we are meant to be.  He knows the false images that others have of us and the false images that we have of ourselves.  He knows all of that, and despite it all or because of it all, he loves us all the same.

            And he asks us, each and every one:

"What do you want me to do for you?”