A Gospel Enquiry
Introduction
“Think of the cross,” a colleague said to me, “and put God at the top and you at the bottom. This relationship we call faith. The horizontal, well that is us, our school, our families, our Church, society.”
Decades later, quite by accident, I came across the writing of Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher. Taylor writes about the “porous” self who seeks a relationship with God, and the “buffered” self, who navigates life without engaging with the transcendent.
Blind Bartimaeus knows that only God can save him. The power of God works through Jesus. Bartimaeus knows this and no one will stop him from appealing to Jesus to be healed.
Today, many in our society reduce spirituality to well-being. Transcendence is meaningless and God does not exist. To borrow words from Taylor, their horizon is flattened. The story of Bartimaeus is quaint, but irrelevant. What do you think?
The Gospel
As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man. ‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road.
(Mark 10:46-52)
The Enquiry
See
- What does Mark tell us about Bartimaeus and his interaction with Jesus? What is the difference in attitude between Jesus and his disciples?
- Why does he call out to Jesus? What does this reveal about what he believes about Jesus?
- What happens to Bartimaeus because he seeks Jesus’ help?
Judge
- What do you think about the interaction between Jesus and Bartimaeus? Have you experienced anything similar?
- What does Jesus want his followers to learn from his interaction with Bartimaeus?
- Identify situations in your life where you and/or others need to interact with Jesus in the way shown in this Gospel.
Act
- What do you want to change in people so that they seek Jesus, just as Bartimaeus did?
- What can you do to bring about that change? What small action can you take that will contribute to bringing about this change?
- Who can you involve in your action and how, when and how often will you get them to participate in your action?
Author: Pat Branson
Image Source: William Blake – Christ giving sight to Bartimaeus, Picryl, PUBLIC DOMAIN MARK 1.0 UNIVERSAL