Last Sunday we read the story of Bartimaeus who stands at the side of the road and asks Jesus for healing. “Son of David,” he cries “have mercy on me.”
The crowd tries to shush him, but this makes him even more determined. (Anybody ever had that happen to you? The more you are asked to be quiet, the more you must speak up?)
And so Jesus calls to him.
He.
Hears.
Him.
Bartimaeus throws of his cloak.
He goes.
And Jesus asks what seems to be an obvious question “What do you want?” and Bartimaeus gives what seems to be an obvious answer (I want to see.)
But I wondered out loud on Sunday if it isn’t actually the opposite, if it isn’t that what Bartimaeus wants is not as much to see, but to be seen.
After all…. who is the blind one in this story, really?
We’re left to think on this a bit, and to ponder it, and then we hear what happens next, B, healed and seeing well begins to
“follow Jesus on the way.”