The art of stopping a passing God

“Jesus stopped” Mk.10.49

 “ Jesus stopped”. And with him the whole heaven stopped to attend to a blind man. Someone from the crowd called out his name. Someone was calling for mercy. God’s  name is mercy or love and Jesus  had to stop.

Jesus stopped for the woman in the crowd who was suffering from bleeding. He stopped for the widow of Naim to tell her, “Don’t cry”.  He stopped for the Samaritan woman by the well of Samaria. He stopped for Zacheus. He stopped for the ten lepers. God stops for the blind,  the weak, the lame, and the last in society. Though he has many sermons to preach, many miracles to work, and many places to visit, yet he never misses the helpless cry of a poor blind man. No tears are lost to him, no cry too feeble that he cannot hear, no distance too far for him to cover. He may fail to hear the rolling of the drums in high places, he may fail to see the magnificence of the Ceremony in the Vatican Square, but he will never fail to hear the humble cry of those who call for mercy.   God always grants audience to the simple and the poor.

The crowd around Jesus was upset and tried to make the blind man keep quiet.  The more they tried the louder he cried. He was desperate. This was his last chance. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. He would not come this way again. The crowd was an obstacle for Zacheus from seeing Jesus. Even good people like Peter and John who were part of the crowd may have tried to prevent Bartimeus from going to Jesus. It is the last opportunity for Bartimeus and he is not going to obey the crowd.

Throwing away his cloak and begging bowl, he fumbles his way to Jesus. A blind man’s race, but the best race for he is running towards ‘the Way, the Truth and Life’. The blind man can see far more than those who have sight!  It is not Bartimeus who made his way to Jesus, but Jesus who came all the way from heaven to the gates of Jericho, just like the father who took a hundred steps towards the son for every step the prodigal son took towards the father.  The father was running, the son limping.

  “ What do you want me to  do for you?” asks Jesus. Bartimeus cannot see but he can hear. From the soothing voice of the question he knows he will receive what he asks. He does not need money or things. Money is too little to ask from Jesus.  Just one thing alone  is needed and with it he knows everything will come. He does not make hazy fuzzy intentions. He does not have a long list. He is focused, he is brief, he is precise, just one thing alone he asks. “Lord that I may see”. He gets it right. He asks for the right things. Though blind he has a knowledge superior to those who can see. His persistence, his brevity, his focus, and his desperation are rewarded. He receives his sight.  

Like Mathew or Zacheus he has nothing  to offer in return to his benefactor. No dinner, no riches. He does what he can. In wonder, in amazement, in gratitude, he follows him along the road all the way to Jerusalem.

 Bartimeus has many lessons for those who say they see:   Be desperate for what you want, grasp the opportunity that comes your way, do not listen to false voices, ask for the right things, acknowledge that you are blind, be focused on your goal, throw off the props that you relied on,  be brief and precise  in what you ask, use words only if you must,  follow him on the way,  and above all stop a passing God by calling his name – Mercy.

-        Fr T.V. George sdb