NOTES for Mar 10:46-52
Today we read the evangelist Mark’s account of the same healing of a blind man that the evangelist Luke narrated. The two accounts coincide exactly in their essence; compared with Luke, the evangelist Mark merely adds several details. First, he preserved for us the name of the blind man of Jericho: Bartimaeus (Hebrew Bar-Timaeus, son of Timaeus, explains Mark, who writes in Greek).
In addition, Mark draws attention to the fact that the crowd surrounding the Lord Jesus did not consist solely of Pharisees. There were people in it who addressed the blind man with words worthy of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. An astonishing power of mercy and acceptance of the person can be heard in their appeal: “Take courage; rise, He is calling you.” Thus, the people around him did not only hush the blind man so that he would not interfere with Christ’s entry into Jericho; others, on the contrary, encouraged him. Perhaps the blind man did not greatly hope that the Teacher from Galilee, whom he did not know, would respond to his plea. Perhaps he was not certain that Jesus was able to heal him. Finally, Mark’s account permits us to think that the blind man’s cry, “Son of David, have mercy on me,” was not so much a confession of firm and clear faith as a kind of question addressed to Christ. Isaiah’s prophecy said that the Christ, the Son of David, would heal the blind. And now the blind man appeals to the Teacher surrounded by the crowd. Perhaps his words imply: “if You are that very Son of David, have mercy on me; fulfill the prophecy.” Only when Christ stops and calls Bartimaeus does the poor blind man understand whom he has happened to meet. As often happens, he himself was frightened by his own boldness and, losing courage, could not move from the spot. That is why the disciples had to tell him: “Take courage; rise, He is calling you.”
The third detail preserved by Mark and not mentioned by Luke may perhaps be connected with this as well. Leaping up, Bartimaeus threw off the dusty cloak in which he was wrapped, a himation resembling a Roman toga, and ran to Jesus. Perhaps, as is commonly thought, the cloak hindered him from moving quickly; perhaps this was a gesture of respect for the Teacher... In any case, it confirms the impression that Bartimaeus did not expect the Teacher to condescend to his cry.
Finally, there is one more important point: the blind man’s form of address to Christ. The evangelist Luke, who recorded this account “after investigating” the Church’s tradition, uses the word customary among Greek-speaking Christians, “Lord” (Greek Kurios), as the form of address. Mark, however, who translated into Greek and recorded the testimony of the apostle Peter, an eyewitness of this healing, leaves untranslated the Aramaic word “Rabbouni,” “teacher.” This form of address is imbued with exceptional reverence; it emphasizes the divine origin of the teaching proclaimed by the Teacher. According to the evangelist John, it is this very address that bursts from the lips of the astonished Mary Magdalene when she sees the Risen Christ. For Bartimaeus, his dialogue with the Lord Jesus probably became precisely an encounter with God Himself, the Teacher and Shepherd of Israel. This is what the Lord calls the faith that saved the blind man.
And, of course, there is the very vivid detail that Bartimaeus, having received his sight, followed Jesus along the road. Where else and after whom else should a person who has gained his sight go, if not after Jesus? Thus Peter says at a difficult moment: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Receiving his sight gives Bartimaeus the ability not only to see the world, but also to see what is most important in it: the Son of God.