NOTES for Mar 10:46-52
Mark's Gospel, in describing the healing of the blind man, adds one striking detail that is not found in Luke's Gospel: besides the name of the man who was healed, the evangelist mentions the phrase with which the people around him encouraged him, saying, "Take heart; get up, He is calling you." At first glance, the situation looks paradoxical: the man who had just been calling out to Jesus himself, paying no attention at all to the reaction of the crowd, now suddenly stops, as though frightened by something, and does not dare come near the One he had just been calling to for help. What is Bartimaeus afraid of? Certainly not people. If he had been afraid of people, he would not have cried out to the One whom everyone considered a great Prophet in order to draw His attention. Nor is he afraid of Jesus Himself as a Man. Apparently Bartimaeus suddenly sensed something unusual, something this astonishing Prophet carries with Him and within Himself. He sensed that very Kingdom about which Jesus Himself never tired of testifying, saying that it had "drawn near." And after sensing it, he suddenly became timid and stopped. He was not strong in theology. The subtleties of the many messianic theories and concepts studied at that time in the academies of Jerusalem and Babylon were hardly known to him. But he did sense the breath of the Kingdom, precisely because he had entrusted himself completely to this strange and unusual Teacher. And after sensing it, he understood that he was not ready to enter it. The people around him, not understanding what had stopped this man who had just been so determined, push him forward: go, He is calling you. And Bartimaeus goes. To the people around him, he is going toward his healing. Yet he is also taking a step into the Kingdom.