A Sacred Discontent Can Be The Making Of Us

Mark 10:46-52

The sense that I treasure most is my sight. So I can feel for the blind man in today's Gospel. When Jesus asked him what he wanted he replied, "Master, let me see again." This is the last of the healing miracles of Jesus which Saint Mark recounts. It took place near Jericho, about 15 miles from Jerusalem.

Beggars were a common sight in the Middle East because most occupations of the day required physical labour, and anyone with a crippling disease or disability was at a severe disadvantage and usually forced to beg. Blindness was considered a curse from God for sin, but Jesus refuted this idea when He reached out to heal the blind.

Apparently this blind man, Bartimaeus, had heard of Jesus' reputation as a healer and seized the opportunity to approach Him. "Son of David" is a title allotted to the Messiah although, in Mark's Gospel, it is used only twice of Jesus. The crowd of pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover did not appreciate Bartimaeus' loud shouting and tried to silence him but he shouted all the louder. Why they wanted him to keep quiet is not clear. Perhaps the title he gave Jesus offended them, or they did not want anyone to delay their journey.

When Jesus called the beggar to Him the crowd's complete change of attitude is remarkable. Instead of trying to silence him, they encouraged him. Bartimaeus' response was immediate. "Throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus." He did not immediately heal the beggar but first asked a question to stimulate his faith. Then without any outward action or healing word He sent him away with the words "Go; your faith has saved you." The cure was immediate.

We can all learn something from this story of Bartimaeus. Here was a man who was reaching for something better. That reaching for something better begins with a sense of discontent. There are two kinds of discontent. One is a restlessness. It leads to a rootless kind of existence. You see it in the individual who is constantly changing jobs, changing residence, changing marriage partners. This is not what we have in mind. No person ever reaches something better by simply drifting about the face of the earth.

We are thinking about another kind of discontent. It is not so much restlessness as a realistic appraisal. It centres not so much on what a person has but what he can be. It is the opposite of stagnation and complacency. This is what Bartimaeus was feeling. In his heart was a conviction that he was born to some higher destiny than to be a sightless beggar beside life’s road.

It would be good if we had that sacred restlessness. There is so much to do that we have not done. There are friendships to be forged, love to be shared, services to be rendered, God's beauty to be experienced, books to be read, knowledge to be discovered. Life has only begun. What a tragedy if we should stop and cease to grow when there is so much more beyond us.

Bartimaeus can teach us to hope. When he heard that Jesus was near he began to shout. The nearness of Jesus heartened Bartimaeus with the hope for something better. We need to hear that note of hope in our day. So many people are defeated by discouragement. Our world desperately needs to hear the New Testament message of hope. Jesus constantly encouraged people with the vision of a better life.

After this event Jesus reached the Holy City, Jerusalem, where the last acts of the drama of Redemption were about to take place. His opening the eyes of the blind man stands in sharp contrast to the blindness of the religious leaders He is about to encounter there.

Lord Jesus, may You constantly open our eyes to reach for better things, and hope for a brighter future.