The Vision of Blind Bartimaeus: What a Christian’s Spiritual Sight Should See

Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has saved you.” Immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road.” Mark 10:52

Thanks to my husband’s work, we’ve been fortunate to visit interesting places. Some of these trips have had us staying in extravagant hotels. These places ranked beyond the level of opulence we see in our everyday lives. They are a bit—or a bunch—on the lavish side. I remember one resort with a motion sensor on the toilet. Every time I walked into the bathroom area, it not only turned on a light and raised the toilet lid, but it also heated the seat. In case any of you are confused about the life of the average writer—this is not normal. Most of us don’t live like this, nor would we want to.

But my eyes were always the first to feast on the elaborate and unusual décor when we first entered our room. I didn’t know what I expected to see or what I was looking for, but I knew I would be amazed by what I saw. I didn’t just enter the room. I explored every detail like a child at an amusement park, I marveled at the amenities. These were not my everyday surroundings. They were too extravagant for my taste (I’m still a simple Texas girl), but it was fascinating and a bit exciting to be in such an unfamiliar and lavish environment.

The fun always wore off, though, and I was more than ready to come back to my tiny house in the trees where I am responsible for lifting my own toilet lid.

But that first sight of the elaborate room we’d be staying in always left me in a state of momentary awe.

Contrast that with Bartimaeus, the blind man, from this story in Mark. The man was not only blind, but a beggar on the side of a dusty road. No doubt, he lived in a state of poverty.

But Bartimaeus wanted to see. In fact, he was so anxious to have his sight that he ignored those who told him to be quiet, and instead, cried out even more.

What did blind Bartimaeus want to see?

If he were like me then the list might have read something like: the faces of his friends and family, the sunrise, the food he ate, the potholes in the road so he didn’t fall. I suspect these were what he looked forward to when he asked Jesus to restore his sight.

That is, until he got what he asked for.

“…he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road.”

Of all the things he could have beheld with his new eyesight, he chose to see the backside of Jesus as he followed him down the road.

I’ve never experienced physical blindness, but I do know what it means to be spiritually blind. Thankfully, Jesus changed that.

But what do I want to see? Where am I looking with my spiritual “sight”? Is my focus on the world around me, or is my attention centered on the One who gave me my sight in the first place?

Oh, to be like Bartimaeus! To see and then follow. Did he, like Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “…consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”?

The same is true when we ask Jesus to heal us from a bondage or addiction. We rejoice in our newfound freedom, but what do with that freedom?

I don’t know what Bartimaeus planned to do with his sight when he asked for it, but I doubt he was thinking he’d just start walking along behind this man he called “Rabboni.”

Thankfully, he recognized a better deal when he saw it.

Do I? Am I determined to follow Jesus, even if He isn’t headed in the way I had hoped to go? What if He leads me to places I never wanted to be?

May I always have the vision of the once blind Bartimaeus, with my eyes on Jesus no matter where He leads me.