Jesus said to Bartimaeus, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way (Mk 10:52).

Our Gospel reading today vividly illustrates the notion that the Scriptures contain a multiplicity of meanings, evoking levels of interpretation that enrich the life of the faithful. The story of Bartimaeus can be taken in a purely literal way: a story of Jesus’ compassion toward the blind man who cries for mercy; a story of Jesus’ miraculous power that brings healing to the blind man. It is a human encounter, particular to Bartimaeus and Jesus himself. All well and good; but is there another meaning that emerges if we look a little closer? Is there another level to the story?

There is, in fact, a meaning to this miracle that lies just below the surface of the story. Bartimaeus is physically blind, but what is really at issue is spiritual blindness. Not Bartimaeus’ spiritual blindness, mind you, but our own; the spiritual blindness that is rooted in sin and which obscures our vision of God. When Adam in the story we read in Genesis turned away from God, you might say he was struck with spiritual blindness, an inability to discern truth and goodness or to act upon them. We, his descendants, are blind to the vision which brings us out of our own self-centeredness, and which centers us on the glory of God. We are blind to the vision of glory which has the power to transform us. As the psalm says today, "Look upon me and answer me, O Lord my God; * give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death" (Ps. 13:3). Or as our first reading puts it, "Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope like the blind along a wall…" (Is. 59:9-10a).

Not only our liturgy, but the story itself, suggests that this spiritual meaning is at least as important as the story of the man Bartimaeus; for it is faith that makes him well, the trust that he puts in Jesus. Faith is a spiritual issue, and so the physical blindness that afflicts Bartimaeus is a sort of outward and visible sign of the spiritual blindness that afflicts all of us, and which is overcome by our faith. Then, the story adds, Bartimaeus follows Jesus "on the way"; a phrase that means more than the route they followed. "The way" is an early Christian expression for the entire life of discipleship involved for each of us in following Jesus. Spiritual blindness overcome, Christ’s disciples follow him in the way of life which is modeled on his own.

How, then, are we healed of our spiritual blindness? Jesus’ healing of blind Bartimaeus is paralleled for us in our experience of the Christian sacraments. Here it is, the Scriptures and our tradition say to us, that we experience the healing power of God. Here, in Holy Baptism and in the Holy Eucharist, salvation (a word, of course, which means "healing") is freely offered to humanity through faith in Christ. Baptism is our illumination in the life of faith, our encounter with the crucified and risen Jesus Christ that heals us and reveals to us the vision of God. The Eucharist, "the medicine of immortality" (as Ignatius of Antioch called it) continues the healing process begun in Baptism. It is our "food for the journey" (to borrow another metaphor) along the way of Christian discipleship.

So many of us are wondering how we may encounter Jesus Christ; how we may respond to the call of God; how our lives may be transformed. There is no better place to start than with the fact of your own baptism; with the Eucharist you receive at this altar rail. Grace is available here; formation in the life of faith; illumination that enables us to catch a glimpse of God. Here we are welcomed; here Jesus heals our blindness and propels us forward in the life of discipleship.

We can read the story of Bartimaeus in a number of ways, but the story itself suggests that the deeper meaning connects it not just with Bartimaeus and his blindness, but with all of humanity and its spiritual blindness. We are the ones in need of healing. We need the eyes of faith, the faith which Bartimaeus shows forth, if we are to move ahead into the light of God’s glory.

The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.

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