Bartimaeus was not just an anonymous soul, kicked by the world to the side of the road and left there in the darkness and gloom of despair.  Bartimaeus was someone.  He was the son of Timaeus.  He had a past and he was hoping beyond hope that he would have a future.  Perhaps there was a time in which Bartimaeus would travel the roads of the world, carefree and unburdened by demands of life.  Once he walked in the light with no thought or care where the light came from.  He took the light for granted and used the light freely to make his way in the world.  As he grew older, the light began to dim, little by little.  It was such a slow process that he  wasn’t really aware of what was happening to him.  Each day when he would wake the world would seem a little less brighter.  Slowly he began to feel the weight of the darkness that was creeping into his world.  One day he awoke and the light was gone and he was cast into utter darkness.  He could no longer travel the roads of the world and so he had taken up his place on the side of the road leading from Jericho to Jerusalem as a blind beggar.

    Bartimaeus knew who he was.  He was the son of Timaeus but he was also blind and he longed for the light.  Once the light had allowed him to see and yet he had never really taken the time to see.  Sitting by the side of the road he became painfully aware of all that he had failed to see in life.  There had always been such beauty surrounding him and yet he had failed to take the time to contemplate that beauty and to consider its source.  There had once been people in Bartimaeus’ life that cared for him and even some who loved him but he had been blind to the gift that they were offering to him.  Bartimaeus was blessed with good things in life.  He had never known want or need and he had never had to ask for anything in life.  Now he was a beggar, crying out continuously in the darkness for someone to notice him and to take pity on him.  Bartimaeus, once the proud son of Timaeus, knew who he was, he was a blind beggar waiting on the side of the road of life for someone to hear his cry for help.

    Bartimaeus could not see but he could remember and in his remembering he found consolation and hope.  He remembered the Psalms of David and how they gave voice to the cry of the poor.  The Lord hears the cry of the poor.  “I sought the Lord, who answered me, delivered me from all my fears.  Look to God that you may be radiant with joy and your faces may not blush for shame.  In my misfortune I called, the Lord heard and saved me from all distress…The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed.” (Ps 34,5f.19)  In the darkness of his blindness and his despair, Bartimaeus discovered faith and he found a new way of seeing.  Bartimaeus was a blind beggar but he had a voice that could cry out to God and humbly ask for his help.  Bartimaeus had a memory that could remember the promises of the Lord and how he would send to his people a savior, the Son of David, who would free them from their sins and their suffering.  He held on in hope to these small gifts that were still his and he waited, he waited for the Lord to be passing by.

    When Jesus came to Jericho, Bartimaeus knew that this was his chance.  In the darkness of his faith in what he had heard sitting at the side of the road, he believed that Jesus was the one whom God had sent to heal him.  Bartimaeus used his voice to cry out into the darkness in words of faith, asking for God’s mercy, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”  All the people rebuked him and told him to be silent.  The people felt that Bartimaeus was wasting his time calling upon the Lord, but Bartimaeus knew better, he believed that the Lord would hear him and save him.  Jesus stops and tells his disciples, “Call him.”  Jesus calls Bartimaeus out of his darkness and into a new light, a new day.  Now the people encourage Bartimaeus, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”  Bartimaeus leaps up and goes immediately to the Lord who asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  The blind man, without hesitation, replies, “Master, I want to see.”  Jesus tells him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

    The blindness of Bartimaeus was a hidden gift, for in the darkness and the night he found a new way of seeing and of living, the way of faith.  “Go your way.”  Jesus tells Bartimaeus and Bartimaeus sets out on the road of faith as a new disciple of Jesus.  All of us are called by Jesus to walk in the way of Bartimaeus.  Once we were blind beggars before the Lord but the Lord heard us and called us to new life.  When the Lord calls, get up and get on the road of faith.