6. Eyes Wide Open: Following Jesus After Blindness

6.  Eyes Wide Open: Following Jesus After Blindness.

“All at once, the man’s eyes opened and he could see, and he began at once to follow Jesus, walking down the road with Him.” (Mark 10:46-52).

Unimaginable. The healing of blindness was considered the one impossible miracle, the most spectacular type of healing imaginable, up to actually raising a dead person to life. It was so unimaginable that people figured only God was capable of such a thing. The prophesied Messiah, too, could heal blindness, according to the prophet Isaiah, and so people automatically started thinking that perhaps this Jesus was the Messiah when He started healing the blind. For most Jews, curing blindness was a sign of the messianic age. “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.” (Is. 29:18). “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing.” (Is. 35:5-6). “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name.” (Is. 42:6-7). The unprecedented and spectacular nature of being healed of blindness was even mentioned by the man born blind after being healed… “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.” (John 9:32). Jesus broke the mold. He did something unprecedented, unheard of. This is evidence that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.

Creative Healing. In order to confirm that He was indeed the Light of the World, Jesus proceeded to bring light to many blind men. One time He used creation materials, water and dust, to bring a new creation to a blind man, the light of faith as well as light to the eyes. Jesus spit on the ground, mixed it together with the dust, and made an ointment of mud. He then rubbed the mud on the eyes of the man (John 9:1-7).  This wasn’t as distasteful as it might appear now, since saliva was commonly accepted in biblical times to have some medicinal value. This is the only recorded instance of Jesus using this particular method to cure blindness. In the healing of blind Bartimaeus, Jesus merely said the word. That was all that Jesus wanted to do to accomplish the miracle. (Mark 10:46-52). In the case of the two blind men in Matthew 9:30, Jesus simply touched their eyes, “and their eyes were opened.” While in Bethsaida, Jesus continues to be creative with His healing of blindness. In this case, Jesus spit directly onto the man’s eyes and laid His hands on the eyes as well. But the healing wasn’t accomplished fully yet, the man’s sight was only partially restored. So Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes again, “and he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” (Mark 8:22-25). So in the Gospels, we have four different healings of blindness, and each healing was done in a different way. These are pictures of the Co-creator being creative.

Four Healings of Blindness. It’s interesting to compare how the healed blind men reacted to their new-found eyesight. The two men in Matthew 9 basically disobeyed Jesus and, “Unable to contain themselves, they went out and spread the news everywhere!” The healed blind man in Mark 8 did quite the opposite, as he obeyed Jesus and went directly home without telling a soul. The other two healings studied below are fascinating… The healing of Bartimaeus, and the healing of the man born blind.

1. The Healing of Bartimaeus. “Jesus said to Bartimaeus, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man replied, ‘My Master, please, that I may receive my sight!’ Jesus responded, ‘Your faith heals you. Go in peace, with your sight restored.’ All at once, the man’s eyes opened and he could see, and he began at once to follow Jesus, walking down the road with Him.” (Mark 10:46-52).

Chutzpah (hoots-pah) is a Yiddish word that long ago entered English usage. It is from the Hebrew word, “hutspah,” which means insolent or audacious. Chutzpah is a neutral word that can be either positive or negative. Chutzpah can be righteous or unrighteous, holy or unholy. It is an idea difficult to define, so there are a lot of synonyms for it, especially in the biblical sense: spiritual audacity; brazen gall; tenacious stubbornness; headstrong persistence; outrageous guts; shameless nerve; feisty assertiveness; brazen impudence; unyielding boldness; courageous spine; expectant defiance. The Holy Scriptures, both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, are overflowing with examples of holy chutzpah. One wonders not only if it’s a job requirement for saints and prophets, but also a faith requirement for all believers. In fact, God seems to love chutzpah in us when it is based on our ultimate trust in Him and His character, our unselfish motives, our yearning for justice and mercy. Chutzpah in front of others becomes holy when it is done in obedience to the Lord and is an outworking of our faith in Him. As Rabbi Schulweiss once said, “Spiritual audacity toward God finds a place of honor in Jewish religious thought.” The rabbis of old have always insisted that chutzpah is a valid expression of faith. Just a quick glimpse at the Gospels reveals that Jesus and His followers fully embraced the ancient Jewish ethic of holy chutzpah. When Jesus saw chutzpah in action, He usually said things like, “Great is your faith!” Maybe Christian scholar Dr. Brad Young said it best. “True faith requires bold perseverance. Sometimes it is expressed by brazen impudence. Faith can be defined as chutzpah. Persevere with unyielding tenacity.” (Brad Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian).

Bartimaeus is  a blind beggar pleading for food or money outside of Jericho (Mark 10). We don’t know his real first name, because Bartimaeus simply means “son of Timaeus.” We do know his biblical name ironically means “highly prized” or “esteemed.” He is outside the city gates, by the side of the road, an uncomfortable embarrassment to the town folk. Jericho is a wealthy resort town run by the Romans, and they all find him repulsive. He is also a living reminder that by Jewish law he shouldn’t even have to beg. The Mosaic Law (Lev. 25) states clearly that the Jewish people should take care of anyone in their midst with a disability. God didn’t like the idea of one of His chosen begging to survive.

Hope. Bartimaeus has probably heard that this roving healer/rabbi named Jesus is coming through town, and that He has already healed a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8). Bartimaeus thinks He may be the Messiah we’ve all been waiting for, so if he makes himself known by the side of the road, maybe this Jesus will see him. The dust in the air is so thick, he can barely breathe. There must be a big crowd with Jesus. It doesn’t help that all the town dogs are barking in excitement as they scamper around all these people. Bartimaeus surely hears them as they approach nearby.

Faith. Even though he is now covered in dust, and swallowed up by the noise, Bartimaeus figured out how to get Jesus’ attention. In his chutzpah, Bartimaeus decided to make a scene. He decided to give loud voice to his little bit of faith. He acclaimed Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, and did so without shame or embarrassment. So he shouts those words that he hopes will stop Jesus in His tracks: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The people around Bartimaeus lost patience with him. “Those in the crowd were indignant and scolded him for making so much of a disturbance.” (Mark 10:48). 

Messiah-Mercy. All the Jewish people knew that the anticipated Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come from the family line of King David. So, Son of David meant Messiah. They also knew that one of the main signs telling of the Messiah would be that He would bring sight to the blind (Isaiah 29, 35, and 42).  The Messiah would heal blindness, which was considered maybe the most spectacular miracle. Bartimaeus didn’t stop with calling Jesus the Messiah, though. He followed up with those two words that will stop Jesus every time: “Have Mercy!” Jesus loves to show mercy wherever He goes, and when you ask Him for it, it’s almost like you’ve put a wall in His way and He can’t go around it till He shows mercy. You ask Jesus for mercy, and you definitely have His attention.

Jesus Stopped. Despite all the noise and confusion, Jesus heard his cries, and He stopped. All of a sudden, the crowd grew a bit quieter, wondering why the whole train of people have stopped too. What did all the people around Jesus start to say? They kept telling Bartimaeus to be quiet, for He was considered a big sinner who was cursed by God with blindness, unworthy to approach Jesus. So they kept saying things like, “Shush, shush! Jesus is a busy man and doesn’t have time for a cursed blind man, a sinner like you!” But Bartimaeus was tenacious and determined, and he ignored them. After all, this was the chance of a lifetime for him! He will not be denied. He will holler at the top of his lungs, forever, if that’s what it takes to get Jesus’ attention. But Jesus heard, and He stopped. That in itself is a miracle.

Trust. Because Bartimaeus hoped in Jesus, he kept shouting. He didn’t give up. He trusted somehow that Jesus would actually heal him. Even though he never saw Jesus or any of His miracles, he believed in Him. He didn’t hold back, he kept making a scene. He trusted Jesus even though he didn’t see Jesus. Think about that. So he then heard Jesus call out to him, and his friends brought him to Jesus. Bartimaeus was so excited that he threw off his tattered and filthy coat and jumped up onto his feet in hope and joy. And then, there he was, standing right in front of Jesus, perhaps the first person Bartimaeus had ever seen in his life.

Interruption. Jesus was walking along, and then He stopped. He stopped in the road to talk to a blind beggar. It seems Jesus was always ready to be interrupted. He was patient and observant in His kindness. Here He was, walking steadily down the road, probably thinking about His coming Passion in Jerusalem, and He still was ready to change His agenda. Jesus, always interruptable.

Healed. Amazing! Jesus stopped to heal Bartimaeus, and He didn’t even have to touch him. He just gave the word, and Bartimaeus could see! Isn’t that just like in creation, when all that was needed was a word, and it was done? Well, this is a new world for Bartimaeus, that’s for sure. Despite the jostling crowd, He surely looked at Bartimaeus as if he was the only person in the world.

Up Close and Personal. The closer Bartimaeus got to Jesus, the more personal Jesus became to him. Bartimaeus went from stating a general statement of belief, “You are the Messiah,” to a personal statement, saying “My Master.” A general belief statement was not good enough. Bartimaeus wanted a personal relationship, he wanted more of a friendship with Jesus, not accepting a merely abstract acceptance of Him. The closer Bartimaeus got, the more personal Jesus became to him. To Bartimaeus, Jesus was generally the Lord, but He was also specifically MY Lord. To believe in a creed is one thing, an important thing, but having a personal relationship with Jesus is another thing entirely. And now, because the general Lord is his personal Lord, Bartimaeus does feel, finally, highly prized and esteemed.

Following Jesus. After Bartimaeus was healed, he immediately started following Jesus as they all walked down the road. The healing was not the end of the story. He started a new life of friendship with Jesus, following Him, obeying Him. He was healed in order to follow. Without his chutzpah, one wonders if Bartimaeus would have ever been healed. Jesus probably would have healed him regardless, but the persistent, stubborn shouts of Bartimaeus certainly helped the process along. And now with his new sight, he knew the right direction to walk in. Right at Jesus’ heels. Did he follow Jesus all the way to Jerusalem? Did he find other healed blind men on the road? Was he at the Cross when Jesus died? We don’t know. When Jesus heals us of our blindness, let’s be like Bartimaeus and follow Jesus down the road, to wherever that takes us.

2. The Healing of the Man Born Blind. “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I AM the light of the world.’ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the mud. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.’ (which is translated, the one who is sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” (John 9:1-7).

The God Who Sees. Jesus was simply walking down the road in Jerusalem, and He spotted the blind beggar. Unlike the blind man, Jesus saw everything. Nothing escaped His notice. His eyes were open 24/7 to see those in need, and He didn’t miss a thing. The rest of humanity has fallen eyes, half-closed to others who are unfortunate or who don’t scream for attention. Jesus had fully redeemed eyes with an eternal attention span, perfect eyesight, able to observe those whom others overlook. This story begins with the simple fact of the careful observation of the Lord. But that only makes sense, doesn’t it? “He who formed the eye, shall He not see?” (Ps. 94:9). Jesus here confirms one of the names of God in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis 16, we see pregnant Hagar fleeing from a jealous and angry Sarai and a befuddled Abram. He conceived a child with Hagar, at Sarai’s request, and it brought nothing but trouble. So Hagar tried to escape this troublesome home and found herself in the wilderness at a spring of water. The Angel of the Lord appeared to her, comforted her, and directed her back to Sarai.  Hagar had no doubt that she was talking directly with the Lord, someone whom we know as the preincarnate Jesus, for v. 13 states, “Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, El-Roi, You-are-God-who-sees.” And she followed that up by exclaiming, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” That spring of water in the well was named, “Well of the Living One who sees me.” God saw the humble Hagar and intervened. The Living One was indeed Jesus, who comforted the desperate and distraught Hagar, and cared for her, and sent her back to Abram and Sarai for God’s will to be accomplished. God made a special appearance for someone who could easily have been overlooked. Yahweh had His eyes on the lowly, and Jesus brought His message. He continued His ministry of seeing in this powerful story of the man born blind.

Who Sinned? The disciples saw the man born blind, begging by the side of the road, and assumed that his blindness was a punishment from God for a sin committed by him or by his parents. It was common in that era for people to trace any disability or illness to a particular sin that was committed. Even worse, many thought blind people to be under a curse. Since the man was born blind, did the disciples actually think he was punished for something he did before he was born? Of course, the idea of prenatal sin is outrageous. So is the basic unfairness of punishing someone for being born with a sinful nature like the rest of us. And Jesus rejected the idea that this man’s blindness is the result of any sin. But Jesus did say this man’s blindness will be redeemed, that it will be used to glorify God and reveal His glory.

I Saw the Light [Live] – YouTube

Light. This entire story reveals Jesus as the incarnation of God’s words at creation, “Let there be light!” (Gen. 1:3). He brings the light of eyesight to a blind man who has never seen light. And He brings the light of spiritual understanding to those who witnessed this miracle with eyes wide open, and to those who read about this miracle centuries later. Jesus confirmed this when He declared in this story, just before the miraculous healing, “As long as I am in the world, I AM the light of the world.” (John 9:5).

Ryan Ellis – Son of David (Official Live Video)

Skeptics. The people witnessing this healing were shocked and then very skeptical. They couldn’t believe what they just saw. Isn’t this the blind beggar we see every day? There was some controversy whether this man was actually the same beggar they had seen all these years. Finally, the healed man put an end to that controversy by saying, “Yes, it’s me!” There is a question as to why he had to beg in the first place. It shouldn’t be necessary to beg at all in a Jewish community. Jewish law declares that the people, the general populace, should take care of anyone who has a disability so that the unfortunate don’t have to endure the humiliation and poverty of begging. (Lev. 25:35) So what happened to that law? Why didn’t the Pharisees see fit to enforce that law?

Now I See! Jesus slipped away when the blind man went to the pool of Siloam. No one seemed to know where Jesus went. The bewildered witnesses decided to bring the healed man to the Pharisees for a formal investigation in order to certify the healing. Some of the Pharisees couldn’t accept that this healer could be from God, since He broke Temple law by healing on the Sabbath, He didn’t rightly keep the Sabbath. This so-called healer is obviously a sinner, they thought, so they didn’t believe the healing actually occurred. They decided to interrogate the parents of the man, who turned out to be intimidated by the very idea they could be put out of the Temple. They didn’t want anything to do with the possibility that they would be considered Christ-followers. So the parents didn’t answer directly, they merely said to the Pharisees, “Go ask him yourselves. He is an adult, he can answer for himself.” After more intense questioning of the healed man by the Pharisees, the exasperated man told them that there may be some doubt about who the healer is, he does know one indisputable fact… “Though I was blind, now I see!” And he followed that up with… Obviously, if this was a mere sinner who healed me, He wouldn’t have been able to do this! The Pharisees responded by casting this man out of the Temple.

I Believe! The blind man’s faith progressed before our very eyes as we read this story. He started out not knowing the first thing about Jesus. He didn’t even know who this man was who was applying mud to his eyes and instructing him to go wash it off. He was happy to oblige the man who anointed his eyes, probably figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to give this a try. Why not? After the unexpected healing, the man called Jesus a prophet (v. 17). During the interrogation, the man claimed he didn’t know if the healer was a sinner or not (v. 25). The man then reasoned that this healer must not be a sinner, because it is doubtful that God would use a common ordinary sinner for this amazing miracle (v. 31). He then continues to use logic, and concluded that the healer must be truly from God (v. 33). Finally, after meeting up with Jesus again outside the Temple, the healed man is convinced. “Lord, I believe!” And the man immediately bowed down and worshipped Jesus as the Son of God (V. 38).

Religious Blindness. Jesus concludes the story by referring to the Jewish tradition of considering literal blindness as a symbol of spiritual ignorance. Those without spiritual understanding are like those without sight, walking in the darkness of ignorance. In His indirect way, Jesus accused the Pharisees of being spiritually blind. He seemed to be saying, you might have religious knowledge, expert knowledge of the Scripture even, but you don’t yet have true spiritual understanding. And because of your overconfident, inflated self-righteousness, you are blind to your blindness. Your eyes are closed to the truth. Open your spiritual eyes and seek me, says Jesus.

Universal Blindness. Aren’t we all blind in some way? We simply don’t see as well as we should. Blind to God’s goodness and wisdom, blind to God’s power and glory, blind to the needs of others, blind to our own needs. Blind to truth. We can be blind in understanding Scripture, in how to worship. We all need to be healed of blindness. Praise the Lord, Jesus can bring us from darkness to light and heal our blindness, just as He healed the blindness of Bartimaeus, of the man born blind, and all His other healings of blindness. As we follow Jesus in our walk of faith and trust, leaning on the Lord, it wouldn’t hurt to keeping asking ourselves: In what ways do I continue to be blind?