Drop ItEgzanp

We don't know much about the blind man Bartimaeus, other than that he had been blind from birth and that he would try to capture the hearts and the generosity of the Galilean Jews that were on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, three times a year. The law dictated that a disabled man in the ancient world was totally dependent on others for charity and for guidance and protection.

The people who had the means to make a pilgrimage would feel a compulsion to give as they passed Bartimaeus — pity, empathy, compassion, and even an obligation to the rule of law. But all that is on the surface of the story. This story is not about a single man born with blindness. Bartimaeus is the only physically blind man in this story, but almost everyone else is spiritually blind—they do not recognize who Jesus really is and they do not understand what Jesus can really do for them.

Bartimaeus wants his sight restored and that will happen. But Jesus heals him in a way that teaches everyone about spiritual blindness — a figurative way that Jesus defined the lost and hopeless condition of sinful people, apart from him. Spiritual blindness is when we don't see Jesus for who he is, especially his ability to heal us. Spiritual blindness happens when our hearts become hardened to him. Like a cataract over our spiritual eyes, bitterness, rebellion, or pride can keep us from seeing God clearly. And to top it all off, the whole time we've got an enemy who is working to keep us blinded as well.

But thanks be to God who gives us a special gift of his grace through the "new birth" (John 3:3) and by seeing "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Cor 4:4). If we want to be spiritually healed by Jesus, we have to be willing to ask the difficult questions like “what cataracts have grown over my spiritual eyes?" or “how has what I’ve been doing blinded me from seeing and experiencing God’s best for my life?” If you want to see things differently, then you have to do things differently. You're not going to be a new you and see what God has for you unless you make some adjustments.