Becoming Love: If We Start at Finish, Where Do We End? (Part 4)ಮಾದರಿ

Day Seventeen: Healing of Blind Bartimaeus

Have you ever been blind to see what God was doing in your world?

In our passage for today, Jesus is on His final journey to Jerusalem, travelling through Jericho. As usual, a crowd of curious people surrounded Jesus. Among them was Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, marginalised and silenced by society due to his disability, yet he calls out to Jesus. There is a stark contrast between the reaction of the crowd and that of Jesus.

In verse 49, we see love displayed by the saviour as He stops: “Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’”

The Son of God, en route to the most pivotal moment in history, His crucifixion, stops for a beggar. He must have been quite overwhelmed by the crowd and shouts of praise, but amidst this, Jesus is still able to hear the cry of a blind man. And Jesus stops. He calls Bartimaeus forward. He listens; He doesn’t assume Bartimaeus’ need but asks him his need. He dignifies.

And Bartimaeus’ response is one of faith. Faith that Jesus is the answer to his blindness. Jesus responds, “Go, your faith has healed you.” And with that, he followed Jesus, healed from physical and spiritual blindness.

Now, even though the crowd and the disciples were able to see physically, they were blind to what Jesus had come to do - restore sight to the blind.

They were so caught up in the busyness of the crowd and the journey through Jericho that they silenced Bartimaeus’ pleas to Jesus, suggesting this was not the time or place to be asking for Jesus. Perhaps they said things like, “We’re on our way to the Holy City; we have no time for a blind beggar! Don’t bother the Master, you old beggar. He can’t help you now! He’s got more important things to do than to bother with you!”

It’s so ironic. It is the religious crowd, on their way to a religious festival, who miss the will of God! These same people listen to Jesus talk about the kingdom of God and yet can’t see what Jesus is planning to do! They are in the right place listening to the right things – but with the wrong heart - and they completely miss the point!

Jesus is our example of response to the need around us. He did not silence the desperate need but addressed it. Even though it might have been inconvenient, He stops so Bartimaeus can follow. As followers of Jesus, we don’t silence the desperate—we amplify their cry. The Church must be a place where the broken are heard, not hushed. We are called to stop, see, and serve—even when inconvenient.

Are we walking past the Bartimaeus figures in our lives? Or are we becoming the ones who stop and say, “How can I help bring light to your life