Two Men, Two Kingdoms: Bartimaeus, Part 2

I intended to write one post on Bartimaeus and the Kingdom of God, but the RYR kept creeping in. That made the post longer than I intended, so, once again, I broke it into two parts. This is part 2. It picks up with the second part of Bartimaeus’ prayer and continues with the interaction between Bartimaeus and Jesus, with overtones of the RYR along the way. 

Bartimaeus cried out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. We discussed the first part of this prayer in Part 1 of this post.  Now lets look at the second part — “have mercy on me”. In many parts of Christendom, this prayer is considered to be a perfect expression of the gospel. It is often spoken “Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner”. With this prayer, cried out as Jesus passed by, Bartimaeus is acknowledging his need, his sinfulness, and his deepest desire – to receive Jesus. His need is to live differently, to repent. His deepest desire is to be set free from sin and to receive forgiveness. In a sense, he is asking Jesus to help him to destroy his ‘fortified city’. He is asking for Jesus to take the place of that citadel in his heart.

The Greek for ‘have mercy’ is eleison. The root of this is elaion or olive tree. When Bartimaeus cries out for mercy he is asking for the spiritual equivalent of an anointing of oil. The oil represents the end of God’s wrath, the peace which God offers to sinners; the healing that only God can give so that we can live and become what we are called to be. He is asking for God’s grace and the gift of His power. He is asking for the gift of repentance. Bartimaeus is asking for Jesus; whether he knows it or not, Bartimaeus is asking for the Kingdom of God, which means he leaves behind the old kingdom, the kingdom of self.

In contrast, the RYR asked for instruction on what work he had to do to earn eternal life, or life in the Kingdom of God. He did not want Jesus; he wanted what Jesus could do for him. The RYR wanted ‘eternal life’ to, metaphorically speaking, add another rampart onto his ‘fortified city’. He saw Jesus as a respected Teacher; Bartimaeus saw Jesus as the Messiah. The difference in these two points of view had a profound effect on their respective responses to Jesus. We know how the RYR responded. Lets look at Bartimaeus’ response.

Not only did the disciples and Jesus’ followers prevent Bartimaeus from approaching Jesus, they tried to shut him up. But that didn’t work. Bartimaeus wanted Jesus more than he wanted their approval or money. He cried out even louder “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” As respectful and sincere as he was, the RYR approached Jesus with a spirit of pride;  Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus in a spirit of humility.

The RYR had a lot of things — wealth and power — his ‘fortified city’ that Jesus asked him to give up. Bartimaeus had almost nothing. But is this really the point? Isn’t it all relative? Like the RYR, Bartimaeus was also called to give up all he had to follow Jesus. He just didn’t have much, but what he did have was probably just as precious to him as the RYR’s stuff. Bartimaeus had a cloak. His cloak was probably his only possession – a shelter in the summer, the equivalent of a house in the winter. When he begged he would put the cloak on his lap to catch coins. His life depended upon that cloak.

When the call came he was ready. “So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus” (Mark 10: 49, 50 NIV). He threw his cloak aside. The instant his cloak hit the ground was the moment in time that separated his old from his new life. For me, this is the center of the story around which all the events of his encounter revolve. First, it is an act of faith. He wouldn’t need this cloak because Jesus will give him what he asks for – his sight. Bartimaeus has already shown that his ultimate desire is Jesus. He is about to find out that if we seek Jesus, we get the Kingdom of God plus Kingdom gifts, like healing. Second, Bartimaeus’ cloak symbolizes the old life; he is done with it – he tossed that life away when he threw down his cloak. Third, the shedding of his cloak represents the turning away from his old self – it is more than saying “the old life is gone”, it is also saying “that ‘old man’ is gone” — a new life, a new creation. Repentance. The cloak was his only possession. Bartimaeus gives it up for Jesus symbolizing that from now on his value and acceptance will be found in Christ, not in his livelihood by the side of the road. Bartimaeus makes a physical, tangible statement of surrender and submission.

We think of his life as a beggar as something that would not be hard to give up. What could be worse? True, but Bartimaeus could have lived a life of resentment and bitterness. He could have seen himself as a victim, as someone deserving of pity, and paradoxically, found his significance in this attitude. It is likely that this was the ‘old man’ who Bartimaeus turned away from. We will never know, but it is possible that Bartimaeus also lived a life of covetousness. If I only had some more money . . . was this his ‘fortified city’? The throwing off of the cloak, leaving it behind, was his way of completing the process of repentance begun when he cried out “Jesus . . . have mercy on me.” When he tossed the cloak aside he tossed all this other baggage aside as well.

“What do you want me to do for you”, Jesus asked. “I want to see”. In one sense, we know what Bartimaeus wanted – his physical sight. In another sense, he was already seeing better than those around him, even better than some of the disciples, and certainly better than the RYR. His request had already been granted when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the eyes of his heart were opened to see Jesus as Messiah. What were Jesus’ motives in healing Bartimaeus? Compassion for this outsider, to send a message to His followers: the down are up, the up are down; to end his teaching ministry in a way that summarizes all he taught about Kingdom Life; or to fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah about the coming Kingdom?

“Say to those who are fearful-hearted. Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God: He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened . . . “ (Isaiah 35: 4,5 NIV).

My guess is all the above and maybe more. The RYR did not get what he asked for. Bartimaeus got way more than he asked for. The RYR wanted the Kingdom, but not Jesus. In the end, he got neither. Bartimaeus wanted Jesus and got healing, which is a gift of life in the Kingdom of God. The RYR chose the kingdom of the world; Bartimaeus chose and received the Kingdom of God.

Finally, Jesus tells him “Go, your faith has saved you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” (Mark 10: 52). The faith of Bartimaeus was more than belief in Jesus as Messiah. As I said above, even the demons knew that. The faith of Bartimaeus consisted of three parts: Knowledge (Jesus is the Messiah) plus trust (have mercy on me — trusting in Jesus’ power and love, evidenced by discarding his cloak) plus action (immediately he followed Jesus along the road).

Faith = knowledge + trust + action.

As I was researching the Concordances to find the meaning of Greek words for this set of posts I came across this definition of faith (in Greek pistis) as in “your faith has saved you”:

“Faith, belief, trust, generally of the leaning of the entire human personality upon God or the Messiah in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness” (from Souter Pocket Lexicon).

Remember when Jesus’ disciples said, “then who can be saved”, referring to the RYR? That word ‘saved’ in Greek was sozo. One of the points of that exchange was to make clear that to be saved is to enter into and live in the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells Bartimaeus “your faith has saved you”. It is the same word here – sozo. Interestingly, sozo is translated here as ‘saved’ in the NIV, as ‘healed’ in the ESV, and as ‘made whole’ in the KJV. Saved, healed, and made whole – life in the Kingdom of God. Bartimaeus, with the faith of a child – knowing, in the power of the Holy Spirit, trusting in this Messiah, and acting — entered into the Kingdom of God. What was his reaction? Remember, the RYR left Jesus sorrowfully?

This is what Luke writes about the same encounter between Bartimaeus and Jesus: “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God” (Luke 18: 43 NIV). Mark says it this way “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road” (Mark 10: 52 NIV).

Unlike the RYR, Bartimaeus never left Jesus! He followed him on the road to Jerusalem and the cross. Along the way he worshiped God with joy, peace, and gratitude. He had entered into and lived from that day on in the Kingdom of God.

I believe that in this story of Bartimaeus we have the privilege of seeing a man being born again, leaving behind the kingdom of self and entering into the Kingdom of God.

Hallelujah

Final note: my next post will be a summary/comparison of these two men and some Kingdom conclusions drawn from the this series of posts.