That I May See

Bartimaeus rightly calls Jesus "Rabboni", meaning "Teacher" because that was what Jesus had been doing just before they met. And this we have heard the previous Sundays. Jesus had been teaching his disciples fidelity (when he rejects divorce in favor of God's will for man and woman to be in an indissoluble marital bond), simplicity (when he told the rich young man to sell his belongings and follow him), humility (when he explained to his disciples, especially to James and John that greatness and primacy lies in being a servant and the least of all). But these are difficult teachings to understand. The disciples, and we, can not understand because we do not see the logic; we could not see how we can be secure without money; we could not see how we can be great by being the last.

The blindness of Bartimaeus is a metaphor for the blindness of the disciples to the teachings of Jesus. Perhaps our blindness, too.

"What is it that you want me to do for you?", Jesus asks. With Bartimaeus, we reply with all earnestness, "Rabboni, I want to see!"