The Healing of Bartimeaus

Today’s Gospel focuses on the healing of Bartimeaus, a blind beggar. Mark further illuminates this story by giving us the name of the man healed. Scholars are 100% sure of the historical accuracy of this gospel story because details in Mark’s Gospel are described in Matthew as well as Luke.

Matthew and Luke are silent on the mans name - seemingly focusing on the healing aspect of the miracle.

Mark wants us to understand Jesus’ power over our human iniquities - but also makes this a powerful conversion story. How does Mark know this man’s name, or even care, given the number of people that Jesus interacted and potentially healed. Very few times do we actually hear the name of the person healed, focus remains solely on the miraculous efforts of Christ.

One would think that Matthew, a tax collector by trade would be more keen than Mark to focus on such minutia details such as the name of a beggar. Mark identifies one other person by name that Jesus healed.

If we fast-forward to the scenes of Christ’s Passion, we learn that Jesus was helped on the path to Golgotha by Simon of Cyrene, a seemingly innocent and oblivious bystander to what was happening in Jerusalem, he was merely in town on business. Mark not only tells us the name of the man that helped Christ carry his cross to Calvary, but we also learn that he was the father of two sons, Alexander and Rufus.

Why would mark include the names of these individuals? Their names are rather inconsequential to the point of the story. What it tells us is that they were most likely not just innocent bystanders that happened to make their way into the story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. On the contrary, this gives us solid evidence that they were more than likely converted into followers of Jesus by their interactions with him, and became devout followers, likely disciples of Mark, and became well-known within 1st Century Christian circles.

As we are all called to be the hands and feet of Christ, these Gospel stories that highlight conversion show us how to be examples and how to make an impact on the lives of others. I was at a grocery store one time, just picking up a couple of items to finish dinner. My wife was making spaghetti, and we needed some cheese, garlic bread, and a couple of other staples for the kitchen. As my son and I were standing in line ready to cash out, the young woman in front of me commented on my t-shirt. Looking down to remind myself of what I put on this morning, it was a light blue shirt, with a shadowy image of the crucifix, with lettering that said “Who is your hero?” On the back of the shirt was the list of a few saints. A very brief conversation was had about the shirt, how I got it, why I wore it, etc. She finished paying for her groceries, and with the help of her friend, corralled her two children and all of her groceries into the cart.

I had a fleeting thought of handing my credit card to the cashier to pay for the groceries for this young family, as I noticed that she was preparing to pay for her stuff with an EBT card. I was distracted by my son momentarily, and by the time I looked up, her transaction was already completed, and I thought that was going to be the end of our meeting. All of a sudden, she stayed behind while her friend took her groceries and children and started to leave. This young woman then proceeded to tell me that because she was a christian, she felt compelled to pay for my groceries as well.