“And they came to Jericho: and as He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging” (Mark 10:46).
In the Bible, physical blindness often represents spiritual blindness as well. Christ’s healing of the blind during His earthly ministry illustrated a greater truth: He is the Light of the world, the One Who delivers people from spiritual darkness and brings them into the light of life.
Outside of Christ, we are spiritually blind. We do not see the truth. We wander through life lost and in darkness, unaware of the danger of eternal doom and damnation that lies ahead. We all need Christ to open our spiritual eyes and deliver us from the power of darkness (Col. 1:12-14). Through faith in Him, we are brought into the light of salvation and delivered from the “blackness of darkness for ever” ( Jude 1:13) in the eternal Lake of Fire.
In Mark 10, our Savior was on His way to Jerusalem and the Cross. He was being “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). A blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside near Jericho, on a common route to Jerusalem. When he heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark 10:47). Although the crowd tried to silence him, Bartimaeus cried out even more (v. 48).
Hearing his cry, “Jesus stood still” (v. 49). That stillness is a beautiful picture of God’s care. Cries for help and mercy elicit a response from the Lord (Matt. 14:30-31; 15:25). God STOPS when we call out to Him in our need.
The Lord called for him and asked what he desired. Bartimaeus replied, “Lord, that I might receive my sight” (Mark 10:51). The Lord responded, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” “And immediately” (v. 52), Bartimaeus went from blindness to sight, from darkness to light.
We are all Bartimaeus. Like him, we are spiritually blind and spiritual beggars in need of God’s mercy (Eph. 2:4; Titus 3:5). However, when we trust that Christ died for our sins and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4), immediately we go from blindness to sight, from darkness to light, and by faith we are made whole spiritually. In the familiar words of Amazing Grace, “I once was lost but now am found, / Was blind, but now I see.”