The Rich Man and the Blind Man

Poor and blind, rich and good. One begs, one earns.

There are two passages in the Gospel of Mark. The Apostles are on their way with Jesus from village to village learning of the identity of Christ as the Messiah, witnessing people driving out demons in Jesus name (whom aren’t one of them), hearing of the imminent passion of their Master, and two of them, John and Peter becoming first hand witnesses to the transfigured Christ right before their eyes. Indeed a very intense point among all of the Gospel accounts.

But two stories are recalled in the middle of all of this. One featuring a rich man  (Mk 10:17-22), the other featuring a blind beggar in Jericho (Mk 10:46-52), these two stories have much more to do with each other than they might appear.

The rich man, hurrying to catch him before he leaves his district, reached Jesus, probably out of breath and gets right to the point, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus corrects him briefly and begins by deferring to the Ten Commandments, which he begins to summarize. The rich man interrupts him and explains that he has observed all of them his whole life. Nothing seems to be in the way of this young man, his actions have so far reserved a spot in heaven, or so he believes. Jesus then gazed at the man with a loving look, undoubtedly happy with the man’s moral goodness. Jesus replies, “You’re lacking in one thing, go, and sell whatever you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The man’s face fell from his hopeful grin, and the passage says he went away sad. No “but what if I”, no “what about my goodness”; not even a rebuttal “for he has many possessions”.  

In the next story, Jesus is preparing to make an exit from Jericho amid his twelve and a “sizable crowd”. As he was leaving, a bling man called Bartimaeus, sits, begging, and picks up from a conversation that they are with Jesus of Nazareth.  He immediately calls out for Jesus while some from the crown rebuked him. But he was determined to not let this opportunity pass him up. “Son of David, have pity on me” and Jesus replies “Call him”. The crowd does as the Master commands. “Take courage, get up, he is calling you.” The man throws off his coat, most likely the only possession he has, and rushes to meet with Jesus. He tells Jesus he wishes to see, and Jesus gives him sight telling him, “your faith has saved you.” The man has sight and proceeds to follow Jesus.

The rich man, though he did everything according to the law, could not sell his possessions, could not give to the poor, and could not follow the Master. He even knew Jesus was the one who could unlock the secret of heaven, which Jesus plainly did for him, but could not come to it. It must have come as a shock. Not just to the rich man but to the twelve as well. So far as they knew, wealth implied a blessing from God. Recall Job, “you have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land” (1:10). Isaiah reads, “happy the just, for it will go well with them, the fruit of their works they will eat” (3:10). But wealth and power generate false security, to which the blind man would rather have had. He didn’t give one of his possessions for sale, and didn’t follow Jesus even to the neighboring village. His encounter with the blind man seemed to be that of the opposite. Bartimaeus knew of this Jesus person, of his miracles, and recognized him as the Son of David. He only wished to see, not to follow, so far as the story goes and in the instant he was given the chance he “threw off his cloak.” The one thing he owned, the one thing protecting him, he was willing to give up as rubbish when compared to the glory of what he hoped to have. He was saved from his blindness. Though it stung a little, like when the lights suddenly come on in a dark room, he made eye contact with the Master. Jesus even tell him to “go your way”, contrary to the “follow me” he told the rich man. Instead, he is compelled out of his newfound joy to follow Jesus on the road.

Bartimaeus had a faith that did not waiver when mocked by others. His faith was the sort that asks with expectation, and when granted, again responds in faith.

Those following Jesus then ought to have tied these two occurrences together as they were not far apart. Those following Jesus now, ought to tie these two together, as they are not far apart. Twenty four verses separate the stories; twenty four hours exist in a day. Each day, we can choose to be the rich man, or Bartimaeus.