As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, blind Bartimaeus sat begging by the side of the road. The Gospel of Mark says, “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me” (see 10:46–52).
Jesus stopped and asked for Bartimaeus to be called to him. Bartimaeus received the message, and the account continues, “And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.” Jesus asked what he wanted him to do for him, and Bartimaeus replied, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.” Then the account concludes, “And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”
This healing portrays the way a persistent challenge is resolved through the ever-operative healing power of Christ, Truth. Long-standing problems may seem to convince us that we have somehow become separated from divine Love, but the inevitable healing of them reveals our intact unity with Spirit, God.
What did Bartimaeus specifically do? In faith he asked Jesus for help; he exercised spiritual courage rather than be discouraged by what a long time it presumably had been that he was blind; he didn’t listen to the voices saying he should stop seeking healing; he cast the old away and came to Christ, believing that he could and would be healed. And finally, after his healing, he followed the Master in “the way”—the path which leads to a deeper understanding of God, divine Love, and of us as Love’s spiritual reflection.
The Christly qualities that Bartimaeus exemplified are foundational to finding healing of long-standing problems today.
First, Bartimaeus had the faith it took to ask for help, rather than just accepting his condition and managing the disability. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes about faith as “a chrysalis state of human thought” (p. 297)—whereby a transformation from material belief to spiritual understanding begins taking place. She is likening this thought transformation to the process a caterpillar undergoes when becoming a butterfly. Faith keeps the door open to healing—the demonstration of one’s God-given freedom. It focuses on spiritual evidence, rather than the physical picture. It operates the way a captain navigates a boat in the fog relying on instruments—a compass, GPS, and radar—rather than on sight, to provide a safe route of travel.
When the apparent longevity of a problem would make us feel separated from God, we can be confident that our unity with our creator is intact, and that Christ reveals it.
With faith we switch from reliance on our limited perspective to the spiritual instruments of Christian Science study, prayer, and listening for divine guidance. These help us navigate to the realization of our wholeness and our inseparability from God.
When we are wrestling with something that has been persistent in its claims, more faith that looks beyond the difficulty to see the intact spiritual reality is vital to healing.
Bartimaeus also had the courage to stick with his pursuit of healing even when many voices around him were telling him to stop trying. Those voices could have been discouraging, but they didn’t stop him from calling out even louder for help. When the apparent longevity of a problem would make us feel separated from God, we can be confident that our unity with our creator is intact, and that Christ reveals it. This may certainly require courage and persistence in prayer, until one’s intact spiritual completeness is fully evident.
A few years ago, during a time of change in my life, some challenges that I thought were behind me presented themselves again. After many years of feeling good about my footing and my life direction, I felt pretty shaky. Shortly after that, I was asked to serve as a Reader at my branch church. Rather than declining because I wasn’t demonstrating Christian Science in the way I would have liked, I humbly accepted. It was an invitation I wanted to respond to, though it took courage to get past the doubt and take the opportunity. Responding to that calling resulted in so many blessings, including the resolution of all the challenging things that had shown up again.
Science and Health states, “Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded” (p. 584). “How long will this take?” is what the human mind wants to know; but divine Mind, God, is conscious only of the good going on, independent of calendar days, and we reflect that spiritual consciousness. There is healing power in being willing to wrestle until the good that is fully intact in Spirit is unfolded in our daily lives.
Bartimaeus may have been blind all his life. What reason did he have to believe that healing might be possible? None, if his belief had been based on material sense and the passage of time. But he must have glimpsed something of his real spiritual identity, and he was willing to pursue healing based on that spiritual sense. His spiritual vision had nothing to do with how long the blindness had seemed to be part of his identity. His trust in God extended beyond the constraints of time and allowed the Christ to reveal that time is neither a healer nor a destroyer.
Finally, Bartimaeus left the old, matter-based, debilitated view of himself behind; reached out to Christ, the true idea of God; and received his sight—the spiritual vision that had always been intact. Once healed, Bartimaeus was free, and what he did with that newfound freedom and sight was to follow Jesus in the way of Christianity.
When we experience healing after a long time, it is natural to take the blessings that have come through spiritual growth and find ways to share them with others. Our discipleship is enhanced and empowered, and there is nothing we want more than to follow Christ and to pass on to others the divine good we have found to be true and so full of blessing.
The Apostle Paul, who met and overcame so many difficult and entrenched challenges, wrote, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:17). In this present moment, God enables us to pursue and find the Truth that brings healing, as we expect the harmony of Spirit to be fully revealed.
