And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho, with his disciples, and a very great multitude, Bartimeus the blind man, the son of Timeus, sat by the way side begging. Who when he had heard, that it was Jesus of Nazareth, began to cry out, and to say: Jesus son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, that he might hold his peace; but he cried a great deal the more: Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus, standing still, commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying to him: Be of better comfort: arise, he calleth thee. Who casting off his garment leaped up, and came to him. And Jesus answering, said to him: What wilt thou that I should do to thee? And the blind man said to him: Rabboni, that I may see. And Jesus saith to him: Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw, and followed him in the way.
Bartimaeus' crying out to Jesus demonstrates that he had a lot of trust in him. And Jesus' asking him what does he want him to do for him shows he has a radical interest in each us, and care for us. When Jesus here says "thy faith hath made thee whole", the NAB translation we used had "your faith has saved you". This led me to the question, if we trust Jesus we'll be saved? Connecting that with Bartimaeus' trust (ie faith) in Jesus led me to: maybe boldly asking for what we want is just a manifestation of trust, which is how we are saved.
Jesus told him to go his way, and instead he just followed him. I found this endearing; he was so happy and thankful that he followed Jesus anyway; I can imagine Jesus being bemused by him.
Jesus asking Bartimaeus "what do you want me to do for you" led me to see this in light of vocational discernment. I had a lot of reflection on my vocation, and one of the things I wrote was: "vocation as means to holiness; what state do you need to save your soul". This is what vocation is about. What vocation will let you get to heaven, and help other souls along the way?
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