Marion Halft, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
Struggle Against Discrimination and Despair
Series “Theology of Interdependence and Disability,” Part 4 (Mark 10:46-52)
Mari Ikeda
This is the fourth in the series of readings from Kathy Black’s book today. The theme of this series is “Disability and Theology of Interdependence,” in which we consider the importance of living in dependence on one another for both people with and without disabilities. Today we will read the story of the blind man Bartimaeus in the Gospel of Mark chapter 10.
This story has much to teach us, and today I would like to consider it from two different angles in the first half and second half. In the first half, we will consider how people with disabilities and Jesus struggled against discrimination, by considering the environment surrounding Bartimaeus. In the second half, we will consider how we can fight against desperation of life, by considering how Bartimaeus acted as a person. Let’s read the whole thing.
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
A. Fighting discrimination against people with disabilities
1. Our society has discriminated against people with disabilities.
Verse 48 says, “Many rebuked [Bartimaeus] and told him to be quiet.” Since Bartimaeus was blind, he could not see where Jesus was. So the only way for him to get Jesus to notice him was to shout from where he was. The reason why people “rebuked him and told him to be quiet” instead of taking him by the hand and leading him to Jesus, saying, “Jesus is this way,” is because they were discriminatory toward people with disabilities. They treated him as if he were just a child spoiling for attention. They assumed, as a matter of course, that if you are blind, you have to beg, and that a beggar should not bother people by yelling at them.
This is common to all discrimination against people with disabilities that remains today. It is to look down on people with disabilities, to treat them as a hindrance, and to ignore their thoughts and feelings. The underlying idea is that people with disabilities should try to fit into society as much as possible, and that if they cannot, they will have to give up participating in society. Such a view ignores the fact that people with disabilities are individuals with exactly the same value as those without disabilities.
2. People with disabilities have continued to speak out.
In the face of such discrimination, people with disabilities have continued to speak out in defense of their rights. Just as Bartimaeus shouted even harder when people tried to stop him.
Have you ever heard of the phrase “Nothing About Us Without Us”? I learned it last year when I was studying social welfare. This phrase has been a slogan raised among people with disabilities internationally and was a major driving force behind the passage of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006. It means that it is wrong for society to decide in the absence of people with disabilities themselves what should be done for them. Many people with disabilities have engaged in actions over the years to end discrimination. They have been advocating that it is society, not persons with disabilities, that makes disabilities the disability.
Just as people were free to approach Jesus, Bartimaeus, a blind man, should naturally have been able to do the same. He could not do so, not because of his personal physical disability of being blind, but because the people did not allow him to do so. They failed to take care of his blindness and bring him to Jesus. So Bartimaeus had no choice but to keep shouting.
3. Jesus respected the right of people with disabilities to self-determination.
When Jesus noticed Bartimaeus, he called him. And this is the most remarkable point throughout today’s passage, Jesus asked him what he wanted him to do. Jesus must have been aware that Bartimaeus was blind and knew what he wanted. Yet, Jesus did not assume what Bartimaeus wanted, but wanted to hear it directly from his own mouth. It can be said that Jesus respected Bartimaeus’ right to decide for himself. In terms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is respect for the right to self-determination. Jesus, of course, was not particularly conscious of such a thing, but respecting Bartimaeus’ will was just a natural thing for him to do.
To value each person as Jesus did, taking for granted that people with and without disabilities have the same rights and the same value, is to not discriminate against people with disabilities. Therefore, Jesus is our leader in the struggle to end discrimination against people with disabilities. In fact, Jesus has been an encouragement and a guide for many people fighting against discrimination. Can we follow in their footsteps?
We will now begin the second half of today’s message. From here, I would like to turn to Bartimaeus’ personal struggle.
B. Struggle against despair
1. Despair of losing bodily functions
We can only speculate as to what kind of person Bartimaeus personally was, since there is no other biblical passage that speaks of him other than this one. However, there are a few things worth noting.
First, there are many stories in the Gospels of Jesus healing people of their illnesses, but the names of those healed are rarely recorded. It is possible that Bartimaeus’ name was recorded because he later became a well-known figure, and his story may have been a way of letting people know how he had met Jesus in the past.
Another thing, and this is a matter of interpretation, is that he was not born blind, but may have become blind in the middle of his life. The Kyokai-yaku version of Japanese translation of the Bible that we use today translates Bartimaeus’ words in verse 51 as “I want to see again,” suggesting that he was able to see in the past. But the English NIV just translates it as “I want to see” and does not include the word “again.” One previous Japanese translation, the Kyodo-yaku version, translated it the same way as the NIV.
Kathy Black interprets this to mean that he got a disability in the middle of his life. And she reads that he had experienced the loss of his sight and knew that there was much he could get back if he could restore his sight. That is a different kind of suffering than that of a person born blind.
I have yet to experience the loss of the ability to do something that I was able to do before. So I can only imagine how those close to me feel when they have such an experience due to accident, illness, or old age, but I can only imagine the sense of loss and helplessness they must feel. I suppose there is also a sense of fear and hopelessness, depending on the extent of the loss. They may also lose confidence and feel lonely, as if they are left behind in society. I believe that Bartimaeus teaches us what to do in such situations.
2. Seeking mercy rather than healing
Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus, whom he did not know where he was, “Have mercy on me.” It is clear that his wish was for his sight to be restored, but what he cried out was not “heal my eyes,” but “have mercy on me.”
I believe the phrase “Have mercy on me” could be paraphrased as “Do not forget me, look at me, I am here, remember me.” This is a cry for confirmation that God remembers him unchanged, even though he experienced a great loss, both physically and socially. It is a cry of, “I have lost so much, and I did not want to lose them, and I don’t know why You let them go, but You are good and do what is right, please let that be shown to me.” It is also a confession that being able to trust God is more important than regaining physical health.
3. Keep shouting
Bartimaeus continued to shout this cry even when he was interrupted by those around him. Perhaps it was because he was desperate, but I believe it was also because he believed that he was doing the right thing in continuing to shout. Because he was not a person to be looked down upon or ignored. Because God should not be like that, even if people treated him that way. He was not a passive being who could not do anything for his own better future, nor was he a poor being who had to depend on the pity of others. Even if he was blind, he still had the freedom to go where he wanted to go and meet whom he wanted to meet. No one had the right to take that freedom away from him.
Not all of us can be as strong as Bartimaeus all the time. When we don’t have the strength to shout, that’s okay. What I think we should learn from him, however, is that we don’t have to hesitate to shout when we want to. There are many things that others prevent each of us from having the freedom and hope to live our lives as we are. We don’t have to stay silent and let it be, but we can raise our voices with dignity.
4. “Your faith has saved you.”
Hearing Bartimaeus’ wish, Jesus healed his eyes by telling him, “Your faith has saved you.” The English NIV translates “Your faith has healed you.” Both translations are correct because the original Greek verb can be translated either as “save” or “heal,” but I think the interpretation “saved” is more appropriate to capture the overall meaning.
Earlier, I told you that Bartimaeus kept crying out, “Have mercy on me,” not “Heal my eyes.” He wanted to be able to see, but more than that, he wanted first to be sure that God had not forgotten him. It was more important to him to be able to trust God’s mercy than to regain his sight.
It is this trusting in God’s mercy that saves us. Being able to trust that God’s mercy remains the same, even if we cannot get back what we have lost, even if our problems remain unresolved, is what saves us from despair and leads us to hope. Trusting God does not mean that we have no doubts or hesitations at all; sometimes, like Bartimaeus, we just cry out, “Have mercy on me.” I believe that is our faith. It is what saves and guides us.
5. Following Jesus along the road
After his eyes were healed, Bartimaeus “followed Jesus along the road.” I believe this has a symbolic meaning.
I did not explain in detail today, but this scene took place as Jesus was leaving the city of Jericho for Jerusalem. Jesus had already foretold his disciples that he would be killed in Jerusalem.
Therefore, “following Jesus along the road” has a symbolic meaning of walking the path of sharing in the suffering of Jesus’ cross. It is a path that tells the world that Jesus has heard even the unvoiced cries and has certainly not forgotten them. Jesus himself cried out on the cross, “God, why have you forsaken me? It was to prove that when we cry out that same cry, Jesus is with us and has never forgotten us. In the midst of any despair, Jesus is with us. Whether it is the pain of giving up on a cry, the struggle so great that we cannot cry out, or on the contrary, the mistake of disturbing or ignoring someone’s cry, Jesus carried them together with Him on the cross. The world is full of cries that cannot be cried out. We, along with Jesus, are also given the role of hearing those cries and crying out on their behalf.
The struggle against discrimination and despair is, in other words, a struggle for justice and a struggle to believe in hope. We are not fighting it in the dark, but with the solid ground of the cross of Jesus and the solid guidance of His love. Let us trust in Jesus.
(Prayer) Lord Jesus, please touch each of our hearts. Show us that You have indeed heard our cries. When our hearts are darkened, when they are weak, let Your light shine upon them and strengthen them. When we lose our physical or mental health and cannot help ourselves, let us know that you are closest to us and support us even if we do not realize it. Teach us in a way that we can understand. And if it is your will, please encourage us by improving our specific situation. If not, strengthen us so that we do not lose hope and can trust in you. For this purpose, help us to pray for and support one another. Lord Jesus, you have brought us together. We will follow you. We pray in your name. Amen.
Summary
<This is part 4 in a series of readings of Kathy Black’s “A Healing Homiletic -Preaching and Disability.”> The story of the blind man Bartimaeus, recorded in the Gospel of Mark, tells us that from ancient times to the present day, people with disabilities have struggled against discrimination, for their rights to be protected. Jesus defended the rights of people with disabilities as a matter of course and fought alongside them in their struggle two thousand years before the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted by the United Nations. This struggle is not limited to disability alone, but teaches us how to fight when we despair of living. It is the path of following Jesus to the cross, the path of trusting in God’s mercy rather than seeking the solution to the problem or the healing of the illness itself.
For Discussion
- What does it mean, “Your faith has saved(healed) you”?
- What do you do when you see someone who is tired of shouting, when you don’t have the strength to keep shouting in despair?