Abstract
The healing of the blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46–52 is a very intriguing episode. Mark describes how Jesus healed Bartimaeus and then the blind man immediately regained his sight and accordingly followed Jesus on the way. The blind man decided to follow Jesus on the way where Jesus was walking (10:52). What is striking is that Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem to accomplish his salvific mission. Namely, immediately after the blind man regained his sight, he accompanied Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem, that ended with Jesus’ death on the Cross. The way that Bartimaeus chose might have been surrounded by suffering, mockery, and torment. The way seems to be the representative space of tragedy in Mark’s Gospel. For the blind man, whose lifelong wish might have been to regain his sight, the events that happened before his newly-opened eyes on the way were quite unexpected and disappointing. Then, can we say that the way that he chose was an erroneous choice for him?
It is noteworthy that on his way, Bartimaeus saw the most graceful and tremendous moments in Jerusalem. He accompanied Jesus on the most sacred itinerary for the Salvation plan for all humankind. Bartimaeus can be considered a witness of Jesus on the way. In this light, one can argue that Bartimaeus did choose the best way above all. He did make a wise choice.
Later, Luke reports that numerous people appeared who decided to walk just the way that Jesus had walked. Like Bartimaeus, they decided to follow Jesus’ way, and accordingly they were known as those ‘who belonged to the Way of Jesus’ (Acts 9:2). As a result, their opponents persecuted them, but those who belonged to the Way were honorably entitled to be known as Christians. It means that everyone who chose to follow Jesus, these so-called Christians, could be characterized as the persons who chose to walk with Jesus in Jesus’ Way. This leaves us with many questions. If one perceives oneself as a Christian, one needs to ask him/herself, whether he/she wants to walk in the way that Jesus walked two-thousand years ago.
Each of us is living with his or her own dreams and purposes, thinking that we are making our own career path. Every Christian is walking along their distinguished way in their long life-journey, that is, their so-called pilgrimage. Each pilgrim carries out their own pilgrimage with different styles, making their own characteristic life story. Some people say that life is a series of choices, but every life ends at its final stage, in death. Till the final stage of life, people struggle to find the right answer to the questions, ‘Along which way do I need to walk?’ or, ‘Am I walking along the right way?’ Regarding these inquiries, the story of Bartimaeus provides a helpful suggestion to us and asks us to reflect on own life thus far. Bartimaeus invites us to follow Jesus on our way with newly-opened eyes, just as Bartimaeus immediately followed Jesus on the way when he regained his sight. That is the authentic identity of Christians—following Jesus’ Way.