Back on track!

Mark 10:46-52

46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My rabbi, ” the blind man said, “I want to see!” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.

Food for thought!

A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. Says the gospel reading of a man who had lost his identity. Due to his situation of blindness, the man was named Bartimaeus, that is, SON OF A FATHER! The man was, in other words, nameless. He was known and knowable in terms of his father; he had no name of his own.

Being nameless means being without identity of his own. THIS, was THE problem of this man. He was simply the son of the father. To call someone "son of the father" is to say nothing; is to say the obvious; is to say that the man was a son of a father. Who is not? So am I, so are you?

No wonder that when Jesus asked the man, “What do you want me to do for you?”, the man went straight to the base of his situation, the mother of his problem: “I want to see again!” Did you notice that the man is referred to as Bartimaeus (son of a father) up to and until he came to Jesus? Did you notice that in verse 50 the man does throw away the coat that was covering him all along? "Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus." Before this man knew Jesus he "was sitting beside the road", after coming to Jesus he was "back on track". The gospel says that, " Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road."

I don't know on which part of the road you are standing today; I don't know the name of your coat that is covering you right now, whether it is guilt, boredom, unemployment and probably unemployable, anger, despair, confusion, addiction, or even grieving the loss of a dear friend. Whatever is covering us this day, we can throw it away, through him who strengthens us. The man's coat was called Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. This is the coat that the man, empowered by Jesus, threw away for the first time. Because of this coat, the man could not see; he had become blind; he had lost his name; he had lost his God given identity; he had lost his job, his status, his family and friends. It is all this that Jesus restored in this man: his identity, his name, his sight, his status, his dignity, and above all his personality. He is no longer a son of a father, but a son of THE HEAVENLY FATHER, created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27).

Many of us have lost our sight of what God made us; we have lost our "God given identity", and are known by "people given identity". If I asked, What is your identity? Your mission? Your purpose in life? What on earth are you for? What would you reply? Most of us would reply in terms of the people given identity. Please, notice how difficult it was for the man to beat the people given identity? When he called, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” many of the people yelled at him: “Be quiet!”. Why did the people react this way? Because they don't want us to lose the label they have given us; people like seeing us miserable. As long as they enjoy, as long as the people get what they want, they don't mind about your condition. We are egoistic people, and all we want is to have our interests served.

Everybody was created, not to be just a son of a father; this is too little. As Viktor E. Frankl says in his book "Man's Search for Meaning", Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Once someone said, "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how." It means that who knows the "why" for his existence, will be able to bear the "hows of his life."

Everybody needs "something" for the sake of which to live and sometimes, if need be, to die for. This meaning is unique and specific to everybody, in that it must and can be fulfilled by each person alone. That is why, life's greatest tragedy is one to lose sight of the meaning of life; the tragedy is to have the means of life (be materially rich) but have no meaning of life.

We can discover the meaning in life in three different ways: (I) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. The man in the gospel found his meaning by encountering Jesus. To Jesus be praise and honour and glory, for ever! Amen.