Today our friend Patrick took us through Mark 10:46-52. If we read the passage in isolation, the importance may be seen as the miracle in and of itself, of Jesus healing a blind man. As we've been learning over the summer with the biblical literacy course, when we go beyond the passage we're reading, observing what else we know about the book and the topic at hand, we can get a deeper understanding of God's story. At this point in Mark, we’ve already read quite a few miracles, including a similar miracle where Jesus heals a blind man. Mark wrote about those miracles in the beginning of the gospel to show the reader who Jesus is. Why would Mark put this miracle of healing another blind man here?

When Mark writes this story, part of what he’s saying is do not miss this. The disciples expected the Messiah to look one way, to be this Messiah King, which likely looked like overthrowing the Romans. Instead, through these passages and through this miracle, Mark is emphasizing it’s not about our expectations or what we get out of the experience. It all comes down to the most important reason why Jesus came; to die and rise again as a ransom for you and for me, for the forgiveness of sins. 

Bartimaeus recognizes he has something he cannot heal himself. He recognizes Jesus as Messiah. That is what Mark wants us to see. We have a choice just like every person. Who do we believe Jesus is? What do we understand about his identity? How are we going to respond?