Blind Bart

In Mark 10, we find the story of Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who presents Jesus with a simple but challenging request: 'I want to see.' The Greek word used by Mark to describe Bartimaeus's request is 'anablepo', which literally means 'to look up; by implication, to recover sight'*. Its clear that Bartimaeus understood in some sense what it meant to have perfect vision and wanted to experience that again. His words have in many senses become a prayer for me over the last year as I've found myself constantly asking Jesus to see again in a whole variety of different situations. Let me explain...

In the song 'Amazing Grace', John Newton uses sight as an analogy for him conversion. Many people including myself, can relate to the line 'I once was lost but now I see' because when they became a Christian they were no longer lost but could see a purpose for their life. The only problem that I have with this concept is that even though sometimes I should be able to see perfectly as I'm no longer blind, I blatantly don't. One rather funny example of this happening was last Summer when I was in London with some good friends. We'd had a great evening at the Passion concert and I had been really challenged by God. Ten minutes later though in Hammersmith tube station, we were all arguing about when our tube tickets would soon run out and whether we would be able to get home in time! Suddenly I had gone from the position of seeing God very clearly in the concert to completely losing perspective and acting like I was blind again!

Marketing companies today have realised that people like you and me don't always see perfectly. I remember the 'Phones 4 U' mobile advert which was on TV a few years ago, which tried to make out that if you didn't have the latest mobile phone, you should be 'ashamed of your mobile!' The crazy thing was, I actually did feel ashamed of my mobile as it was a bit of a brick at the time. However, despite being a rather chunky mobile (a bit like my thighs I'm told), it still enabled me to very easily communicate with over a billion different people across the earth in less than two seconds flat - hardly something to be ashamed of! Its at times like these when we need to renew our sight and how we view the world - my mobile is pretty amazing just as is it! Similarly, with our faith, we don't just see once, we need to constantly be renewing our sight, just like Bartimaeus.

Claiming that we personally want to see in our faith comes with a challenge though. We have to desire to see everything that God wants us to see, not just what we want to see. When I'm on a rollercoaster, I purposely make myself blind and cover my eyes. In the English language we describe this behaviour as 'turning a blind eye'. Certainly I'm guilty of turning a blind eye to all sorts of things; poverty, injustice and the persecuted church to just name a few. If we really do want to 'see again' like Bartimaeus, we have to want to see everything that God wants us to see, we can't pick and choose.

A final point which strikes me about the whole concept of 'seeing again' is that sometimes we think we can see perfectly clearly and we simply can't! Last Summer I was reversing off my driveway and accidently hit my neighbours van. It was quite embarrasing and a little messy but shocked me into realising that I always have to be fully alert when driving. In Exodus 32, we read about the time when Aaron made a golden calf for the Israelites, believing he was doing right and that he could see perfectly. The consequences of such an act were disastrous though and in Exodus 32:27, Moses orders on God's behalf that everybody should be killed - even 'brothers, friends and neighbours'. When we think we can 'see' and we really can't the consequences are fatal: I hit a van, everybody was killed after Aaron's foolishness. Just like you should always have regular checkups at the opticians, we also need to have regular checkups concerning our faith. Reading the Bible, spending time in prayer, having fellowship with other Christians and accountability are just a few ways that we can achieve this.

Discovering who God is can't be compared to an activity like riding a bike because you simply can't perfect the skill and reach a level where you know all there is to know. We need to be constantly discovering who God is and the different sides to his personality - healer, redeemer, saviour, counsellor, friend and king are just a few of these. One day in Heaven we'll see God in Heaven and won't ever be able to say "I want to see again". That day will be amazing but until then, we need to keep repeating that request of Bartimaeus and ask Jesus to help us see again.

* http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=308