Jericho. How many years have I lived here? And all of them without ever seeing the town.

My name is Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. I have been blind for as long as I can remember. I have been rejected and cast out by everyone, and all I can do now to survive is beg. My daily bread literally comes at the mercy of strangers. Many days I am starving.

Today I am sitting as usual by the city gates, and my friend Nathanael is with me. He is also blind. We often talk about what it would be like to see again. He lost his sight only a few years ago, so he remembers the colors and the beauty of the world much better than I do.

I didn’t used to want to talk about what it would be like to see again, because it was too painful. No one ever recovers from being blind. And hoping for what is impossible is futile and causes disappointment every time.

But recently, we have heard of a rabbi who performs miracles. His name is Jesus, and He comes from Nazareth, which is surprising (it is said that nothing good comes from that town), and yet, hearing the things He is doing has awakened (although reluctantly at first) my hope of seeing again. They say He is the Son of David, and I want to believe it.

The more Nathanael and I talk, the more my hope and desperation come alive. If only there was some way to meet Him, some way to get His attention. Perhaps He would have mercy on us.

Today, people have not been kind to us. There are no coins in my cup, and I have been spit on by many.

Then I hear the sound of a crowd approaching, coming out of the city. “What is going on?” I call out to anyone who might hear me. A young man’s voice answers me, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

My heart starts beating faster, and tingles run all over my skin. I feel Nathanael’s hand reach over and tightly grip my knee. This is it; this is our chance; a chance to be heard, a chance to be healed.

I don’t even stop to think before I cry out loudly, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Nathanael echoes my cry, “Yes, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

There is murmuring in the crowd, and then the inevitable rebukes descend on us. “Be silent, do not disturb Him.” “Quiet!” “Stay back!” I have been rebuked many times before, but this time, the rush of hope I feel overwhelms me, and I cry out even louder, this time Nathanael joining his voice with mine. “Lord, son of David, have mercy on us! Jesus, please, have mercy!”

I hear footsteps stopping and voices that I can’t make out. And then a man says, “Take heart and get up; Jesus is calling you.” A thrill runs through my entire body – I have been heard, I have been seen, and now the Son of David is calling me to come closer.

I immediately throw off my cloak and spring up, Nathanael right behind me. Some people in the crowd reluctantly help me walk in the right direction until I am standing in front of Jesus Himself.

And then He speaks.

“What do you want Me to do for you?”

I do not fully understand the weight of this moment until much later. In asking this question, Jesus has given me the opportunity to give voice to my greatest longing, to recognize and speak it out, to allow my faith to rise up and meet His compassion.

I speak, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And from my side Nathanael adds, “Yes Lord, let our eyes be opened.”

There is a pause, and then I feel the hand of Jesus on my eyes. And then He speaks, “Recover your sight and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Immediately, like a veil being removed, the darkness falls away and I squint in the sunlight. And as my vision clears and my eyes adjust, the first thing I see is His face. Peace, gentleness, compassion, and love. He smiles and pauses for a moment, and then turns to continue on His way. I meet Nathanael’s fully-seeing eyes and begin weeping. Without thinking, we join the crowd following Jesus, crying out praises and thanks to God. The people around us are amazed and glorify God with us. We are exuberant, jumping and clapping and singing. We are no longer outcasts, for our God has looked with mercy on us and responded to our desperation with love and kindness. Truly His compassion is without end.

While writing this in July 2023, I was reminded of a story I heard when I was in Israel recently. I met a Christian man there who often hosts and guides tourists, especially other believers. He spoke of a time when he took some visitors to modern-day Jericho, and upon encountering a sycamore tree, one of the people in the group asked him if he thought that was the same tree that Zacchaeus once climbed, in order to see Jesus as He was passing by (see Luke 19:1-10). The man replied that it probably wasn’t an old enough tree to be the same one, but he said (in reference to Jesus) that one thing was for certain, “He is still passing by.” And immediately they were pulled into brilliant light and all their breath was momentarily stolen.

I was so struck by this account of Jesus passing by in modern-day Jericho that it inspired the title of this story of what I imagine it might have been like for Bartimaeus to meet Jesus as He was passing by in the old city of Jericho.

May our faith continue to rise up to meet the compassion of the Lord as we call out to Him and make our desires known in the moments we recognize He is passing by.

(Please see the following links for Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 19:1-10 on biblegateway.com.)