The most moving part of today’s Gospel is Jesus asking Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” He then allows the blind man to search his heart. He allowed him to utter his most profound desire: He wants vision restored to his sight. He gave the Son of Timaeus the dignity to search his heart. Timaeus means valued one. This one was undoubtedly loved and valued by Jesus on the road to Jerusalem.

Being a Christian is not just about being healed by Jesus, but about following the inspiring example of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus, upon hearing Jesus’ voice, courageously set aside his cloak and approached him. This act of setting aside his cloak symbolizes the abandonment of his old value systems and ideals to follow Jesus. After Jesus healed him, Bartimaeus didn’t just return to his old life, but he “followed him on the way.” In Mark’s sixteen-chapter account, the way is Jerusalem. Jesus transformed the Son of Timaeus, leading him to give his life to follow him to the Cross. Bartimaeus, one of two blind men Jesus healed, named in Mark’s account, followed the Church to Pentecost and witnessed the death of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The gentle, loving Spirit of God filled Bartimaeus’ heart with divine love, and when the Spirit moved the Church to write the account of the Lord, the Church remembered faithful Bartimaeus, who cried with the psalmist, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”

Bartimaeus’s story offers us a profound understanding of the kingdom. The essence of God’s kingdom is true belonging. Sin may separate us from this belonging, but Jesus comes to restore us to our most authentic selves, so we may belong to him. Following God means recognizing his fatherhood, as we heard in the First Reading:

“I will gather them from the ends of the world,
with the blind and the lame in their midst,
the mothers and those with child;
they shall return as an immense throng.
They departed in tears,
but I will console them and guide them;
I will lead them to brooks of water,
on a level road, so that none shall stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
Ephraim is my first-born.”

Jesus promises to provide for all our needs and allows us to search the depths of our being to utter the deepest longing of our hearts. Let us be on the way … pause … and ask.