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Today’s hero is Bartimaeus because he shows us the gift of a Listening
Essential Teachers notes:
While we would all like to advocate listening in our lessons this story should not be seen as an opportunity to hone our manners but to open ourselves to possibilities that may transform our lives. Giving Bartimaeus sight was a great gift from Jesus, but it came because Bartimaeus was willing to sacrifice his security, to make himself look foolish, and to act on faith. Bartimaeus is a really straightforward story and older children could easily re-read the passage from the bible as a way of pondering on it.
Main Passage : Mark 10
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Bartimaeus pulled his cloak round his shoulders and wondered what colour it was. Bartimaeus was blind, he had never known what colour was, but he knew that his cloak must be a colour.
Bartimaeus spent his days sitting by the edge of the city, lots of people passed him by and he would hear their conversations and hope they may spare him a few coins. Bartimaeus was good at listening.
Some weeks Bartimaeus heard new stories, some weeks all he heard were people moaning about the Romans and silly gossip. This morning he had heard a father explain to his son that Bartimaeus was a beggar, that he had a beggars cloak. There were lots of beggars and they all had cloaks like his. They would use their cloak to keep the dust from their faces, to keep them warm at night and give them shade in the sun. Bartimaeus was a beggar because he was blind.
There seemed to be lots of people around today, the noise seemed to be growing and growing until Bartimaeus could only hear a few words of each conversation.
“Are you sure it’s him?” came a deep male voice “was told he’s coming this way if we just” came a high pitched voice “wife to get here with the child” was said by someone whose feet were so close Bartimaeus could hear them thumping. It must be somebody really important thought Bartimaeus. “from Nazareth, can’t believe a prophet would come from that place” came another voice and then Bartimaeus knew who it was.
He had heard of the Prophet from Nazareth, his name was Jesus, and some people thought he may be the messiah. Jesus had done some amazing things, he had performed miracles, he could heal people.
“Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!” shouted Bartimaeus as loud as he could.
“shuu” said a voice just above him.
“Son of David! Have mercy on me!” shouted Bartimaeus even louder
“be quiet” came a angry female voice
But Bartimaeus would not be quiet, he just kept shouting, louder and louder, with every bit of breath he had. He was gulping in air and screaming. He didn’t know if Jesus was even near enough to hear him but he wouldn’t stop. Then a hand touched his shoulder and a kind voice said;
“Cheer up! Get up on your feet! Jesus is calling for you.”
Jesus was going to meet him, the prophet, the rabbi, the great teacher sent from God, perhaps even the Messiah? Whatever happened Bartimaeus was never going to be the same, and so, as he stood up he let his cloak fall to the floor. Bartimaeus would not come back to collect it. He was being pushed gently forward through people towards Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
“Rabbi, I want to be able to see.” said Bartimaeus
“Your faith has healed you.” replied Jesus
Right away he could see. He didn’t need to be a beggar anymore, his life had changed, and he followed Jesus along the road.
Today’s hero is Bartimaeus because he shows us the gift of a Listening
