Again?

I’ve read the Bible, and the Gospels in particular, a lot. I read the Daily Office with its three bible readings most days. I go to church most Sundays. I have a minor in Hebrew. So when I see something in the Biblical text that I’ve never noticed, I sit up and take notice.

This week we are reading Mark 10:46-52, the final passage from Mark’s Gospel before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. This final passage, to my mind, is an encapsulation of the last ten chapters. This one healing sums up Jesus’ ministry to this point. The irony of a blind man knowing that Jesus is the Son of David while the sighted folks around him don’t get it – they call him Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus calls him and he comes immediately, followed by Jesus asking the man what he should do for him. Like other healings, Jesus doesn’t actually do much other than say “your faith (trust/loyalty) has made you well” and then the man is healed and he follows Jesus on the way. As an aside, there is a whole reflection/sermon/book on the Way. This was the first name for the Jesus movement was the ‘Way’ so the man following on the way is whole thing.

What caught my attention was exactly how the man asks for healing. Bartimaeus says to Jesus, “My teacher, let me see again.” It was the again that stopped me in my tracks. I had never noticed this little word. I’ll be honest – I don’t really know what to make of it. The couple of commentaries I checked don’t even mention it. “My teacher, let me see again.” The Greek implies the again so there’s no word that I can give a clever etymology of! But it is there. Every modern translation I checked has the ‘again’ in the text. It makes me have so much compassion for him. He was not born blind. At some time he could see and now he cannot. Each blindness has its own challenges. Perhaps there is a face he would like to see again or maybe he wants to see the Temple again. There’s that word – again – again.

I think this passage and the use of ‘again’ reminds us that we are always in a state of again-ness. Our sins are forgiven, and then we find ourselves in need of forgiveness again. We come home from some self-imposed exile or other, and then there we are in a far country again. We are healed of our diseases only for the cancer to come back, we have a relapse, or the meds aren’t working like they used to and ‘that feeling’ comes back. We find ourselves over and over again in the place of again-ness, kneeling next to Bartimaeus, asking Jesus again to help us – again. This is not something to lament, but rather to celebrate. God in Christ Jesus is there to help us again. We might not get our sight back or we may not receive healing, but we will receive what only God offers: wholeness. And we can come back again and again when we are in need of wholeness. Then we can arise and follow Jesus on the way.