When I read in the scriptures of Bartimaeus regaining his sight, I celebrate the power of faith. One of the greatest poems in the English language was written by John Milton in 1652 as he dealt with the onset of his own blindness. John Milton’s contention with himself as he thought on his blindness was not simply a complaint or a chastening. Clearly he was in anguish not only at his loss of sight but at his inability to serve God as he thought he should. But, Milton found through his loss not only the resignation to abide it but turned his mind with a startling clarity of thought and vision to writing his most memorable work: Paradise Lost.

Listen to Milton's words in another poem about his experience of turning darkness into light. Here is Milton's "How My Light is Spent":

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
  And that one talent which is death to hide
  Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
  My true account, lest he returning chide,
  "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
  Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
  Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
  And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
  They also serve who only stand and wait."

True faith has vision that goes beyond mere sight. Or as Jesus would say to blind Bartemaeus, as to all of us, "Do you want to see?"