"Go your way; your faith has made you well." (v. 52)

Blind Bartimaeus! What a haunting theme; what a never-to-be-forgotten scene. It is the concluding narrative in Mark. The setting is Jericho, some fifteen miles from Jerusalem. The point of this dramatic occurrence is simple: Only a blind man saw Jesus.

The Sermon

At one time, every minister has preached on this text. How could any clergyperson be so unimaginative as to miss it? How vividly I recall a sermon I preached. My parishioners congratulated me on a splendid message. In the course of Methodist procedure, I was appointed to a new church. I found among the congregation a blind man - middle aged - who lived with his mother. I immediately thought of my sermon, and tactfully put it aside for a year. I did not want to run the risk of…