Gospel Enigmas- Blind Bartimaeus

I find that many of the things Jesus did are perplexing. They make me think, and sometimes I have no conclusions. I'll pose questions and only share my opinion as to meaning in the comments section after a day or so. Interact!

Jesus and his disciples were walking toward Jericho. A blind man named Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road begging. But when he was told that it was Jesus who was passing by he called out, even when people told him to be quiet.

So Jesus stopped to see what was going on. But he didn't go to where Bartimaeus was, in fact, at first he didn't even speak to the blind man. Instead he told other people to call the man. They did, and Bartimaeus came to Jesus.

But Jesus still wasn't ready to give the man what he wanted, even though he MUST have known. It wouldn't even take the Son of God's abilities to figure out that the man wanted his sight restored. Nevertheless, he asked Bartimaeus, "What do you want me to do for you?"

As soon as the man stated that he wanted to be able to see, Jesus immediately healed him without even touching him!

One of the puzzling things about this story is that Jesus used different methods to heal different blind men, but that's a different post.

Why do you think that Jesus made Bartimaeus come to him and ask to be healed? If I get a few comments, I'll add my personal conclusions at the end of those.


See Matthew 20:29-34
See Mark 10:46-52
See Luke 18:35-43