Let's take a look at this blind man's story.

It happened on an uphill road - the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, which stretched 20 miles through desert terrain, and was taken by hundreds of pilgrims each year. Jericho was over 800 feet below sea level.
Herod had a palace there,
many wealthy people from Jerusalem kept winter homes there,
and for orthodox Jews, it was a stopping point on the road from Galilee - a way to travel without going through Samaria. Jesus and his followers weren't the only ones using that well - traveled road.

Many people made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for Passover.

Jerusalem stood about 3000 feet above Jericho, and on that two day trek, there were seekers of many kinds.

There were those who sought to do the right thing - to keep the feast of Passover in Jerusalem. There were those who went simply because they followed Christ.
There were peddlers, townspeople, beggars like BAR - Timaeus.
Beggars who sought their daily sustenance from passers-by.
The disciples sought the coming of the kingdom of God, and two of them, James and John, sought special fame and glory - they asked Jesus to give them places of honor when he came into his kingdom. Others sought the comfort of tradition, family, friends.

Perhaps Jesus, having told his disciples what would happen in Jerusalem, sought strength and courage for the road ahead. Perhaps his mind was full of questions, of prayers, of worries.
Perhaps, even more likely, he spent the two days talking with other seekers, answering questions, giving of himself in ways beyond his own strength.

And so, as he walked and conversed, or found himself in deep thought, surrounded by the other pilgrims, he heard a voice screaming above the crowd.
For indeed, Bar-Timaeus had been trying to get his attention for a while.
People tried to keep this beggar quiet.
They told him to quit yelling - to be quiet.
He was annoying. He was a distraction.
Neither Jesus nor anyone else had time for him.
Or so they thought.

But Bartimaeus was not to be turned aside from his quest.
In spite of the protests, he yelled even louder.
Jesus heard Bar-timaeus screaming out his name, above the sounds of the crowd, and he stopped. And he called BarTimaeus.

"Take heart - have courage - cheer up - he is calling you!"

So Bartimaeus dropped his cloak and found his way to Jesus.
Now that cloak was important to him.
The cloak wasn't to keep him warm in that desert climate - it was his means of income.
Beggars would spread their cloak out beside them, so that people could drop money onto them.
So when Bartimaeus dropped his cloak, he left his former, familiar way of life - behind.

Jesus asked him - "what do you want me to do for you?" What do you want, Bartimaeus?
People had asked many things of Jesus.
The rich young ruler had asked how to enter eternal life, but turned away from the path when it appeared he would have to leave behind his comfortable lifestyle.
James and John had asked to be set in places of special importance.
Bartimaeus could have been asking for food, for money, for forgiveness -
What do you want me to do for you?, Jesus asked.

And Bartimaeus answered - Lord, I want to see again.
And so Jesus healed him.
And his life was forever changed.
He was no longer blind - no longer could he beg by the roadside.
His life as a victim had come to an end - and he faced new beginnings that even with his new sight, he could not yet see.
He followed along the way.
He followed Jesus to Jerusalem.
Did he stay with the crowds, and watch as Jesus entered the city on a donkey?
Did he, with his new sight, lay a palm branch in the road? Was he there when Jesus cleansed the temple? Did Bartimaeus, with his new eyes, watch as Jesus was condemned, beaten, broken, crucified?
Was he there with those in the upper room when Jesus came, having risen from the dead?
We do not know. We can only see in part - a part that shows a man who was willing to lay down even the little he had to follow Christ.

I wonder what our answer would be if Jesus said to us, "what do you want me to do for you?"

What do you seek?

Do you seek a good life, a life of joy and comfort in these beautiful surroundings? Do you seek success? Do you seek financial security? I would guess that all of us seek those things.
Yet within us there is a voice that calls for something more. Something that seems to come to the surface now and again, yelling, like Bartimaeus, "Jesus, have mercy on me."
Like Bartimaeus, like others before and after, we seek Christ.
We seek to encounter him, or we would not be here.
For it is here, rather than on the road to Jerusalem, that Jesus calls us.
It is here that we find the Body of Christ - both the corporate body - all of us joined together to form one community that prays, works and worships together
- and in the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist - where, as Jeremy Taylor wrote, "Christ comes to meet us, clothed with a mystery." Each time we encounter Christ we have an opportunity - to hear the call to follow - to see more clearly the purposes of God on our lives and in this world.

The question is, what do we do with those encounters?
Do we expect them to be life-changing, like Bartimaeus did?
Do we walk away because Christ asks too much?
Or do we throw our cloak of comfort aside, and take the great adventure that awaits us?
For part of our blindness is in not seeing the very adventure we are called to. Perhaps we should begin this pilgrimage like Bartimaeus did - "Lord, I want to see again."