In the Nicene Creed, which we recite here often, and will after this sermon, we say this: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all that is seen and unseen…”Jesus asks Bartimaeus in the gospel ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ You would think the answer would be obvious: to see! But in lots of ways Bartimaeus already did see. He saw, really before the disciples did, that Jesus is the ‘Son of Man’; he saw, in Jesus, someone who could grant mercy. He saw who Jesus really was while the disciples were still figuring it out. Like how in Shakespeare’s plays, the character of the ‘fool’ is often the wisest of all, so this blind man in the story has the clearest sight.
