Contemplate

"If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want..." Mark 8:34b.

"What do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabonni, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said, to him, Go; your faith has healed you" (Mark 10:52).

The mind must not form an opinion about whether this seeming contradiction is good or bad, useful or useless. The mind must actually open and consider, what does Jesus really mean? The mental state is really important. It is not the mind which has fixed views and prejudicies, thinking that it knows it all, or which just takes what other people say as being the truth. it is the mind that is open and can reflect upon something that we can see within our own valley of vision, "for there is a day of turmoil and trampling down and confusion with the Lord Yahweh of Hosts in the valley of vision, a breaking down of walls and crying to the mountains (Isaiah 22:5)."

It takes special kind of willingness to ponder and investigate, getting beyond the gross and obvious. It takes a willingness to actually look at one's own reactions to be able to see the attachments and to contemplate...

Jesus asked "Bartimaeus , what do you want.

Bartimaeus replies,"I want to see."

Jesus says, "Go, you are healed because you believed."

At once the man could see, and he followed Jesus on the road-Mark 10:52.

In order to best understand the seeming contradiction between Jesus' statement in Mark 8:34 and 10:52, we must consider what is it that only blind Bartimaeus saw.

"At once the man could see." His discourse began with the cry for mercy, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me," and ended in an enlightenment. "The man at once could see;" And what he saw was that he was in need of mercy, undeserved favour, unmeritted grace, to be all that God created him to be, and to do all that he was called to do.

Mercy:

those who want to follow Jesus, but find themselves unable to give up the things that they want, they need it;
The rich young ruler, he needed it;
James and John (the sons of thunder) needed it;
Peter , James, and John needed it on the mountain;
The tormented father needed it;
the possessed child needed it;
the disciples all need it;
the intolerant need it;
the divorced need it;
the adulterous need it;
little children need it;
slave owners need it;
slaves need it;
the people on the road all need it;
You need it;
and I need it.
Bartimaeus knew that he needed it.

Then like a flash of lightning, Bartimaeus, understood everything; and, as he thought upon it, in his mind's eye he saw. He saw the mercy of God, undeserved favour, unmeritted grace, and in that moment he understood, and he cried out for mercy.

So it is with you and I. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us.