Faith and salvation (1)

"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:52)

Till now I have been dealing with the meditation of Bartimaeus by focusing on his existential situation. The themes were ‘Have mercy on me’ and ‘I want to see’. These themes might be slightly got off the subject of the content. It may incorporate with the depth of faith in its own way but was not the point the author wanted to say. Though this story deals with Bartimaeus’ existential situation he was not a hero of this story but Jesus.

The above verse was just the central point the author of Mark would like to say. Hearing Bartimaeus’ answer to see, Jesus said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Jesus did not any visible action to open his eyes. He neither touched Bartimaeus’ eyes with his hand nor did he put spit-mixed mud on his face. He just said, “Your faith has healed you.”

What is Bartimaeus’ faith here? He might not even believe Jesus as the Messiah. If he had confessed toward Jesus, “You are the Christ and Son of the living God” the author could have written about it. Then was it his conviction that his infirmity would be healed? To find out the answer about this is really difficult. However, it is also not very essential.

To some people this phrase is accepted as an emphasis of faith. They say, “Look, Bartimaeus was healed of his blindness by faith!” By applying this story, the Korean church justifies the doctrine of “Faith omnipotence”. The concept of faith like “Your Best life now” is one of such beliefs. The doctrine of faith omnipotence contradicts with the reality and does not have harmonious relation with the central point of the Bible.