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Bartimaeus didn’t hesitate to call out to Jesus for help. However, unlike many of the other beggars of his day, he wasn’t asking for food or money but for something far more difficult: He wanted his sight restored (Mark 10:47-48,51).
Along with the ten lepers who cried, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:13), and the tax collector who pleaded, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (18:13), Bartimaeus’ humble and persistent cry, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” forms the core of an ancient prayer called the “Jesus Prayer.”
One of the greatest treasures of Eastern Christianity, this prayer is described in the Russian book, The Way of a Pilgrim. The book tells the story of a man who wanted to learn how to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). In his efforts, the man learned of a simple prayer he could repeat over and over, even as he went about his day: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The man discovered that this prayer had been the foundation…
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