Mark 10: 49 – “And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.” – “Notice in this passage the striking contrast: on the one hand, a great multitude; on the other, one lowly individual, as low in the social scale as a person could get. . . a blind beggar. It is tremendously impressive to see Jesus turn his attention from the many to the one. No crowd was ever big enough to blind him or render him deaf. His was not only an amazingly sensitive ear and eye; there is evidence of something deeper: the priority he gave to persons, to any person, at the point of need.” (Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 7, p. 819)

“Here Jesus pays the ultimate tribute to a person in need. . . He stopped and gave the whole of his attention, his mind and heart, to a blind beggar. His stopping said clearly, ‘You count.’. . . . The art of stopping is a high art. We are so prone to be in busy motion. We have a schedule. . . . So we “skedaddle’ from here to there, to arrive breathless at the exact moment of the appointment. It is not easy to stop. It takes humility. . . . But this narrative should remind us that it is a necessary prelude to any real work of healing. Jesus never healed anybody on the run. ‘Stopping’ is a necessary part of any genuine ministry to life.” (Ibid, p. 821)

Mark 10: 50 – “And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.” – “He threw it off, full of joy at the prospect of being healed, and that he might run without impediment to Jesus. This may be used to illustrate – though it had no such original reference – the manner in which a sinner should come to Jesus. He should throw away the garments of his own righteousness – he should rise speedily – should run with joy – should have full faith in the power of Jesus, and cast himself entirely upon his mercy.” (Barnes)

Miscellaneous Writings – “The New Birth” – “. . . like the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes — lay aside your material appendages, human opinions and doctrines, give up your more material religion with its rites and ceremonies, put off your materia medica and hygiene as worse than useless — to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then, you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea that our great Master gave of the power of God to heal and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first time the divine Principle that redeems man from under the curse of materialism, — sin, disease, and death.” (p. 17:7-15)

Mark 10:52 – “And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” – “We may reasonably infer from this that Bartimaeus was one of those who went up with the travelling company to Jerusalem. . . . his new-found gift of sight qualifying him to take his place among the eye-witnesses of the things that were done in the ensuing [passion] week. In the Apocryphal “Gospel of Nicodemus” he appears as one of the witnesses for the defence on our Lord’s trial.’” (Ellicott)