When Jesus finally called him to come, the Bible says that Bartimaeus “cast aside his cloak.” It is my understanding that blind people in Jesus’ day wore a certain kind of cloak that identified them to the public as being blind. If this is true, perhaps Bartimaeus cast his cloak aside when Jesus called him because he believed he would no longer need to be identified as blind. If that was so, his faith was evident again.
Furthermore, when Bartimaeus cast aside his cloak, the Bible says he “jumped up, ” an indication of his excited anticipation that something good was about to happen to him. People who have faith for healing are excited when they pray for God to heal them because they are expecting to receive.
Notice that Jesus tested Bartimaeus’ faith once more as he stood before Him. He asked Bartimaeus what he desired, and from Bartimaeus’ response, it is clear he believed Jesus could and would heal him of his blindness.
Finally, Jesus told him it was his faith that made him well. If Bartimaeus could be healed by faith, so can anyone else because God is “no respecter of persons.”
