Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me — the crowd rebukes Bartimaeus in the same way the disciples rebuked those bringing children (verse 13). The rebuke communicates that Bartimaeus is an inconvenience, unworthy of Jesus' attention, beneath the dignity of the procession toward Jerusalem. But he shouted all the more: the rebuke produces more insistence, not silence. The persistence of the blind man who cannot see Jesus but will not stop calling to him is the chapter's model of faith.

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