Being Blind in the Right Way

 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

24 October 2021 

 

First Reading: JER 31:7-9

Responsorial Psalm: PS 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6

Second Reading: HEB 5:1-6

Gospel: MK 10:46-52

 

Reflection

By: Bernard Borja

 

Bartimaeus, the blind man, literally walked by faith and not by his sight. He knows how to call and come before the Lord by acknowledging His authority - son of David, and throwing aside something he owns (his cloak). This is in contrast to the wealthy man who came to Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. The wealthy man came before Jesus, bringing his "accomplishments" and presented it to the Lord (Mk 10:20 "all of these I have observed from my youth.") He may have most of the qualifications to inherit eternal life, but his selfish desires made it useless when he walked away from Jesus. The two disciples, James and John, were also in contrast to how Bartimaeus asked Jesus. Although James and John acknowledges Jesus' authority when they called Him "teacher", their desire to be "on top" or greater than the others shows that their faith is misaligned. Like the wealthy man, James and John also brought their "status" so they can present it to Jesus and ask whatever it is that they want.

Bartimaeus' first request is not even "to see". It is for Jesus to "have mercy on him." He acknowledged his own weakness and sinfulness, even though he only met Jesus the first time. How many times do we pray and go straight to, "Lord, I want this. Do this for me." And when we are not praying, do we remember that we are still before the presence of God? Or do we only put ourselves in His presence the moment we want to pray? Bartimaeus teaches us of how great our faith can be even without seeing. He may have heard a lot of stories about Jesus before and he's waiting all his life for Jesus to pass by the road where he is begging. He may have already been living his life courageously even before he was told to "take courage", because his faith constantly reminded him to be ready for that day. To recognize that we are always in God's presence is to be ready for His call. To acknowledge that we are "blind" can help us strengthen our faith that God will always listen to our prayers.

There may be times when we look at ourselves and desire to be "superior" to others. Even in the faithful community or the Church, we sometimes look at others' "blindness" and maybe see them as unworthy to come before the Lord. There may be times when we rebuke them and tell them to keep their prayers to themselves, especially when they cry out and call upon the Lord more. We can learn a lot from the fatih and courage (whether it's authentic or misaligned), of those who call upon the Lord profusely. The wealthy man may have faith to believe that he will inherit eternal life through his accomplishments. James and John had the audacity to ask Jesus for greatness even in the presence of other disciples. The contrast in Bartimaeus' desire is that he fully understands who Jesus is and the proper way to respond which is to leave his possession and acknowledge his "blindness". There was no pride or even some coins that he wanted to offer in exchange besides his faith.

Today, we often see people offering a list of accomplishments in exchange for "greatness". They show a sense of false humility to the people for them to get what they want. To make it worse, they want the people to look away from their sinfunlness and just focus on their accomplishments. This "blindness" from the mistakes that a person has done (or continues to do) is never the same with Bartimaeus' blindness.

Bartimaues' faith grew stronger because of his blindness. Some people's blindness makes them grow a sense of false humility that drives them to do "good" works to nullify a sin. An accomplishment can never be used to forget an evil deed. In the same way, our status in life must not be a basis for us to look down on others, and believe that it is our right to be superior. Bartimaeus also teaches us how to pray - recognize God's authority (Our Father in Heaven), trust that God will fulfill our deepest desires (Thy will be done), be faithful that God always listens (give us this day our daily bread), acknowledge our sinful nature (forgive us our trespasses), and follow Jesus closely (deliver us from evil).

Prayer

Lord, in our blindness, may we all learn to strengthen our faith and be ready to come before You, and trust that You will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart. Amen.