Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Heb 5:1-6
Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza
Lord, I want See
Brethren, Jesus, the prophet par excellence, summed up and fulfilled all prophesies of the Old Testament, and about him is written all the New Testament. He came from heaven and took the form of man, becoming the Son of God in human flesh and with deep humility, he fulfilled all the prophecies and the mission entrusted to him by his Father, and thus became for us a high priest, who is able to sympathise with us for he has become one of us as our today's second reading from the letter to the Hebrews tells us. The prophecy of Isaiah in the first reading is fulfilled in one way or the other by Jesus in today's Gospel. Isaiah had prophesied the time of peace, when God saves all his people and a time of the blind seeing, lame walking, women in labour giving birth, and to wipe away all tears of those in pain and in desperate needs. This time, no doubt, came in and with the person of Jesus. Today we see him healing the blind man Bartimaeus, restoring his spiritual and physical sight. What can we learn from Bartimaeus today?
Bartimaeus was a man who had suffered because of his blindness but he had heard the miracles of Jesus and developed faith in him that he would heal him too. When the opportunity came, he called Jesus aloud, with even a theological title, Son of David, but the crowd tried to stop him for disturbing the Rabbi. Since he knew what he wanted, nothing could stop him from reaching to Jesus not even the crowd. His persistence in calling out the name of Jesus made Jesus call him and when approached Jesus, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus answer was straight and very clear, "I want to see." Oh! What a great lesson is it for us from Bartimaeus, we ought to imitate Bartimaeus in our way of praying.
Firstly, Bartimaeus wasted no time complaining. He didn’t reproach God for allowing his blindness and all the suffering and misery it caused. He didn’t demand explanations from God. He didn’t pour out his energy blaming God for his having fallen victim to the unfolding brokenness of this fallen world. How much time we waste complaining! How much energy we spend trying to figure out things that we ought to simply accept! We go to pray and then we start giving excuses to God and don't hit the point direct. God is not interested in our excuses and logical arguments in prayer, but the heart of faith for he already knows what we need. Bartimaeus didn’t pretend that everything was okay; he didn’t ignore his suffering and need. He was poignantly aware of his limitations. As a result, as soon as he heard that Jesus was passing by, he started crying out to get his attention, and he cried out even more loudly when the famous rabbi’s entourage tried to shush him. Bartimaeus avoided two unhealthy attitudes that we can often fall into, attitudes that drain precious energy from our spirit: excessive self-pity and excessive self-reliance. Which is my typical pitfall?
Secondly, it is the persistence that Bartimaeus had in asking what he wanted from Jesus. The crowds tried to stop him, but he continued to cry out 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me' until Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring him and then healed him. We have a lot of crowds in our life and are always trying to block our way to Jesus, be it in prayer, in daily life, and in all that we try to do. We need to be aware of them and fight them so that out prayer will reach Jesus so that he can show us mercy too. Mercy in the Bible is not only the act of forgiving but more of the restoration of life, of the whole human being to his or her original state, and so the blind man was asking Jesus to restore his life. We should be persistent in our prayers guided by deep humility even in the face of all the crowds. Bartimaeus teaches us this.
Thirdly, the obvious question asked by Jesus, "What do you want me to do for you?' Was Jesus serious? Wasn’t it obvious what this man wanted? He had heard about Jesus’s miracles, and he wanted a miracle for himself; he wanted to regain his sight. So why did Jesus ask the question? Maybe it was just a conversation starter. But maybe it was a sincere query. Maybe Jesus respected this man so much that he was actually giving him a chance to exercise his own human dignity by making a free, explicit request of the Lord. Jesus really wanted to draw out of him a personal response of faith and trust in his power to heal and make whole. Jesus wants to be involved in our lives, but he also wants us to live our lives to the full, and that means taking responsibility for ourselves, our actions, our desires, our decisions.
Certainly, he knows what we need even better than we know ourselves. But he didn’t create us to be robots, programmed by our Creator down to the slightest behavior. He created us to be co-creators, to be creative, to take ownership of the gifts and opportunities we have been given. Without Christ and his grace we can do nothing (John 15:5), but without exercising our own freedom and choosing to enter into friendship with him, no matter the cost, we cannot access that grace: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (Matthew 19:21). Our Lord’s interaction with Bartimaeus is a pattern of his interaction with each one of us: Jesus hears the cry of our hearts that suffer in this fallen world; he arranges for us to come to him, to encounter him, and he invites us into his grace; but then he patiently and respectfully awaits our faith-filled response. Will he wait in vain? The same question is asked to us by Jesus every day and we should learn from this blind man how to answer it, his precise answer, Lord, let me see again.
The last aspect is the glory and praise which Bartimaeus gave to the Lord after healing him. Cyril of Alexandria, a 5th century church father, comments on this blind man. "Now that he was delivered from his blindness, did he neglect the duty of loving Christ? He certainly did not. It says, "He followed him, offering him glory like to God." He was set free from double blindness. Not only did he escape from the blindness of the body but also from that of the mind and heart. He would not have glorified him as God, had he not possessed spiritual vision. He became the means of others giving Christ glory, for it says that all the people gave glory to God." (Commentary on Luke, Homily 126). This is an invitation for us to praise God and follow him always for he has done and is still going to do marvelous things in our lives.
Reflect today on the question of Jesus today. What are the things you want Jesus to do for you in your life? Tell them to him in prayer. Do you give glory to God for giving you the "eyes of faith" to recognize him as your Lord and Healer?
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart and mind that I may see and understand the truth and goodness of your word. As I respond to the question, 'What do you want me to do for you?' may I never fail to recognize your presence with me and to call upon your saving grace in my time of need and healing. Amen
Blessed Sunday
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