30th Sunday in Ordinary Time |
[Deacon Gunther]
Some of you might remember Helen Keller from the 1962 film The Miracle Worker. Helen was an author, a political activist and a lecturer in the early 1900’s. She was inspiring in the way she dealt with her deafness and blindness. Although scarlet fever caused her deafness and blindness at the age of 1 ½ she managed to be the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Radcliffe College of Harvard University. In 1933 Helen wrote an article entitled: “Three days to see.” In the article she outlined what she would like to see if she was granted just three days of sight. On the first day she said she wanted to see her friends. The second day she said she would like to look at nature around her. And on the third day she said she would like to spend time in her home city New York watching the busy city and the bustle of work. She concluded the article with these very wise words:
“I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind.”
When we talk about impaired vision, we know that some people can’t see things at a distance; others can’t see things close up. Some people have double-vision. Some are colour blind. Some have cataracts. Some people can’t see at all. You know blindness in this modern century is bad enough, but it was much worse in the time of Jesus. Today a blind person at least has the hope of living a useful life with training. But in first century Palestine, blindness meant that you would be subject to utter poverty. You would be reduced to begging for a living. You lived at the mercy and generosity of others. There were no cures back then. It’s little wonder that one of the signs of the coming of the messiah was that the blind should receive their sight.
But there is another kind of vision; there is spiritual vision. Some people can see the truth about life. Those people see that we are made to love God, love others, and follow Christ. And they see how to do this. On the other hand, some people don’t see why they were put on earth and how important their relationship with God is. They do not see how to live the right way. To those people, at times, what may be bad may look good. In a sense we can all be blinded by our temptations when we put all our focus on money or on fame or on power or on pleasure, instead of making God the centre of our lives. Fortunately, Jesus came to correct our sight, to get us back to 20/20 vision. His grace acts like glasses or contacts, to help us see life as it really is. He helps us to see that all people are our brothers and sisters. That the only way to be truly happy is to love God, to love your neighbour, and to love yourself.
Today’s Gospel reading is the story of Jesus restoring sight to the blind man Bartimaeus. It is as much a “Call” story as it is a “Healing” story. Bartimaeus called out to Jesus in the words that have become known as The Jesus Prayer: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then we hear the words; “Take heart, get up, Jesus is calling you.” These words are addressed to Bartimaeus. But those words could easily be addressed to us. The beggar could just as well be me or could be you. Don’t we all cry out for healing, for attention, for belonging, for love, for something? Could that void, that longing, be filled by being a disciple of Christ? By being someone who believes in Jesus and wants to take heart, get up, and follow him in our daily lives? When we think about the call to be disciples of Christ, we tend to assume we have to be in the right place, having everything in our lives in order, our sense of who we are perfectly together. But this perfect condition is not what Jesus is looking for from us.
Note that Jesus does not make assumptions about what the blind man needs or wants. Jesus asks: “What do you want me to do … for you?” He searches for disciples who need him, disciples who are aware of their sins and weaknesses, disciples in need of mercy. This is Bartimaeus to a tee! He doesn’t display any great gifts that could be helpful for mission other than the gift of his faith in Jesus. Seeing “who Jesus is” is the goal of faith, and that can lead to discipleship. It can lead to accepting the Word of Jesus and helping to spread that Good News. The story of Bartimaeus is a good example of the process of discipleship. Before we encounter Jesus, we can be considered spiritually blind. There might be times when we lose our way and perhaps even stray from the church for a while. Then someone or something tells us that Jesus might help us. So, we call out to him for help in prayer. And then allow the church community to assist us. It could be through the celebration of the sacraments like Baptism or Reconciliation or the Eucharist or the process of going through the RCIA program or any of our small groups. Then, like Bartimaeus we can throw off our cloak, spring up, and again follow Jesus.
Someone once said to Helen Keller: “What a pity you have no sight!” To which she replied:
“Yes, but what a pity so many have sight but cannot see!”
In a few moments when we gather for the Eucharist, let’s ask for the grace to see things as they really are, to help us see others the way God sees them.
May God bless you!
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