Sunday Reflections

Thirtieth Sunday of the Year – October 24, 2021

Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52

(Image Courtesy: Google)

A blind man was invited to attend a wedding. The young couple were being married in a village church well known for its architecture and its beautiful grounds. The guests were commenting on all of this at the reception afterwards and how they were struck by how well the church, the grounds and the setting all looked. When the blind man heard all this he thought to himself, ‘But didn’t they hear the bell?’ For him, the church bell that pealed to welcome the bride and groom had been magnificent. The air was filled with its vibrating jubilation. He was amazed at the atmosphere of joy and celebration the bell had created for the occasion. Everyone else seemed to have missed that element. Although he could not see, perhaps because he could not see, his hearing was very alert. He heard the beauty that others missed. The sounds that passed others by touched him very deeply.

In the ancient Semitic world, a name was not just a label to identify a person. A name expressed the personality or destiny of a person. So what does Bartimaeus mean? Literally, it comes from the Aramaic and means “son/person of defilement (tame’).” This could, therefore, be a nickname given to him because he was a blind beggar. Popular theology among the Hebrews held blindness to be a punishment from God for sin or defilement (John 9:34). But the Greek version of the name could also be understood as “son/person of honour” (timÉ). This would indicate the man’s inner nature and destiny. By giving us the name Bartimaeus with its double meaning, Mark could be telling us that here is a man who is supposed to be a man of honour and dignity (timÉ) living in a state of dishonour and shame (tame’). What Jesus did for him, therefore, was not simply restoring his physical sight but, over and above that, restoring his God-given human dignity.

Mark in the gospel passage wants to show his audience irony. At the beginning of the story, we saw a blind, impoverished beggar sitting by the roadside and asking for help. He now reaches out to Jesus.  Jesus does show a contrast here between his chosen disciples and the new disciple in the blind beggar.  While his handpicked disciples were not physically blind and had seen Jesus in action for a long time they were spiritually blind as they did not understand who Jesus really is or what following him really means. They had never used the title Son of David at any time while addressing Jesus.  On the other hand, the lowly blind beggar seems to know who Jesus really is even before he gets back his physical sight and almost immediately undergoes the kind of transformation that makes him a faithful disciple of Jesus. He became a person with a new spiritual vision along with his physical vision and he chose to be with Jesus as his disciple.  Thus at the end of the story, we have a man who can see, has vision, who knows very clearly where he is going and where he should be going.

On the other hand the request of the blind man is a model prayer for us: the Christian Prayer, the Prayer of Petition. We ask the Lord in faith for something we need and the Lord will grant it to us.  Perhaps Jesus had seen the blind beggar several times as he went about preaching and he must have been busy collecting alms from people. Only when he opened himself in faith and asked the Lord for healing did he receive that gift and the greater gift to be his disciple.  Like Bartimaeus, we too may be busy sometimes collecting petty alms and paltry donations and have not collected the real graces from the Lord. This episode is a summary of the Christian's life and pilgrimage.  While physical sight is desirable, spiritual sight is an absolute necessity for our salvation.  In order to have this spiritual sight, we must pray to Jesus and say, Lord, my Teacher, let me see again.  Only when we receive spiritual sight, we come to know and understand that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." As Christians, we must have our eyes opened to the meaning of life if we are to undergo a radical conversion experience that gives new direction to all we are and do.  He believed in the word of God which was revealed to him internally that this man was the Son of God and was healed.

(You are most welcome add your thoughts and reflections in the comment section below)

Happy Sunday