A Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
[Jesus healing the blind man, by Eustache Le Sueur, 1625-1650.]
I have never been to Lourdes, in France, so I do know this from first hand experience, but Cardinal Basil Hume, the late archbishop of Westminster, wrote about this in his book, The Mystery of Love. The Cardinal writes that the first thing you see on the path that leads to the grotto is a statue of the blind Bartimaeus. It is clear from the statue’s expression, as it looks over the grotto, that Bartimaeus sees nothing, for he is still blind. Why this statue at a place where there has been so many miraculous healings? Cardinal Hume wondered the same thing until he heard the story behind the statue. Apparently an Italian woman, who was blind, had gone to Lourdes hoping to be cured of her blindness. Although she left Lourdes still unable to see, her time there allowed her to rediscover her faith, and she realized that her newfound spiritual acuity was more valuable than being able to see with her eyes.
One of the common misperceptions about people who are blind is that their other senses are super-sensitive. This really isn’t true. The reason it may appear that a blind person has more sensitive hearing, smell or touch, is that they pay closer attention to the senses that they have. It isn’t that the blind person can hear things that the person who has their sight cannot hear. Rather, because they cannot see, the blind person pays closer attention to what they can hear so that they can know better about the world around them. However, the person who can see could also hear what the blind person hears, if only they pay closer attention.
Faith is a kind of “spiritual” sense. It allows us to recognize the presence and action of God in our lives. Too often we have the tendency to make God “small.” We try to put into a nice little box within our lives. Often we only recognize the presence of God the hour we are at Mass on Sundays. Perhaps our spiritual sense is a bit more sensitive, and we recognize His presence in our lives when everything is going well or we get something that we really wanted. During those times perhaps we quickly thank God for His special blessings. Too often, however, our spiritual sense is too limited – we only have faith in those very small, limited boxes.
But what about in difficult times? What about during times of suffering? Too often we are very blind, spiritually – especially when everything is not going as we expect things to go.
Jesus calls us to have better spiritual sight than that. He actually wants us to have perfect, 20/20, vision. He wants us to recognize the love and goodness of God in every moment of our lives.
We have been on “the way” – which is what we call this section of St. Mark’s Gospel – for nearly two months now. It started with Jesus healing another blind man, and now, as this journey of Jesus and His disciples to Jerusalem is nearing its end, Jesus heals another blind man. The bracketing of this section of the “journey on the way” with accounts of Jesus healing two blind men is meant to highlight for us that Jesus came to heal our spiritual blindness. It is by following Him, listening to His words, obeying His commandments, and most importantly placing our trust in Him, that we will gain real vision – to see the glory of God. We do not know the name of the blind man at the beginning of this “journey on the way” and that man does not really recognize who Jesus is. Here, at the end of the journey on “the way,” we know that the man’s name is Bartimaeus. More importantly, while Bartimaeus may have been physically blind, he demonstrate real faith – real spiritual sight – because he is the only person who is healed in Mark’s Gospel who uses Jesus’ name, and he calls Him one of the ancient titles of the Messiah; “Son of David.” Bartimaeus shows his trust and faith in Jesus by “spring up” and running to Jesus, despite his physical blindness. In his spiritual sight, Bartimaeus recognized in Jesus the person who could give him what his heart truly longed for, that which was the deepest desire of his heart, namely salvation. The Greek word that is used in this passage for the verb “to heal” also means “to save.” Jesus tells Bartimaeus to go on his way, for his faith had saved him, and St. Mark immediately tells us that Bartimaeus “followed him on the way.” Bartimaeus truly wants, and is given, eternal salvation.
The disciples of Jesus, like us too often, have been more blind to the reality of who Jesus is. Too often they, like us, had their own ideas, their own expectations, of what the Messiah is suppose to be like; they try to fit Jesus into their own box, but their box is too small. “Although Jesus has been teaching them all along ‘the way,’ at this point their vision is still only partial; they do not yet grasp who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Only after the resurrection will their eyes be fully open” (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture).
Jesus continues to ask us the same question that He asked Bartimaeus; “What do you want me to do for you?” Will we allow Him to heal our spiritual blindness – to save us – as He healed and saved that blind Italian woman who commissioned the statue of Bartimaeus that stands in Lourdes? She left Lourdes still unable to see with her eyes, but her real blindness – her lack of faith – was healed. She left Lourdes, like Bartimaeus, with profound spiritual vision, following Jesus on “the way.”
I leave you with the following prayer from Origen (185-253), one of the first great theologians of the Church:
A Prayer for Sight
May the Lord Jesus touch our eyes,
As he did those of the blind.
Then we shall begin to see in visible things
Those which are invisible.
May He open our eyes to gaze not on present realities,
But on the blessings to come.
May he open the eyes of our heart to contemplate God in Spirit,
Through Jesus Christ the Lord,
To whom belong power and glory through all eternity. Amen.
