THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

"Master, I want to see"

Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was a nobody. He wasn’t just any nobody he was a nobody among the nobodies. People often walked past Bartimaeus and at best they thought of the blind beggar as a nuisance. Day in and day out Bartimaeus would make his way to his familiar spot. Feeling his way along the crowded streets of Jericho, Bartimaeus was invisible to the people who hustled by on the way to something glamorous and important.

You see Jericho wasn’t just any city, Jericho was a city for the important people, the well-to-do. Herod had his winter palace there and all the rich Roman families spent their winters in Jericho. Jericho was an oasis, a destination city. You couldn’t get to Jerusalem without passing through Jericho so anyone who wanted to be seen had to have an address in Jericho.

So every morning Bartimaeus made his way to the Jericho Road, knowing that the rich people, the military and the important people had to pass by on their way. Jericho Road was the place to be if you were a blind beggar. But even on the main road Bartimaeus was invisible.  But deep down in his heart Bartimaeus knew he was someone. He knew that God’s love for him was deeper than his blindness. He was certain that even though people tried not to see him, God saw him and that was all that mattered.

Then something happened that changed Bartimaeus’ life forever. He heard that the Rabbi name Jesus was in Jericho. Rabbi Jesus had been preaching and large crowds of people gathered to hear him but Bartimaeus couldn’t get close. He had heard about Jesus, that Jesus could perform miracles, that he cured the sick and preached about God’s love.
 "What do you want me to do for you?" That was the question Jesus asked of Bartimaeus, the blind man, in this Sunday's Gospel (Mark 10:46-52).
 
Imagine for a moment that Jesus addressed that question to you. How would you respond? The question is more challenging and fraught with danger than we might imagine.  The road for Bartimaeus probably wasn’t easy. We don’t really know where his following of Jesus on the road led him. But we know that our own road has not been easy. But I think this is the point of Jeremiah’s words of hope in the first reading. Jeremiah is offering a vision of hope to the women and men of Israel who had been conquered and led out of their country into exile in a foreign land. No matter what your situation now, he says, God has plans for you. God will bring you back. God will heal you. Don’t despair! I think it’s also a message that we can find in the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. We’re not alone on the journey, we have as a companion the great High Priest. He took on our human weakness. He knew what it is to suffer. But he also knew that God never abandoned him and was taking him to a new place.
 
 Bartimaeus when asked by Jesus what he wanted replied, "Master, I want to see." That answer must have been the right one since it was preserved in the Gospel and has been spoken and preached about for some 2,000 years.
 
Jesus granted the request of Bartimaeus in all its fullness. Jesus opened the physical eyes of Bartimaeus so he could see the world around him. Jesus also opened the eyes of his soul and gave him spiritual insight. With that vision Bartimaeus saw more than just the face of Jesus, he saw his Lord. He truly saw the one he had addressed as the "Son of David." Mark makes that clear in his Gospel by adding that after his eyes were opened, Bartimaeus immediately began to follow Jesus "on the way."  With opened eyes and spiritual insight, Bartimaeus became a disciple of Jesus.
 
The request made by Bartimaeus is the one we should be making as well. Imagine if our eyes could be opened so that we could see the presence and action of Jesus Christ in our world today. Imagine further if we could see ourselves, others, and situations the way that Jesus would see them.
 
The mistakes we make, the sins we commit, are often the result of our blindness. We see only what immediately attracts us and fail to see what is truly good and in keeping with our dignity as children of God. We see only what seems right at the moment and not the future implications of our words and actions or our inaction. We see the other person only as a stranger and not as a fellow child of God and part of our human family.
 
"What you do want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus gives us the perfect response. "Master, I want to see."
 
Because if you notice at the end of the Gospel story Bartimaeus didn’t go off and found “The Society for the Formerly Blind of Jericho”, he didn’t go dancing through the streets shouting from the rafters, he “ immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road..”
If we are serious about asking Jesus to really see, we will follow him “on the road.” It might not be an easy journey, but it will surely be an exciting one, and one that will take us places we never dreamed of ever going. 

But as Catholics  we have each other as companions on the journey, we have a God who leads us “by a smooth path where they will not stumble.,” and we know that the great High Priest is with us all the way.

In the end that is all that we can do once our vision has been restored and blindness cured, follow in the way of Jesus.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. Amen.