Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time-B
An ancient blind man from the Middle East, from a town called Jericho, will prove to be our teacher this week. We know little about him outside his malady and name. He was not rich because we were told he was begging on the roadside. His name was Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.
Bartimaeus heard from someone that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and cried out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” At first blush, one could assume that Bartimaeus was soliciting for money because that is what he needed to do to stay alive. This is probably why the crowd around him kept telling him to be silent. But their rebukes only resulted in him crying out louder.
When Jesus stopped and beckoned the blind man to come to him, those who had first chastised him now encouraged him to go to Jesus. Bartimaeus, in a powerful act, cast his cloak aside and went to Jesus. This seemingly simple action carries a profound spiritual meaning. In a time when people did not have the excess we enjoy today, most had only one cloak, a vital possession for survival. By throwing off his cloak, Bartimaeus declared that there was something more valuable than his cloak- the opportunity to be face-to-face with Jesus.
Further, the casting off of his cloak has a spiritual meaning. It symbolizes a new way of being. From the beginning of time, when our first parents sinned in the Garden, they needed to be clothed because of their shame. By doing the opposite, Bartimaeus telegraphed that he was ready to move from shame to the truth and be healed.
When Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus’ response was profound. He said, “Master, I want to see.” This simple yet powerful declaration was a testament to his unwavering faith and the transformative power of prayer. Bartimaeus had rejected the life of sin (shame), accepted the invitation of grace, and petitioned God for relief. Jesus heard his prayer and said, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Bartimaeus’ sight was restored physically and spiritually, a testament to the transformative power of faith and prayer.
While not all may experience physical blindness, we all, without exception, grapple with spiritual blindness in some form due to our fallen natures. The condition is concupiscence, a tendency, inclination, or attraction to evil. When we follow the tendency and fall into temptation, sin always follows. Spiritual blindness is the condition where sin and evil are visible, and the truth is not.
In the modern world, where people have abandoned God, sin and evil are not recognized as the destructive forces they genuinely are. Instead, what is promoted as supreme is a person’s opinion, which we are told is the eminent right of every person. Devoid of any source of objective truth (God), a person’s opinion can only be based on emotion or feeling, neither of which enables us to see the truth.
Spiritual blindness is the precursor of some of the crazy things promoted in culture and society today. One has to be blind to think that the killing of one’s offspring is somehow good. How can homicide ever be viewed as good for society? Only when there is an actual spiritual blindness among many. How can the perversion of nature by denying the obvious gender differences be ignored and manipulated? Only when one hasn’t the ability to see the truth.
By perpetuating blindness through arrogance and nonbelief in the source of Truth, these poor souls are unaware they are perishing instead of thriving. They have convinced themselves that blindness is preferable to sight because they believe they ultimately control their lives. The opposite is happening. In their blindness, they suffer spiritually and emotionally. Conceivably, this is why mental illness has reached record levels.
Bartimaeus was sick and tired of being physically and spiritually blind. He had enough and reached out to Jesus, the source of truth and the only one who could cure his disease. Let us follow his lead in being sick and tired of being blind and petition our Savior in prayer, “Master, I want to see.”