30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Mark 10:46-52)
In the gospel of Saint Mark there are accounts of two blind men being cured by Jesus. The first one, in Chapter 8, occurs in Bethsaida. People brought a blind man to Jesus and begged Jesus to cure him. Shortly after this Jesus tested Peter’s Faith by asking ‘who do people say that I am?’ Peter was not slow in coming forward and expressing his own Faith in Jesus. It was after this that Jesus foretold his Passion and Death, it was after this expression of Peter’s Faith that he, Peter, would come to know who Jesus really was. In a sense, Peter’s was a blind Faith. The cure of the physically blind man and the sight of Faith given to Peter are very similar.
The second cure of a blind man in Mark’s Gospel is quite different. We can identify more easily with this blind man. We even know his name!, Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus, despite his blindness knew of the ministry of Jesus and did not wait for others to bring him to Jesus. He did not allow his handicap to inhibit him or hold him back. His request of Jesus, unlike that of James and John., was a pitiful, humble request for sight. It seems that he requested more than physical sight.
Bartimaeus is being present to us in the Gospel reading as a model of discipleship. The first step of discipleship is a renunciation of self. He heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was passing since Faith comes from hearing, this ‘heard’ is a loaded term! He began to shout out: ‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.’ Although he is physically blind, he is seeing with the eyes of Faith. Bartimaeus throws off his cloak-laying aside the old clothing before putting on the white garment as we do in Baptism! Once he is healed of his physical blindness he gets up and ‘followed Jesus on the way’!
Bartimaeus is a wonderful model of discipleship for all of us who have come to know the Lord in Post- Resurrection times when Jesus is no longer seen : we hear the Word of God, we allow it to touch our lives, we respond by acknowledging Jesus as Lord, we are healed of our old ways and we get up and follow Jesus on the Way.