Thursday of 8th Week
“They reached Jericho; and as he left Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus-that is the son of Timaeus- a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road.”
Humanity’s distress, saved by Jesus, is seen in this healing of this blind man. He is sitting there on the side of the road, begging. It is the very example of marginality.There he is, at the road-side, and the procession of Jesus and his disciples come out of Jericho, passing him by. At the end of this gospel , everything is turned around, going in his favour.He will be brought back into the community. This blind man cries out : ’Jesus, Son of David, have pity upon me! ’It is the cry of the poor, the cry of the world. It is enough that colours shine in his heart and straight away shapes and colours are brought back to life in his heart! It is the miracle of the rising sun. For this man Jesus is like the rising sun.Not only does the sun shine upon everything, but everything shines forth God’s Glory. When Jesus comes he is truly this un that gives his shining Glory. The night awaits the sun as each person awaits the shining forth of infinite love from the Heart of God.
“When the blind beggar heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and cry out, ’Son of David, have pity upon me!’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted out all the louder, ’Son of David, have pity upon me.’”
This cry prepares the dialogue between Jesus and this suffering man. This dialogue has a hard time coming together. He calls out to Jesus passing by with a
group of his disciples and some others making some noise, wanting him to shut up. He is bothersome and they tell him to stay on the road-side. But he is stubborn : ’Son of David, have pity upon me! ’ This cry of humanity bothers them: ’Shut up! Be quiet!’ they tell him. For us the first place of conversion is to listen. We are closed in upon ourselves in a chilly dark place.Our experience is one of a very dark night where we can see nothing at all. This exterior night is very often the sign of an inner night which is much more painful. So God’s Word brings about in us a prayer, a cry in echo to the blind man’s cry. ’Courage! Get up; he is calling you!’ Indeed , nothing must escape the rays of the Rising Sun. They have us reach as far as love like Jesus. Jesus asks this man : ’What do you want me to do for you?’ He asks each one of us : ’What do you want?’ Jesus comes to answer our heart’s desire but we need to express it : ’Lord, let me see again! ’
’Then Jesus spoke : ’What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ’Rabbuni, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ’Go; your faith has saved you.’
The blind man has found his sight once more, no longer sits at the side of the road.He follows Jesus on the road and he doesn’t have to beg any more, he followed Jesus in this group. It is Jesus Himself who stops, looks and says : ’Call him here.’ He heard his cry but he wants us to call the poor. He wants us to get out of our cocoon to go out to the heart of the world. We know the happiness of those who are walking with Jesus, shining from his Love. Jesus heals, and he calls humanity to be there with him to announce to the world God’s marvels. Our communities listen to the cry of the world , with Jesus who is there, in our midst. He is Light in our darkness. He tells us again ’Go, your faith has saved you.’ To join him and make us attentive to our brothers in the world, we need to be present to him. This miracle is not just that this man finds his sight once more, but that he becomes a man capable of standing up, capable of following Jesus on the road, becoming a disciple, becoming an actor of his own life : ’ Call him here.’ If the crowd kept him at a distance, the disciples will call him and get him to go to Jesus.