30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 25, 2009

Jer 31:7-9
Heb 5:1-6
Mk 10:46-52

Conquering Blindness

Our sense of sight is a blessing. To be able to see gives us a sense of security and even joy. People oftentimes travel from one place to another to see new things. People connect themselves with all the modern technologies in order to see different places, culture, and lifestyle. Likewise, people like to be visible in order to be recognized. Today our society becomes more visual. Persons who are powerful and influential are often in the limelight. Not to be transparent or not to be seen today is tantamount to nothingness. Thus, to be able “to see or to be seen is to exist.”
The blind man Bartimeus in the gospel today started to regain his sense of sight, his worth as a person when Jesus SAW HIM. Had Jesus not seen him, he would still be outside the group, and remained as nobody, useless and even considered “dead” in the society. Thus, to be seen by Jesus and in the same way to see and to look at Jesus is to recover the true sense of life, and authentic sense of sight. Moreover, the healing of Bartimeus’ blindness affirms that Jesus is the true LIGHT. With Him, we see the true meaning of life and with Him we will never be in darkness.
The physical blindness of Bartimeus points also to the contemporary blindness of our society. What are the modern forms of blindness?
Indifference. People who do not engage actively in developing their own lives, community and people who isolate themselves without the help of God are modern-day blind. The neighbors of Bartimeus in the gospel were concrete examples of “unconcerned” individuals, thus they lacked interest to help him. Being lukewarm and indifferent to the needs or welfare of others makes us suffer from contemporary blindness.
Split Spirituality. A faith or a spirituality that is away from life. A person who belongs to this category is one who is extremely pious but does not lend a hand to those who are less privileged, marginalized and outcast. He or she is a person who says, “Lord, Lord” but does not live by the will of God. Such person exemplifies perfectly the people in the Gospel today who were so intimately close to God, but when Bartimeus asked help from Jesus, they “scolded him and told him to keep quiet.”
And finally, to be blind is to become someone who lacks understanding. Many times we do not understand the situation or the people we live with precisely because we do not see things from their level. More often than not, we relate from our own perspective thus misunderstanding and conflict arise. Empathy and compassion assist us to understand well the people and the situation we encounter. The Lord understood the feeling of Bartimeus. Jesus came closer to him, asked him what he wanted and touched him. To understand is to follow these approaches of the Lord; namely, to come closer, to listen and to start a dialogue drawn from the reality of the people we meet.
Indeed, modern blindness is evolving nowadays. Certainly, it cannot be healed by our own efforts. Like Bartimeus, we say with faith, “Lord, help us to see again.”

Fr. Robert Ibay, SVD
Divine Word High School
Sanchez Mira, Cagayan