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Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Space and Sight was a book written in the 1960’s, documenting the first people in the world to undergo cataract surgery. All of the patients were blind from birth.
Suddenly after surgery, they could see.
While their first moments of sight were truly inexplicable – how can you put into words the moment your world transitions from total darkness into light? – some of the patients’ longer-term reactions were surprising.
Many fell into depression. The world was abruptly complex, filled with motion, color, distance, shapes, faces, and visible forms of human suffering.
One girl locked herself inside her room for two weeks, refusing to open her eyes.
Ironically, those patients were faced with the very same question after surgery as they were before: “Do you want to see?”
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In today’s Gospel, a blind man named Bartimaeus is healed by Jesus. Now he, too, can see.
Mark does not tell us how Bartimaeus reacted to the instantaneous rush of light and color, only that, “he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.”
Some of the first places that Bartimaeus would’ve seen were the outskirts of Jerusalem, a bloodthirsty crowd, the Lord who healed him nailed to a tree, a garden, and an empty tomb.
Things which would forever change him not only physically, but also spiritually.
This also begs the question, “Like Bartimaeus, do we want to see?”
Do you want to see the Lord in your neighbor – hungry, tired, and thirsting for love? Do you want to see your own imperfections and need for conversion? Do you want to see the path of surrender paved by faith and walk it?
“Do you want to see?”
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“Yes, Lord. Give us eyes of faith, the grace to accept what appears, and the courage to act on it.”
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Image credits: (1) Warby Parker (2) Bartimaeus, LinkedIn (3) eofoptical.com
There are many people I would want to see; my parents, grandparents, relatives, siblings, friends, and of course, my beloved wife who have gone from this life. I would also want to see our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who died so we might live.