Words of Joy & Hope
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A good Sunday to all.
We often use the verb ‘to see’ and ‘blindness’ in a metaphorical, symbolic way. We say 'there is no one more blind than he who does not want to see;’ or to one who is mistaken we say, ‘open your eyes; you don't realize who you are dealing with,' or one who 'only sees money,' or one who 'sees all black;' 'that one sees far away.'
This symbolism of the verb to see, of blindness, is often found in the Bible, in both the Old and the New Testament. The prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah say of Israel, ‘This is a foolish people who have eyes but do not see and behave like the blind; they proceed to heed heedlessly from danger. and do not realize that they are on the edge of a precipice and then have fallen into the ravine.' They did not let their eyes be opened by the prophets and ended up in exile in Babylon. The book of Isaiah speaks of a mysterious person, sent by the Lord to open the eyes of these blind people and bring them out of the darkness of the prison of the Babylonian exile. And a prophet who was living among these exiles makes the promise of an intervention of the Lord and assures that one day the eyes of these people will be opened.
In the New Testament, this same image is used; Jesus employs it often with his disciples. He says to them, 'you are blind, you have a hardened heart, you have eyes, but you do not see.' Speaking of the scribes and Pharisees, he says, 'they are blind and guides of the blind.' Then he says, 'a blind man cannot lead another blind, for they both end up in a pit.' Jesus presents himself as the eye-opener, as the light of the world shrouded in darkness, therefore, a humanity that moves in darkness and runs the risk of going to ruin.
It is what we also fear. Too often we ask ourselves as humanity where are we going? We see the environmental crisis, the waste of resources, the brief consumption, the spread of violence, the selfish hoarding of the goods of creation, we proceed to amuse ourselves with digital toys, but where is our humanity going? We feel the need for someone to open our eyes, and Jesus presents himself as the eye-opener. He also says, 'let there be light among you, walk while you have light for the one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.’
In the first letter of John, it is said that 'he who hates his brother is in darkness, he walks in darkness; he does not know where he is going because the darkness of selfishness has blinded his eyes.' The baptized in the early church were called 'the enlightened ones,' that is, those whose eyes had been opened by the word of the Gospel: 'ois futistentes' = the enlightened ones. In Justin's first apologia, baptism is called 'the illumination.'
Today's Gospel passage presents us with the healing of Bartimaeus, a blind man. The story is much more than a chronicle page. Jesus healed a blind man, but the story is much more than a chronicle page by the evangelist Mark; it becomes a parable in which the passage of blindness is told to the light given by Christ and by the Gospel. Let us listen first of all the description of the condition of the person who has not yet known Christ and of the blind.
Let us listen:
"Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.”
The evangelist Mark places the healing of Bartimaeus at the exit of Jericho. At the time of Jesus the city was not where you see in the background, in the plain, the present city, but it was there where you see that medieval ruin of the city of Jericho, that has no importance, but from there it extended along the coast, a few hundred meters towards the plain. I point them out better: in this other picture; in the background, you can see that green that extends along the mountain. That's where the city of Jericho was built. Notice also a peak; there king Herod the Great had built one of his many fortresses which served to protect the Roman road from Jericho going up to Jerusalem, which was very dangerous. To this fortress he had given the name of his mother Cipros, who was a Nabataean.
Jericho is the city of palm trees, the city of balsam whose composition was a secret forbidden to be revealed. It was the city of the second houses of the rich people of Jerusalem who had had their palaces built in Jericho; you can see in the background, at my back, the remains. I show you, again, this Roman road that went up to Jerusalem, and again also the Cipros fortress, and you can see in the background the peaks of the Mount of Olives. From there, you can see the city of Jerusalem.
I said that this road was dangerous because there were ravines and it was infested with thieves. Jesus puts in this wilderness of Judah, the parable of the Samaritan who rescues the wretched man who had fallen into the hands of robbers. Jesus has arrived at Jericho with his disciples, there is a great multitude, precisely because the pilgrims were going to Jerusalem, and he is about to arrive at his destination; there are 27 kilometers to go to Jerusalem. Let's see the place where the encounter with Bartimaeus took place. I show you that ruin again, next to which the Roman road passed, where the city of Jericho ended.
That is the place where Jesus met Bartimaeus. For the beggars, the exit of the city of Jericho was the ideal place to stop and ask for help from the well-disposed pilgrims because it was Passover time. They did not give alms out of mercy, for if one was blind, it was because of his misfortune, because of his sins. They did it because it was a duty to give alms.
Let's see who this character is, and we will read now the story, not as a chronicle fact (Jesus indeed healed a blind man) but as a parable of the passage from the darkness of blindness to the light. He who had no meaning in his life, when he met Christ, finally receives the light that guides his existence and gives meaning to his life in this world. This man's name is Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. Actually, it is not his first name; it is his last name; it says who his father is, and this Timaeus is insisted on a lot to understand what the evangelist wants to tell us. 'Mae' in Greek means honor; this is the son of those who seek recognition.
Actually, the evangelist is telling us that this is the origin of the blindness in which the people are moving who have not yet received the light of Christ. They believe that the only goal that gives meaning to life is to have honors, prestige, power, wealth, pleasures... In reality, this is the blindness of Jesus' disciples who have not yet let their eyes be opened to the true meaning of life. What do they do? They are watching... they are walking towards Jerusalem, but watching to the right, a few hundred meters away, they're looking at Herod's palaces. That is their dream; they point to this vainglory. Jesus has not yet achieved to open their eyes to make them understand that the true glory is not that of Herod the Great, that of those who possess palaces; the true glory is that which he will manifest by laying down his life.
Let us now see the characteristics of this blind man who has not yet known Christ who opens his eyes. He is seated and enveloped in darkness, standing he cannot move because he would not know where to go, others always accompany him; he is in the same place every day; he repeats the same gestures, the same movements, the same words; so, rather than living, he limits himself to vegetate, does not cultivate ideals that go beyond the satisfaction of his immediate needs.
The parable is the image of the life of those who do not have a life, who do not see the ultimate meaning of life, of their existence; they are involved in a perpetual cyclical succession of being born, living, dying without a goal. You go to elementary school, then middle school, then high school, and you get excellent grades in college; once you graduated, you found a profession, then you started a family, you had children who have to do well in elementary school, middle school, high school, college, university... This is a cycle that keeps repeating itself, but why all this?
It's what the Cohelet ((Ecclesiastes) says: "One generation passes away, another generation comes, but the earth always remains the same; the sun rises, the sun sets, it hastens to return where it is reborn." We are in the first chapter of the book of Cohelet. The conclusion is that, in this cycle, then, all is vanity; there is no ultimate meaning; one is in the condition of Bartimaeus. He who has not opened his eyes and has not grasped the meaning, the goal of his life, is blind.
The second characteristic of this blind man: he is on the sideway. He is the image of those who live on the margin of history. There is a history that remains; it is that of those who collaborate in the building of the kingdom of God in the world, the kingdom of those who love, of those who lay down their lives for love. These are on the path that Christ marks out. Those who are out of this way, those who are bent on this world's goods, those who are in pursuit of their own success, of honor, selfish interest, are out of the way and of Jesus, and they will leave no trace of their passage in this world; their history will be erased.
Third characteristic: He is a beggar; begging for alms that people give him, he collects them in his cloak which he has placed between his knees. In the parable, the one who has not opened his eyes and does not see clearly the meaning of life becomes a beggar, he begs for everything, he begs for approval, for praise, the flattery of those around him, and, to get it, they are ready to do anything, even to flatter and lie.
Let's try to ask ourselves, isn't the recourse to cosmetic surgery and tattoos, piercing, hair implantation, begging for attention? Everything to attract attention. With the alms you get a little bit of attention, but it's just a small change... what's it good for? If you live for it, you'll make do with very little; the true values of life are others; not this begging. Cohelet says very well in chapter three: "God has made everything beautiful, and he has put in people’s hearts the desire of the infinite... 'aolam.' The person is made for the infinite, not for these small changes that are begged for. He who has his eyes open has understood the meaning of his existence is aware of his value, does not need to beg for esteem and attention and is happy as he is.
What is the salvation of these blind people? It is to find someone who will open their eyes, who will make them look up. That's what happened to Bartimaeus; he was lucky enough to meet Jesus.
Let us listen:
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.”
Bartimaeus is the image of someone who, in a moment, has realized that he is leading a meaningless, unacceptable life, and looks for a way out; because some adapt to their condition, who stick to their blindness, who stick to their life, which allows them to get ahead in any way, living on alms, and some take pleasure in their state. Bartimaeus is not like that. He represents those who today are dissatisfied with a life devoid of values and high ideals, and are not resigned to the darkness in which they are immersed. The models of life that they used to admire, that they were trying to reach at a given moment, disappoint them. You have to let these anxieties emerge, let them speak, don't silence them because they lead to the search for the one who can open the eyes to a new light.
Bartimaeus does not see, but he knows how to listen and amid the confusion of so many overlapping voices, he catches one of them, that of Jesus, the only voice that can take him out of his condition of non-life. Here is the message of the parable; the encounter with Christ, the one who can open your eyes, is reached by listening to his word, which is his Gospel. It is this Gospel that opens your eyes and answers your worries. Bartimaeus turns to Jesus, and to him, he cries out his request for help, and overcomes his hesitations, fears, and shame because he does not want to remain in that state. One should not be ashamed to become aware of one's spiritual blindness and to express the dissatisfaction he feels when he cannot give meaning to his life.
And he calls Jesus by his name: 'Yoshuá' = the one who saves. Salvation is not being taken to paradise where the heavenly Father welcomes all. Salvation must be today, as soon as possible; you must let your eyes be opened by the word of Jesus and his Gospel to lead an authentic life. This is Jesus, the name of the one who saves. And Bartimaeus began to cry out, and his cry disturbed many people. Who do these people who are disturbed by this shout represent? Mark is doing catechesis; they represent those who are feeling the same anguish as Bartimaeus because they are blind like him, but they want to be left alone because they are attached to their condition, they have adapted themselves to a life that is not life. Mark wants to tell us that those who want to find the light of Christ must also consider these difficulties, these oppositions, these misunderstandings.
The first opposition comes from those who try to discourage those who seek the light; they invite him to give up, to forget about it, and to think about enjoying life as everybody else does, not to give importance to certain questions that come from the deepest part of the heart, to forget about them. These can be co-workers, ambiguous business partners, and even friends who, out of superficiality, smile at the torments of the soul and object that they are preoccupations of weak people, that they are not up to the times, that they are medieval. Bartimaeus indicates how to overcome these moments of difficulty; we must not be discouraged; we must continue seeking and invoking the light.
The second difficulty to consider comes from those who surround Jesus, who should help the blind man to approach Christ; instead, they are also an impediment. Today we meet the Master through the community of disciples, but sometimes, with their lives, they obscure the brightness of the proposal of man made by Jesus. We follow the light of Christ in his Gospel, but even this Gospel can be veiled by those who proclaim it, can be disfigured, adapted to our human reasoning. These difficulties of finding the light must be considered.
And, at this point, we would expect that, after the blind man's cry, Jesus would immediately come to give him the sight. We have seen that the pathway is very narrow and, therefore, Jesus had the blind man under his gaze. This is a parable. It takes someone to accompany the blind man to Jesus. He does not go alone. This detail also has a message for us. Let's listen to it:
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.”
The voice of Jesus does not come directly to the blind man; some are in charge of transmitting it. Who are these mediators? They represent the authentic disciples of the Master. They are attentive and sensitive to the requests for help of their brothers and sisters in difficulty. A true disciple of Christ, an angel of the Lord, for example, is someone to whom an office companion confides his dissatisfaction, his worries and concerns to him because he realizes that he is in a state of disorder in life. This is the moment when the true disciple stops to listen and welcomes the brother's heartfelt request for help and accompanies him to Christ.
And how do these angels approach the brother or sister in difficulty, and how should they minister to them? They tell us with three verbs. The first one they are to say: "Take courage." The disciple of Christ knows that whoever allows his eyes to be opened by the light of the Gospel will face a life option which is not easy; he will also be called to make a radical change, that is why the first imperative is 'be courageous, be aware that it will not be easy to follow the light that Jesus gives you.'
Second, "Get up"; the Greek verb is 'egéirein' which means to resurrect, a life begins for you, completely new, as a resurrected man; a demanding life but the only one worthy of a person.
Third verb: "He is calling you." He calls precisely you; it is not a generic proposal that he makes to humanity; he is interested in you, it is you who are precious in his eyes, and it is with you that he wants to establish a relationship of love. So, you see how the encounter with the light of Christ depends on these mediators of the Gospel, the way they approach the brother or sister is not with threats but with the tenderness of the Master. And now, the blind man moves to go to receive the light of Christ. Let us pay attention to every gesture he makes, because the evangelist Mark notices them as all of them contain a message for us. Let us listen:
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 51 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.”
We would have expected a different scene from Mark. He should have told us that someone came up to Bartimaeus and helped him to his feet, and then put his cloak on his shoulders and took care of the few coins he had in his cloak; and then took him by the arm and led him to Jesus. On the contrary, Mark tells us that the blind man jumped to his feet, threw off the cloak with all in it, and then ran to Jesus.
As a chronicle, this scene is not very plausible, and, in fact, it is not a chronicle; it is a symbolic scene. First of all, the mantle. Like all beggars, Bartimaeus had it on his knees to receive alms; the gesture he made of throwing it all away indicates complete and radical detachment from the condition in which he has lived. The life he has led up to that moment is no longer of interest to him; he throws it away.
This gesture clearly recalls the gesture of the catechumens of the communities of the time of Mark who, before being immersed in the baptismal font, the source of illumination as it was called, they discarded their old clothes, which indicated their rejection of pagan life they had led up to that time. The clothing, in the culture of the time, indicated the behavior of a person because, just as we recognize a person by the way they dress, we also recognize a person by his actions. Here that corrupt life was discarded which he had led up to the time of baptism, was cast out; therefore, all behavior that was made up of incompatible arrangements with the choices of those enlightened by Christ had to be cast out. Then the baptized was clothed with a new white, luminous garment that indicated that from then on, his person had to transpire the luminous life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Then Jesus asked the blind man, "What do you want from me?" It seems a useless question, instead, it is very important; and we should hear this question addressed to us. Last Sunday we already heard it addressed to the two sons of Zebedee. Jesus asked them: "What do you want me to do for you?' It means what do you expect from me? It is a question also addressed to us, what do we expect from Jesus of Nazareth? The two sons of Zebedee had said to him: ‘From you we expect honor, positions of prestige, success in this world, money, glory.’ And Jesus had said to them, 'You do not know what you ask; I never promised these things.’ The blind man makes the proper request; he asks for what Jesus wants to give: his light so that he may see clearly where he is going in your life. Bartimaeus asks: 'Rabboni that I may see.'
The Greek verb is 'anáblepo' which means, 'I want to look up,' until now I have always looked down, to the alms that were given to me; now I want to look up. And, in fact, Jesus said to him, 'Go, your faith has saved you.' The fact that you have believed that the gift that I can give you is my light, it saves you; I give you this light and you will see the world, your life, all reality, as God sees it because now you will know where you are going, how to move without going astray, without being seduced by the ways of death.
We have all had the experience of finding ourselves in front of a landscape, sometimes shrouded in fog, other times, on the other hand, on a splendid day; things are the same, but they are seen in a different way when there is light than when there is not. This is what happens with those who have received the light of Christ: the world, life, things, and reality are the same, but it is seen differently. Life, pain, joys, death, feasts, mourning are the same, but when you have the light of Christ, you see it differently, you understand the meaning they have, and you learn to love each reality.
"Go, your faith has saved you. Instantly he regained his sight." Again, the Greek verb: he looked up. Now he has received that light that only God can give. "And he followed him by the way." Now he follows Jesus in the way that he traces with his person, which is the way of a surrendered life, not the way of those that seek the honors and glories of this world, as the two sons of Zebedee asked. He who asks Christ the right question receives what he wants to give us: the light to live as he has lived.
I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.