FROM PHYSICAL BLINDNESS TO SPIRITUAL SIGHTEDNESS

 

David was a great king in the history of Israel. As a king he was also a priest who offered sacrificed every year for the atonement of his sins and of his subjects. In the post-exilic period when there was no king in Israel, the priesthood took the upper hand in making atonement sacrifice. Jesus offered this atonement sacrifice for all of us on the cross as a priest descending from King David. In Jesus the function of offering atonement sacrifice is taken back to king from high priest who carried out this function till then. This is the core of the letter to Hebrews. Today’s second reading from this letter elucidates the eternal priesthood of Jesus that comes from His Sonship to the Father. King is a son of God who represents God in the world. King David represented God in Israel and he mediated between God and Man especially through his priestly sacrifice. Jesus as descendant of David was a King who offered sacrifice once and for all on the cross.

In the Gospel reading the blind Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus as Son of David. He affirms the identity of Jesus as descendant of David, who has the right to offer atonement sacrifice for Himself and for His subjects. The blind beggar also asks Jesus to have mercy on Him. The nature of our God is love who acts with mercy. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was a merciful act, which brought down divine mercy on humanity. Through Jesus we seek God’s mercy and receive His mercy. The blind man has sensed this even before any leaders in Israel could do. The Scribes and Pharisees were apprehensive of Jesus’ proclamation, but they never tried to find out the root of Jesus as descendant of David. They were blind; they sought proof after proofs from Jesus and tried their best to trap him in their arguments. On the contrary, this blind man on the roadside had spiritual insight that told him that Jesus is the Son of David who alone can effect God’s mercy on him. He got his physical blindness cured because he got cured of his spiritual insight already. The prostitutes, tax collectors, sinner… who are outwardly blind to Godly things are able to open up themselves to receive sight from God through Jesus, whereas the scribes, Pharisees and lawyer who are supposed to be enlightened in Godly things have become blind. To these people Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Mt 21:31).

After the curing, Jesus tells the blind Bartimaeus to ‘Go’, but he follows Jesus. In the previous Sunday we heard about young rich man who was very much interested in following God’s law but reluctant to give up his property and follow Jesus. In the case of Bartimaeus, he throws out even his cloak to meet Jesus. The invited rich man could not follow Jesus, but the blind beggar without being invited is able to follow Jesus and thus become his disciple. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). In the last week, we heard about Jesus’ disciples who were claiming prominent places in His kingship. It was because of their understanding of Kingdom of God like any human kingdom. The kingdom of God is for poor in spirit, it is for the blesseds in the beatitudes Mt 5:3-11. The blind Bartimaeus is a poor in spirit who sought only mercy from Jesus and became His disciple. The disciples of Jesus are called to be like him, who would follow Jesus leaving everything. From periphery, from roadside blind Bartimaeus becomes a person who walks on the road. The spiritually blind are pushed to the roadside (scribe, Pharisees, lawyer…), whereas the spiritually sighted are lead to physical healing and eventually inherit the kingdom of God.

This Sunday also we observe as a Mission Sunday. The purpose of Missionary work in the Church is to make many more disciples like Bartimaeus. The mission of every disciple of Jesus is to proclaim good news about Him. Some of us could do it literally and some us could do only partially and spiritually. Mission Sunday is an occasion to show our partial commitment to evangelization by giving our contribution for the missionary work. We also show our spiritual commitment to evangelization by regularly praying for missionaries Like Bartimaeus let us be generous in giving whatever we could for the missionary work and also be courageous like Bartimaeus in following Jesus on His way.   

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