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| JESUS MAKING BLIND BARTIMAEUS SEE. Image from catholicmom.com via google.com |
"And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more, '
Son of David, have pity on me'".
Remember the Transfiguration? Peter, James and John were so overcome by the glory of the Lord that they did not want to come down of the mountain anymore. Today we read this passage about the Lord leaving Jericho and the people were accompanying Him on His way and probably were too focused on having their last view of Him before He is finally gone that they didn't want to be distracted by someone like blind Bartimaeus. So they tried to stop him but he cried the more until he gets the Lord Jesus' attention.
Many times we are like that, we focus too much on the Lord's glory and forget that He also told us to wash each other's feet. We busy ourselves about rites and celebrations forgetting that these rites and celebrations ought to overflow into concrete applications by carrying one another's burdens. When rites and celebrations are over, our Christianity seems to be over already also.
St James tells us that true religion can be identified by the way we take care of widows and orphans, that is, the marginalized and the weakest members of society and to keep ourselves free from sin. But many times we limit our religion to worship and adoration thinking through these things that God will be happy with us already. But we forget that He declared that He expects mercy more than sacrifice.
There are many blind Bartimaeuses around us. People who are not only blind, but are also weak, ignorant, hungry, sorrowful, rejected, marginalized, thirsting for justice, in need of guidance and consolation, etc. What are we doing in order to show them that we are Christians? Are we other Christs to them who ask about what they want us to do for them? Are we other Christs willing to wash their feet, carry their burden, and ready to die for them? Or are we among the crowd who tells them to shut up and stop bothering our Christianity for we are already enjoying God's presence and they are merely disruptive of our attention?
The next time we meet a blind Bartimaeus, let us consider our proper role: a Christian who cares or a mere bystander who sneers.
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