“I will make them walk by brooks of water in a straight path in which they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born” (Cf. Jer. 31:9). And Jesus said to him, “Go your way, your faith has made you well. And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way” (cf. Mark 10:52). While we were still studying philosophy as seminarians, we were taught the difference between deism and theism.
Both concepts or theories affirm that the Universe indeed has a Creator or Designer. But there is a difference. The Creator in deism does not care about the world He created or those in it. He is impersonal; unable and unwilling to relate with the Universe. That is definitely not the God we worship. Our God is the God of theism. Our God cares for his people, no matter their condition. We see in the First reading that He promised the blind, lame and those in pain: consolation and the assurance of his guidance. The Psalmist rejoices in gratitude for God’s goodness and mercy as we heard in the Responsorial Psalm: “What great deeds the Lord worked for us ; indeed we were glad” (cf. Ps. 126).
When the Scripture tells us in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 that his name shall be called “Emmanuel” meaning “God with us”, the idea of being with us is not just about physical presence. Emmanuel means He identifies with our fallenness, our weakness and our struggles. He is high, yes, but He looks with love and compassion on the lowly because He made himself like them in all things but sin, and identifies with them (cf. Ps. 138:6; Heb. 4: 15). The Gospel Reading speaks very loudly of the nature of our compassionate Saviour. You can imagine the helplessness of this blind beggar, Bartimaeus. He had to rely on the movement of the crowds and the noise around him to perceive that something was even happening.
When He got to know that it was Jesus, something happened to blind Bartimaeus. In that moment, his sense of hope was re-awakened. After so many years of darkness, the name “Jesus” which he heard from the crowds reminded Bartimaeus that the Light of the world was close to him. The mention of that name gave him hope; it gave him a reason to believe again. Bartimaeus obviously did not know Jesus personally. But he must have heard about the great deeds He had done just as we said in the Responsorial Psalm. And St. Paul reminds us that faith comes by hearing (cf. Rm. 10:17).
That is, the faith He professed in Jesus by calling Him “David’s Son” was a faith built on the testimonies of the marvelous deeds Jesus had done. Many people around tried to silence him but he kept shouting the name of Jesus until he caught our Lord’s attention. Bartimeus was willing to accept the ridicule of the crowds. And if he remained firm and unmoved by their attitude, we should therefore never allow our conditions or the distractions of the world to keep us from encountering Jesus. Faith is persistent and persevering. It may not entirely dispel the darkness of doubt and suffering that surrounds us, but it will always find a path. Faith is not about not having challenges; our faith does not cancel out our human struggles and difficulties.
Instead, faith continues to hold on to God, no matter what. Even when there are hindrances on every side, even when the enemy whispers doubt and confusion into our ears, our faith continues to cry out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”. Some of us are on the verge of giving up. Difficult situations seem to overwhelm us but God will surely come to our aid if we keep seeking and asking. Bartimaeus was indeed rewarded for his persistence and so shall we be rewarded. Jesus stopped and said, “call him”. “What do you want me to do for you?”. What a profound question! Pause for a while and respond to that. What Jesus did for Bartimaeus is a fulfilment of the restoration that Jeremiah prophesied in our First reading, (Jer. 31:7-9) restoration for all; the poor, the lame, the blind, the weak; restoration for you too.
We have seen so many lessons as Christians that we can learn from the encounter of Jesus and Bartimeus. When we look into our lives we see that our situation is much the same as that of the blind man. St. Augustine made us to understand that we all have something that challenges us.The only difference is the attitude. Faith is a Christian’s attitude. Doubt and despair are also attitudes. So choose the attitude you wish to embrace. Do not ever give up on prayer.
Continue screaming into our Lord’s ears. “Can a mother forget her suckling child or have no compassion on the child that she bore? Though she may forget, [the Lord assures us] I will not forget you!” (Isa. 49:15-16) Today , the Thirtieth Sundary in Ordinary Time Year B, the Lord reminds all that “Those who put their trust in [Him] are like Mount Zion that cannot be shaken; that stands forever” ( cf. Ps. 125: 1).