Just a word before we go...Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time...October 24, 2021
Remember playing “blind man’s bluff” as a child? You’d wear a blindfold around your head and your friends would call out to you as they scattered so as not to be caught. You might also call out to them to determine which direction to proceed. At the end of the game, you’d remove the blindfold and laugh with your playmates. As we grew older, we began to realize that being blind is not a game, but an affliction that forces the afflicted to master other senses in order to live in the world. Think about Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder and Andrea Bocelli, to name a few who overcame their physical limitation to achieve greatness in their lives.
The subject of our gospel story today did not have the advantages of talent and circumstance that these famous people enjoyed; he, Bartimaeus, had only his voice and his cloak. And yet, he used these meager possessions to his advantage. He used his voice to call out to Jesus, recognizing him as the son of David, and begged for mercy. Jesus calls him over and asks what he wants from him. Bartimaeus, throwing aside his cloak, called on Jesus to heal him, that he might see. And so it happened; Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.
Notice a couple of things in this story. Bartimaeus was a beggar; his cloak was his most precious possession. It shielded him from the rain, the sun and the cold. On a good day, he could spread it out to collect coins from any passerby who bothered to notice him. Yet, despite the importance of his cloak, Bartimaeus was willing to put it aside along with his old way of life, when the Lord called him. And, when Jesus tells him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you,” Bartimaeus chooses not his own way, but to follow Jesus, and the way of his teachings and example.
There is a powerful lesson about prayer in this gospel. The Lord asks us every day what we want, then surrounds our activities and decisions with grace. Our challenge as Christians is to pray boldly, specifically, for what we think we want and need in life, confident that God hears all our requests. Then, to believe that God is with us, every step of the way, even through hardships and disappointments, as we go through our lives. Our prayers may not be answered as clearly as those of Bartimaeus, but we can be sure that the One in Whom we live and move and have our being is providing every opportunity for us to become who we were created to be, through the people and circumstances of our lives, and in that way is answering our prayers.
