I always advise people that if they are stopped by a police officer and he asks “Do you know why I stopped you?” Answer  “no.” The reason is that you have no idea why he stopped you. You may think you know, but in reality you do not know until he tells you. You may say: “because I have a tail light out?” and he may say, “No, because you made an illegal left turn.” So now you could get two tickets, whereas the truthful answer to the question actually is that you do not know why he stopped you. You cannot read his mind.

 

Today’s Gospel brings up a similar situation. Jesus speaks to the blind son of Timeaus and asks, what would seem to be a question that is not necessary: “What you do want me to do for you?” We assume what appears to be obvious, Jesus does not.

 

“Master,” he said. “I want to see.” With that he is healed.  If we finish there, we see this as simply a miracle story of Jesus healing a man born blind. But Mark is giving this account for a reason. Let us look at it more closely.

 

First, those around Bartimaeus try to discourage him from seeking Jesus. He calls out to Our Lord and does not ask to be healed, but asks for his pity. Those around him basically tell him to sit down and shut up. He persists, nevertheless.

 

What does he receive? His sight. But blindness and sight are two things at the same time in the Gospel. For when we understand one who is blind, we simultaneously understand this spiritually. The blindness that Jesus often talks about is that of lack of true divinely inspired wisdom. He calls people to no longer be blind in the deepest sense and to begin to see as the wise see.

 

This is actually what is happening in the story, while using the story of the Blind Bartimaeus, Mark is putting us in the man’s shoes as he calls out to Jesus seeking physical sight. Mark is calling us to seek the true vision which Jesus offers, just as Bartimeaus is seeking physical vision.

 

However, notice the people trying to silence him. They tell him to shut up and to not seek Jesus. Do not miss that they are also people who claim to be able to see this Jesus whom Bartimeaus cannot see. That too is part of the parable.

 

I will not go into the details on how I learned this truth on a deeper level, over the past week, except to point out the following:

 

The Bible teaches us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. What that really means is to seek Christ in the way He calls you to seek Him and know that the Church is there to assist, but not to show you how. You have to figure it out on your own. It is kind of like: you can read all the books in the world on marriage or in my case priesthood and they will give you some answers, but the nub of your vocation to marriage or priesthood or whatever, you will have to discover on your own, because no book offers you specific answers for your specific issue.

 

So it is with seeking Christ. Countless people will tell you that you do not need to seek him too seriously or change your life too drastically or  pray more than a few minutes or even that you do not need to go to mass. They will do all they can to tell you that you do not have to pay that much attention to seeking Christ. They are like those who told Bartimaeus to sit down and shut up. Like the blind man did, you too must ignore them. In your seeking to grow in Christ, be like a blind man who vigilantly seeks to have sight. As persistent is Bartimeaus in seeking healing, so must we be persistent in seeking that which is the deepest form of true vision which is the wisdom of God.

 

You will always be surrounded by those who do enough to get by or slightly more or less, but if you truly seek wisdom then you cannot listen to them or be like them. You need to listen for the coming of Jesus, as does Bartimaeus. You need to reach out to Him above the crowd, to call him to have pity on you as a sinner and to ask him to give you the power to truly see. He will give you that power which grows over time and when you do receive it you will see more deeply than those around you. You will understand more deeply than those around you so that you may either lead them to Christ or steer away from them as you see they are a shipwreck in their own rite.

 

Mark has given us Bartimaeus not as an example of Jesus’ power, but as an exhortation to each of us. Be like Bartimaeus. Call out to the Lord and beg him to give you that spiritual sight that you may have the wisdom he offers. Seek his word in the Bible, the New Testament especially. Allow His spirit to transform you, to educate you to the truth.

 

We are surrounded in Eastern Massachusetts by those institutions that boast of offering wisdom, but true wisdom can only be found in Christ and even the most learned of persons who reject Him is truly spiritually blind compared to the one who has been given the gift of spiritual vision, which may be you. Seek that gift like a blind man seeks healing.

 

What does this gift look like? It is easier to discuss the fruits, do you actually think one of these world class atheists can convince me that God does not exist? They are blind to the bigger picture. However many follow them.

 

This is the healing that Jesus gives to us and it is an important healing to know and to seek. The healing of one seeks to see with the eyes of faith is greater than one being given vision with physical eyes. This is what Mark is also telling us. Remember, the more persistent we are the more we will see.

 

However, like in the story of Bartimeaus, we too are surrounded by those who tell us to sit down and shut up and it is important to know that sometimes you encounter them speaking in the name of the Church. That is why Judas is so important to the whole Gospel story. They will tell us to stop pursuing our goal; our zeal is not necessary. Listen to them and you will become as lost as they are. Be persistent and continue calling out to the Lord, regardless of their admonitions and you will find a greater gift than super eyesight. This is what Mark is teaching us to do. That is why the saints are so important. They too were told to sit down and shut up, but today they are saints because they ignored their detractors.

 

Your coming here every Sunday is a reflection that you too are calling out to Jesus and saying: “I want to see.” Do not give up! Beg God for you to grow in his wisdom and truth. Ignore your detractors. They have nothing to offer you but a glimpse of their own blindness, a blindness that Christ does not want you to suffer.

 

Seek to see with the eyes of faith and you will see beyond the imagination of the most learned of men and women.

God bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Podomatic and here on Catholicismanew. You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as +FrRobertCarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook