Change is Possible: Faith is the Only Sight Necessary
Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46–52
I am not 50 yet, but it is just incredible what can happen in so short a period of time. Growing up in Nigeria, with hindsight, one felt like living in paradise. The presence of Americans, Canadians, English, Russians and Indians looking for jobs and happily contributing to the economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Nigerian green passport commanding respect everywhere in the world; “Naira,” the Nigerian currency, imposing itself because of its purchasing power over the American dollar and British pounds; and Nigerian embassies around the world standing as beacons of greatness and architectural gargantuan! What happy days, what fun memories, what el dorado! Where is Nigeria today? The good news is that “change is possible, with faith and courage we can bring back happy days!
In our first reading, after years of Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah prophesies a return to glory for the children of Israel. After many years in exile, the aspiration to return to their Fatherland, Israel, stops being a mere nostalgia but a reality. A people deported in the might of Nebuchadnezzar returns home in the strength and power of God. This is a renewal of the story of liberation from Egypt, God leading his own people once more out of slavery and servitude. It is a tale of repentance and restoration. The blindness of sin cedes place to the power of faith and courage for Israel; the courage to build Israel anew, beginning with the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem – the symbol of God’s presence among his people, a guarantee that God reigns, and that faith helps its possessor to triumph over every trial. This too is the dream of so many nations, including Nigeria!
If our first reading speaks on national greatness and restoration, our gospel reading focuses on personal restoration. Our gospel as well as the first reading tell us the unique importance of nostalgia – the power to recreate the glorious past and make it more glorious in the present through the power of faith and courage! Our gospel reading presents us with the model of Bartimaeus, whose name means “son-of-faithfulness/honor”. Bartimaeus tells us two things: he needs restoration to past glory from his present situation of blindness and nothing will deter him from achieving his goal. The request he puts to Jesus, “Lord that I may see again” reveals a “wish” for restoration to past glory and a courage to return to glorious days. The fact that he crafts his request in the subjunctive argues for his determination to get what is dear to him, even against the voices shouting him down in today’s gospel. The display of his courage turns the attention of Jesus to him, and those shouting him down receive a transformation from opposition party members to praise-singers of the same individual whom Jesus lifts high on account of his faith – Bartimaeus. Fortunes and tides do turn around, where there is faith and courage. “Faith is the only sight necessary” to weather the storms of life.
Bad days, in the life of a Christian, are like the period of sojourn of Israel in Babylon, which now undergoes transformation; and, temptations are comparable to the voices of the individuals attempting to drown Bartimaeus’ plea to Jesus for help to remove his blindness. These realities (bad days and blindness) are simply shadows that faith and courage dissipate in no time. The presence of clouds only reminds one of the need to get an umbrella, but not to cancel one’s journey. No matter how powerful and humongous our sins and misdeeds may appear, those too are storms in a tea cup because our faith to ask for mercy and our courage to make amends eliminate the blindness of sin and restore the clear sight of faith and courage. Not even the dirty and seemingly bastardization of Nigerian politics is beyond remedy for the combine efforts of faith and courage.
Faith is the conviction that every cloud has a silver lining; the determination to close one’s ears to the shouts of pessimists and cynics, following the example of Bartimaeus, and paying exclusive attention to the glory of yesteryears, in order to make restoration and transformation possible. Bartimaeus anchors his determination in his faith. He calls Jesus “Son of David”. He believes that his compatriot – “Son of David” – has a responsibility towards him, the duty to save and restore a fellow countryman to good health, and Jesus didn’t disappoint him! He personalizes his faith in his king-leader, the descendant of King David. He recalls the glorious days of the Davidic reign and he is ready for its re-enactment. His hope that glorious days are not gone forever motivates his desire to be dogged in his demands. Yes, Bartimaeus returns to the storeroom of his memory to recall and relive the greatness of being a child of God before losing his sight. He realizes that to lose one’s sight is not a death sentence, other faculties function well and better with the departure of one sense organ. The light of faith precedes Bartimaeus’ request for healing, thanks to a blindness that evokes his faith.
The real meaning of Bartimaeus’ request is for restoration. The Greek word in question is _ἀναβλέψω_ . The verbal word means “to be taken back or led to the original position or situation”. And his action as he regains his sight is to become a disciple or follower of Jesus. To follow Jesus requires faith and courage. For Nigerian economy and its citizenry, for individual human beings blinded by sin and struggling under yokes and fetters that seem unbreakable, there is good news for all and sundry today – change is possible: Faith is the only sight necessary” to forge ahead and await the imminence of breakthroughs. The obstacles you and I may notice as cogs in the wheels of our personal, national and family successes meet their Waterloo in our displays of courage and faith as antidotes to all obstacles. Faith and courage bring to our hearings the words of the enemies of the healings of Bartimaeus after their conversion, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” Your healing has come, but will it meet a formidable faith and courage to carry through this healing and restoration you and I urgently desire and seek?
Today, with the news of the restoration of Israel to its original home and the rebuilding of its Temple despite its sinful past, with the good news of restoration of Bartimaeus from blindness to the recovery of physical sight, thanks to his faith and courage to fend off temptation to despair, our readings call every Christian to a new life of restoration and healing no matter what lies in our collective or individual past. It is not because we are without sin or perfect, but because our second reading assures us of God’s love and compassion towards the imperfect and sinful individuals that we are. God qualifies each person through the merit of his Son, “the Son of David”: “it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my son: this day I have begotten you”. You and I are the recipients of this justification for restoration!
The message of our first reading is the encouragement to look beyond the sins and imperfections of each one of us: “I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng. They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them” (Jeremiah 31:8). It calls us to focus on the good that remains in each one of us as that which God looks at and on account of which he restores us all to health. The allusion of our first reading to an Israel that returns home, the blind, the lame and children, rather than the exclusively able-bodied persons at the time of deportation, invites us all to adopt the attitude of a priest who helps other sinners like himself. Every priest offers sacrifices for his sins and those of others, says our second reading: “Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people” (Hebrews 5:1-3).
The time of restoration is not the time for punishment for sins, but a time for God to grant prayer requests. So, like Bartimaeus, God asks you and I, “what do you want me to do for you?” In our individual responses, let us remember our personal and collective needs; above all, let us ask for the integral liberation and restoration of humanity from our present age of sin and indifference to God. Let us wear our national pride and work to restore our land to its glorious past. Like Bartimaeus, may we be able to follow Jesus more closely, whatever our requests to God may be today!
Assignment for the Week:
Find time this week to tell someone about the good that is in them.