Every person reading the gospel texts has his/her own reaction.
One may find a text helpful and inspiring, while the same text may not speak personally to someone else.
A certain scene presented in detail may retain the attention of someone but will leave another indifferent.
God’s moment, God’s touch, may not happen at the same time for everyone.
But God’s touch can be one of healing – healing the blindness as yet unrecognized.
Today’s gospel text shows us a blind man calling loudly and asking Jesus to have pity on him (Mark 10:46-52).
A few people may end the reading telling themselves: ‘Well, I am not blind, thank God!’,
and they move on to some activity.
Personally, I keep on mentally looking at the man and thinking: He was aware of his condition…
And some words come back to me, words of another gospel text also about blindness (John 9:41).
Jesus tells the Pharisees:
“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin;
but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains”.
There is physical blindness and… there are other kinds of blindness…
Many people do not see what they do not want to see…
Some choose what to see and what not to see…
There are those who know that they would be faced with a challenge if they accepted to see the truth,
so, they deliberately close their eyes to what is plain to see!
Others are aware that they would be confronted with the need to change something in their lives, so they pretend they do not see…
Being willing to see may involved having a close look at different areas of my life to identify some… blind spots!
– I may be blind to some injustice in my work practices…
– I may be blind to the prejudice I have towards some groups of people…
– I may be blind to the selfishness that leads me to ignore the needs of those close me…
– I may be blind to the arrogance of my attitude lacking respect to those I judge as inferiors…
– I may be blind to the kindness of the people I live and work with…
Blind spots – they can be of different kinds but all too obvious to people around me.
The prayer of the blind man of today’s gospel may be an appropriate request on my part as well:
« Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! »
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/30e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2024/
The text of the 2nd reading of this Sunday could be addressed to us, and it is!