Word to the Wise
Monday, November 18, 2013 - Monday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Macc 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63 and Luke 18:35-43]As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!"
Jesus approaches Jericho on his way up to Jerusalem. He has warned his disciples that he would be put to death and will rise, but this is outside their ability to understand. But there is someone who understands sitting by the roadside, a blind beggar! Notice the difference between the title for Jesus the crowd gives to the blind beggar and the title that the beggar gives to him. The crowd says, "Jesus of Nazareth." The blind beggar says, "Jesus, Son of David!" The first title is a common form of address. The second is a messianic title, recognizing what the disciples would only understand much later. Their lack of understanding is shown in their efforts to silence the blind beggar! The blind man "sees," and the sighted crowd is "blind."
Note, too, that the blind person is a beggar - a poor person! In the Gospel of Luke, those who are unencumbered by wealth are the ones who can see more clearly with the eyes of faith. It is this faith that restores physical sight to the blind man, as Jesus tells him: "Have sight; your faith has saved you. " The blind beggar then joins the disciples in "following" Jesus on his road to Jerusalem! One can only hope that the disciples who tried to silence him have learned something from this. Have we? AMEN