Blindness is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. Just imagine your world covered with darkness all over. Loss of sight may even be worse than drowning in the turbulent seas or great floods.
Bartimaeus was a blind man who was cured miraculously by Jesus. He told the good Lord saying, “Master, I want to see!” And without much ado, Jesus granted him his wish. When Bartimaeus finally opened his eyes, he saw the most beautiful sight the world has ever known, the sight of Jesus. His wish to see once again paid off because he saw the Son of God, the savior of the world.
In this world we live in, there are a lot of people inflicted with a rare kind of blindness. These people are not physically blind, and they see the beauty of the whole creation. However, they are blind because they always fail to see the misery of those who were affected by the recent typhoon. They are blind because they have become oblivious to the needs of other people around them. They do not see those people who lost their homes and loved ones, those who need immediate assistance both financially and emotionally. Unlike Bartimaeus, they will always fail to see the Life Giver who is always identified with the poor ones in our society.
“I want to see!” That was the loud cry of Bartimaeus when the Lord asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” In our present world, I wonder if we will still cry the same cry as Bartimaeus. What do we want to see around us nowadays? Or we may even wish to be a blind man because sometimes darkness means peace and tranquility. There are times when I would just like to close my eyes than to see all the things that make this world a hell-on-earth.
Darkness is oftentimes equated with death and sin. It is the exact opposite of the light which makes our life shine so brightly. But then, most people of today do not consider Christ as the light of the world and most of the time our faith is experiencing darkness. For a person who has never known Christ, all these worldly enticements serve as their light to their crooked paths that lead to perdition.
“I want to be blind!” is the cry of those people who are already saturated with all the problems and hardships that our stinking society has given them. A lot of people want to end their lives because they can no longer swallow the perennial punishments brought about either by vicious individuals in power, or by the natural calamities, which are products also of our own misbehavior and our failure to be genuine stewards of creation.
In our present generation, Christ, the light of the world, is in darkness. He is bleeding because of man’s propensity to be sinful and turn away from his grace. Our Lord Jesus himself is now the one crying out the words “I want to see!” Indeed, He wants to see the world in its original beauty when it was created by God, the Father. He wants to see virtuous men and women in this world uncorrupted by sin and selfishness. He wants to see the goodness and beauty that each person created in his image possesses. He wants to see His very person alive in each man and woman who are faced with trials in this world and still willing to walk the extra mile sacrificing for the sake of the faith. He wants to see not winged angels but angels in you and me who are willing to care for one another and the rest of the creation.
As Jesus wants to see all these things in us, let us therefore seek to see his face once again in every situation in life and in every trial that we encounter in our daily life. As Christians, I am sure that we still want to see the image of our Lord in our brothers and sisters especially those who are in need.
Lord, make us see your grace and goodness and banish the cloud of sin from our sight so we may have an unclouded vision of the road that leads to you.