Bartimaeus, who is blind, is making a racket. Although censored by onlookers he persists. He eventually gets the attention he wants from Jesus but that is not all he wants. Bartimaeus puts his faith in Jesus. Jesus, in turn, puts a question to him, What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus replies, “I want to see.”
What do we want? Like Bartimaeus we likely want personal healing but so too we probably want social healing. We want a structural shift away from present harm done to us toward future well-being done for us. It is unlikely any social healing will be done for us by a Republican Party that consistently inflicts harm through. It does so through, among other things, its policies on immigration, Wall Street, and war. Do we believe it will be done for us by a Democratic Party when nearly eight years ago people made a racket for political help and got the attention of Barack Obama? His policies on immigration, Wall Street, and war have barely undone the harm while bolstering the harmful structures. A similar clamor is again arising from primarily young and frustrated voters who hope the present harm can be undone by Bernie Sanders. Like Obama he is asking for a grassroots revolution that extends beyond him and, unlike Obama, claims he won’t be so naïve about it. The Green Party and candidate Jill Stein make revolutionary claims far beyond Sanders’ for equality, fairness, and peace. They assert it is naïve to believe the two party system, no matter its candidate, is anything other than the two sided coin of structural corporatism. The party system is controlled by elites of this empire. Is it naïve to believe anything can be done for us by the U.S. Empire. Might we consider that undoing the U.S. Empire is that which must be done by us? The U.S. is an empire whose citizens often wear rose colored glasses when considering the harm it does. Too many citizens believe the best its rulers can do for us is just reform it because we no longer make a racket to be healed from it?
What did Bartimaeus want done for him? Did he want better glasses? Did he want his blindness reformed? Bartimaeus wanted his blindness healed. Was it done for him or was it done by him and between him and others and within him? Jesus did not so much do healing for Bartimaeus as he encouraged Bartimaeus’ healing to come forth: Jesus told him, “‘Go your way; your faith has saved you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.” Let us believe in the healing that can come forth from us.
Prayer: Healing Spirit, we commit to opening our eyes to those who need healing and sharing our abilities with them.
Question: What difference might seeing the U.S. as an empire make to my political actions?
October 25, 2015 Gospel Mark 10:46-52 Thirtieth Sunday In Ordinary Time