"In Need of Multiple Healings" by Colleen O’Sullivan

"In Need of Multiple Healings" by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD.  (Psalm 116:12-13)

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.  Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?”  Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”  Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.  Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26) 

Piety

Lord, our attraction to the world often leaves us blind to all we know about you and your Kingdom.  Restore our sight that we might be faithful disciples.

Study

Christ Healing the Blind, detail from Sinope Gospels (6th century illuminated
Greek Gospel), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes where a story is placed in the Gospel narrative tells us more about its meaning than the story itself.  By itself, today’s reading from Mark is puzzling.  What’s going on?  Why isn’t the man fully healed on Jesus’ first attempt?  Is this blind man’s trouble more deep-seated than most?  Or is Jesus having an “off” day healing-wise?

There are two separate accounts of Jesus healing the blind in Mark’s Gospel.  The second one is found in Mark 10:46-52.  Actually, these two stories serve as bookends on either side of the narrative of Jesus’ and his disciples’ journey to Jerusalem.  Along the way, Jesus tells his friends three separate times that he will suffer and die.  They clearly don’t understand what he is saying.  But even before that, Mark has given us, his readers, some hints:  Jesus talks about the bridegroom being taken away (Mk. 2:20).  The Pharisees are seen conspiring with the Herodians to seize Jesus (Mk. 3:6).  Last but not least, Judas Iscariot is described as the one who betrays Jesus (Mk. 3:19).  We readers can see where this is heading even before today’s reading.  But no matter what Jesus says, his group of twelve simply doesn’t seem to get it.  James and John, pushed by their mother, desire places of honor on either side of their leader.  Peter rebukes Jesus at the very thought that his friend should suffer, and is referred to as Satan for his efforts.  The concept of a suffering Messiah remains alien to the disciples right to the very end.

That it takes two attempts to heal this blind man is symbolic of the difficulty in getting the disciples to show any insight into who Jesus really is and what he is about.  The dance between Jesus’ teaching and the disciples’ misunderstanding continues until after the Resurrection.

Action

Even though we have the advantage of being post-Resurrection people, sometimes we don’t show a great deal more insight into who Jesus is than his first disciples did.  Prosperity gospel preachers tell us that the Lord wants us to be blessed with wealth and material goods.  Actually, I’ve never read that message in the Gospels.  Reread the Beatitudes.  They’re more about the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed than about amassing riches for ourselves.  And, remember what Jesus told that rich young man who wanted to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus told him he was doing many things right, but he would need to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor.

Jesus died out of love for us and the desire to give us a way out of our sinfulness to eternal life with him and his Father.  He hopes you and I will live the way he died – for others.  No hoarding of the graces and blessings God bestows on us.   Instead, share what we receive, whether love, forgiveness or material blessings, with our brothers and sisters.

All this runs deeply counter to the world’s messages.  And there are days when Jesus might need to heal any one of us multiple times, because the pull of the world is so strong and attractive.  It’s not easy to live as though the last will be first.  It’s very difficult to die to self in order to really live.  It can be almost impossible at the mall or online on Amazon.com to remember that our wants can easily far exceed our needs and that there are many whose basic needs go unmet.

The psalmist practices gratitude and asks himself: “How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me?”  Gratitude seems like the place to start in living a Christian life.  When we’re truly grateful for what Jesus has done for us, much of the rest falls into place.  If we see ourselves as blessed, there’s no need for seeking places of honor or to feel like no amount of wealth or possessions could ever be enough.  If we see ourselves as the recipients of many graces, it is easy to share out of that abundance. 

Lent is approaching.  Ash Wednesday is two weeks from today.  Maybe we could start right now (and continue on through Lent) a daily practice of naming at least one grace or blessing for which we are thankful when we approach the Lord in prayer.  When we do that day after day, year in and year out, it’s amazing what transforming power that prayer can have on our lives.