The scripture readings for October 25th, 2015, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102515.cfm
About 25 year ago, the word ableism made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary as a term for discrimination against those with some form of physical impairment (paralysis, deafness, blindness, and so on). This mentality may be conveyed in subtle - even innocent - ways, and those who exemplify it may be blissfully unaware that they are "ableists." This bias may even take the form of "positive stereotypes." An example of this is the wide-spread (though inaccurate) notion that blind people have a more acute sense of hearing than sighted people or that they have a "sixth sense" that in some way compensates for their visual impairment. Neither of these notions is true.
With this concept in mind, we have to say that the culture at the time of Jesus was blatantly, ferociously ableist, going so far as to assume that a physical condition such as blindness was the result of some sinful behavior on the part of the blind person (or perhaps that person's parents). Any physical disability was seen as an abnormal, evil deviation from the way things are supposed to be. But it is precisely this mentality that enables Mark in today's Gospel to set up what might be called a "situational irony" in which the able-bodied disciples of Jesus are contrasted (very unfavorably, as it turns out) with the "disabled" Bartimaeus.
You may recall from last Sunday's Gospel that Jesus had predicted his own suffering and death, challenging the apostles to accept the same fate as they follow him. Rather than seeing Jesus as the "Suffering Servant" of Isaiah, the disciples (notably James and John) choose to see him as a kingly messiah and responds to his question "What do you want?" by arguing about who will sit closest to the throne.
In contrast, in today's gospel, when Bartimaeus is asked what he wants Jesus to do for him, he makes a simple request: "I want to see." This request of Bartimaeus is theologically loaded because Mark intends "sight" to mean more than mere physical vision.
It seams clear that the blind man's faith in Jesus preceded (or even caused) the restoration of his eyesight. We tend to think of the miracles of Jesus as producing a faith response in those that are cured. In other words, they come to believe because of the extraordinary power displayed by Jesus. But in today's Gospel Bartimaeus believed in Jesus before the miraculous cure. His faith was a type of "insight" or "seeing with the eyes of faith" that distinguished this obviously disabled man from the able-bodied disciples.
Believing leads to seeing. The blind man sees Jesus for who he is. On the other hand, the disciples seem to exemplify the adage, "There is none so blind as he who will not see."
In being a follower of Jesus, there is in no pecking order, no status involved when it comes to following Him. Because of his disability would have been viewed by many as another unlikely candidate (along with the "morally disabled" tax collectors and prostitutes) for discipleship. To truly to "see" Jesus is to follow Him.
As Christians we believe that we come to know Jesus in the breaking of the Bread. May the Eucharist open our eyes to the realty and presence among us of a Messiah who saved humanity through service, suffering and death. This Jesus calls us to throw aside whatever encumbers us and follow that same path of service to others.
Very good reflection. Father Jenkins at noon Mass @ St. Margaret's mentioned that when Bartimeus threw aside his cloak there were most likely some coins in it and that people who pitied the blind beggar tossed coins in his cloak. So he threw aside not only his cloak but the coins as well.
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