Pentecost+22/Proper 25B (Mark 10:46-52)

The visually impaired person (let’s name this person as “Pistis” meaning faith in Greek) in the gospel story asks Jesus, “Let me see again.” Jesus, as if he has no interest in taking any credit for the miracle of curing his sight, responds, “Go, your faith has made you well.” There are two things I would like us to reflect on. One is what it means to “see again” and the other is what’s that “faith” that can make one well. These two, of course, are interconnected that one is not possible without the other. Faith is the condition for one to see again while the act of seeing again deepens faith. 

This seeing again is not limited to a physiological change of regaining one’s sight. It can be perceived in a spiritual sense that this type of seeing again is more of having a radically different view of themselves, others, the world, and God. It’s also a spiritual activity that simultaneously comes from and leads to spiritual awakening. It goes beyond a physical sense of seeing that one changes one’s perspective on self, others, things, the world, and God. It’s about seeing through and beyond, deeper into reality, having a “long loving look,” seeing again all as a whole without seeing. 

For example, we don’t just see people at a superficial level. Rather than making our biased judgment and assessment, we at least try to see them as they are, not as we are, and consider their upbringings and systems they have been influenced with. So, this second seeing is a radical shift from sight to insight. Another example would be a glass of water either half-full or half-empty. We can decide, depending on how we respond to it, whether one is a pessimist or an optimist. With a spiritually renewed perspective, that glass of water is neither half-empty nor half-full but is the source of gratitude for the glass and water that either I can drink or perhaps share with the thirsty. 

What about Pistis’ faith that has made him well? What faith is this? What does he believe in? This faith, as I understand it, is far from indoctrination or blind faith. It’s not about making a statement such as “I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior” when used for proselytization. This faith of Pistis sees, discerns, and seeks action. It has a specific aim. He throws off his cloak, springs up, and comes to Jesus. This act of throwing off his cloak and springing up to get to Jesus is the change of his heart that he’ll abandon his old way of life. There’s an element of self-surrender, self-forgetfulness that grows out of trust in God’s unconditional compassion and mercy. From the moment he throws off his cloak and springs up from where he has been begging, his old self dies. He’s no longer stuck in his fabricated self-image. He’s set free from it. 

One thing we should keep in mind is that Jesus is the condition and cause for Pistis’ faith and seeing again. Jesus becomes the last person to be seen in Pistis’ old way of seeing and the first person to see in his new way of seeing. Then he is on his way with Jesus. 

Friends in Christ, what then compels us to throw off our old cloak and spring up from our comfort zone, and what do we want to see again differently?

It is easy to suppose that few people realize on that occasion, which comes to all of us, when we look at the blue sky for the first time, that is to say: not merely see it, but look at it and experience it and for the first time have a sense that we live in the center of a physical poetry, a geography that would be intolerable except for the non-geography that exists there - few people realize that they are looking at the world of their own thoughts and the world of their own feelings. 
-   Wallace Stevens, The Necessary Angel