Become a bearer of others to Jesus

February 16, Wednesday, 6th  Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Readings: James 1:19-27 & Mark 8:22-26

The healing narratives follow pretty simple and yet unique dynamics. The Gospel story narrates Jesus' arrival at Bethsaida, where he is asked to heal a blind man. Jesus escorted the blind man from the village, followed by Jesus first spitting in the man's eye before lowering his hand. Jesus then asked the man, "Have you seen anything?" Thus, Jesus placed his hand on the man's eyes a second time, and the blind man was restored to normal vision. Finally, Jesus told him to go straight to his house and told him not to go back to the village.

One of the interesting points to note in this account is that the blind man did not make his way to Jesus by himself or of his own volition. He was brought by people who begged Jesus to touch him. No matter their motive, they had confidence that Jesus would be able to do great work for this man.

In this passage, Jesus employed ritual techniques in healing the blind man to emphasize that we cannot compel God, the owner of life, to do what we want. Our capacity for prayer is limited to pleading and pleading from the heart. We have no right or authority to continue it by compelling God to fulfill our request immediately but surrender.

Like the blind man, there will be moments in our lives when we find ourselves spiritually hurting or in need of healing. We may lack the faith to believe that Jesus can do anything for us. What can we learn from the healed blind man in the Gospel?

Following the Gospel passage, our call is to become a bearer of others to Jesus. Like the blind man, we often need the help of those around us to carry us to the Savior through prayer and faith.

Our faith is not always strong enough to get us to Christ on our own, but through the encouragement and faithful pursuit of others, we can find ourselves at the feet of Christ, ready to receive his healing touch.