I am aware that as I step down as Catholic bishop of the diocese of Rarotonga, I have to be ready to lay aside many of the privileges that have come my way as head of a church, writes Bishop Paul Donoghue of the Catholic Church.

As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:46 – 52).

This scripture text that I found myself preaching on during the week confronted me to ask a few questions about myself and my relationship with Christ. The question ‘Am I too blind?’ first had to be dealt with. And secondly, ‘When do I find myself acting like a blind person?’.

The text quoted is the second of two cures of blind men in Mark’s gospel. Opening the eyes of the blind was prophesied as one of the works of the Messiah: “The eyes of the blind will see” (Isaiah 29:18; see also 32:3).  Following the rule     given when testing an interpretation of scripture text is that the meaning I am applying to a particular text will be the right one if it is repeated in the text following. In this case I need to find my interpretation in Mark 11:1 - 11, which is the following text. Interesting in this text is that Jesus is being proclaimed by the crowds as Messiah. In other word the crowd saw who he was.

Jesus, his apostles together with Bartimaeus are approaching Jerusalem (15 miles away), where the story will reach its climax with his death and resurrection. In Jerusalem all eyes will be fixed on him, most of them still blind to who he is and what he is; or worse, they will be watching him with malevolent intent. In the meantime, Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, having received his sight, followed Jesus to Jerusalem. This gospel passage is a meditation on the different kinds of blindness.

Imagine what it would be like to be blind

A blind beggar’smisery is compounded. It is worse than the sum of miseries of a blind person and of a beggar. The blind person is totally at our mercy, stretching out his hand into the darkness, unable to gauge our mood, not knowing if we even see him.

Every believer is that person, most of the time. Faith is dark knowledge. Often we lift up our hands in prayer, and we feel no presence of the other; we hear neither a promise nor a refusal. That is the time to remember Bartimaeus. He is placed here in the gospel story as an encouragement for us. Let’s watch him. When he heard that Jesus was passing by, he began to shout, “Have pity on me!” People told him to shut up, he was making too much noise. But he shouted all the more. “Call him,” Jesus said ... “Cheer up!” they told him. “On your feet, he’s calling you.” Then, the account continues, “throwing aside his cloak, he jumped to his feet and cameto Jesus.” He came, of course, still in the dark. Did you notice that he threw aside his cloak? It was a strange thing for a blind person to do: would he find it again? Blind people have great trouble finding things. They need the world to stay put. See how carefully they place things, caressing them almost. But sighted people are forever throwing things around. In throwing his cloak aside Bartimaeus acted like a sighted man. While all the sighted people held their cloaks and their possessions around them with careful fingers, he alone leaped up, threw aside his cloak and ran to meet the Lord.

Am I blind?

It was the Pharisees who are being challenged in this gospel. These were the people who had seen the many miracles Jesus had worked such as healing a leper; healing people who were paralysed or individuals who had been sick for 38 years and no one could cure them except Christ. And still they were not able to see that Jesus had been sent by his Father as the Messiah. They were afraid if they accepted what they were witnessing in the miracles Jesus performed that they would lose their privileged positions. That they would no longer be powerful men in the Jewish system. It was impossible for them to envisage an end to the Law of Moses being replaced by the Beatitudes of Jesus.

I ask myself “Am I blind to God working in the lives of the people I minister to each day? Am I blind to God’s action in the issues of today?” Last Sunday, 14 children received their First Holy Communion at our church, and I felt privileged to enable them to experience God in the Eucharist as the Bread of Life.  The fine clothes; and the number of eis each child received was all secondary to the child welcoming Christ into his or her life.

In his time, Jesus’ own apostles who had witnessed the feeding of the 5000 people with five loaves and two fish, and were privileged to live with him every day, seemed too blind to see that what he was establishing was the kingdom of God. Most of them envisaged that Jesus’ Kingdom would be overpowering the Romans and that Christ would be the new king rewarding his closest followers with the choice of places in the kingdom.

How wrong they were in that all their dreams were shattered when Jesus was nailed to a cross on Calvary.

I am aware that as I step down as Catholic bishop of the diocese of Rarotonga, I have to be ready to lay aside many of the privileges that have come my way as head of a church. I share with you how I saw this when I wrote to Pope Francis when I turned 75 in January this year.

I wrote to him saying, “On June 29^th I will have been a priest for 49 years. For 49 years the focus has been on saving others. That has been my ministry. Pope Francis, I ask that you accept my request to retire as the next stage in my life is to have time to save myself.” I ask for your prayers that I will not be blind to my own request. Like Bartimaeus, I ask Jesus to open my eyes to see and to know the Jesus necessary for someone who has turned 75.

-          This is my last Church Talk article. On the 30^th of June, I will be installing the Coadjutor Bishop, Reynaldo Getalado as the Bishop of the Diocese of Rarotonga. From that moment I will be known as the emeritus (retired) Bishop of Rarotonga. Writing every six weeks for thirteen years has been challenging to come up with an article that is original and relevant to you the readers. One was never sure whether what you wrote was read or not. It was reassuring to be greeted in the street by a stranger who would pass a comment about some point I had made in an article. Meitaki maata to you all. Bishop Paul Donoghue.