Of all the human senses, sight is the one most of us take for granted. From the moment we open our eyes in the morning, we expect to see the world. And of all the human senses, taste is the one we savor, the one where we become keenly aware of the blandness, the tartness, the spiciness, the sweetness of the world.
Consider now how we encounter God through an awareness of what it means to taste and see the wonder in the world.
They came to Jericho. As he 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!”
Mark 10:46-48
A loss of sight today is a disability — but one society accepts as only one part of a whole person. Imagine you live in Jesus’ time, and the blind are often outcasts, left to fend for themselves. Word has traveled that Jesus has the extraordinary power to heal. Whether driven by faith or desperation, Bartimaeus finds a place in the crowd where he hopes to gain the attention of a man he can’t see, whose presence he can only feel.
The crowd’s reaction is predictable. They have come to see the spectacle but lack the vision to see Jesus as he is — a man who extends compassion to the forgotten and overlooked. But Bartimaeus has no intention of disappearing as he is told — an amazing act of faith in the face of an unfeeling crowd. We can learn from Bartimaeus to reach out in faith even when we can’t see God in the world.
Estelene Boratenski
Dear God, have mercy on me when I cry out in suffering. Give me compassion when I see someone else in need. Amen.
Go now to taste and see
The presence of God and
The goodness of God.
Free all your senses to feel
The grace and mercy that is
Everywhere God abides.