Master, I want to see

30 MAY (Mk 10,46-52)

The greatness of Jesus is infinitely more than that of Moses, more than that of all other prophets and righteous persons of the Old Testament. No man before him had opened his eyes to a blind man. In singing the justice of his conscience, Job simply says that he had been “an eye for the blind.” He did not say: “I have given sight to the blind.” This miracle was unknown.

I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame was I; I was a father to the needy; the rights of the stranger I studied, And I broke the jaws of the wicked man; from his teeth I forced the prey.(Job 29,15-17).

Tobias, who suffered from blindness was healed through the intervention of the Angel Raphael. It is the only event narrated in the Old Testament. The intervention is heavenly, not of the earth.

Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate. Tobiah went up to him with the fish gall in his hand, and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes. “Courage, father,” he said. Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart. Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit’s eyes, Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts. When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him and wept. He exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he said: “Blessed be God, and praised be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels. May his holy name be praised throughout all the ages, Because it was he who scourged me, and it is he who has had mercy on me. Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!” Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice. Tobiah told his father that his journey had been a success; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, who would arrive shortly, for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh.

Rejoicing and praising God, Tobit went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw him walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed. Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes. When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he greeted her: “Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed are your father and your mother. Blessed is my son Tobiah, and blessed are you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!” That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh. Ahiqar and his nephew Nadab also came to rejoice with Tobit. (Tb 11,10-19).

The Lord reserved the power to give sight to the blind as an exclusive gift for his Messiah. If at the time of Jesus had appeared other ten thousand men and all ten thousand had proclaimed themselves Messiah of the Lord, only one would have been the true Messiah: the one that would have opened the eyes to the blind. The others would have attested their falsity, because this power belongs only to the Servant of the Lord.

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. (Is 42,1-7).

After Jesus Christ, in the writings of the New Testament, it is not told the healing of any other blind. It is as if the uniqueness of Jesus were to be reminded to the world.

They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us the true light of the eyes.