“TOO MUCH FAITH DOES NOT SMELL WELL”

Uma reflexão a partir de Mc 10, 46-52

        Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was the scene of great biblical events; even in the time of Moses, was already been talked about it. Let us recall the “siege and taking of Jericho” by Israel in the time of Joshua (Joshua 6, 1-27). And who does not remember of Zacchaeus? His conversion happens in Jericho. This city is near of the Jordan River and Jesus passed by it many times. This text speaks about the Jesus’ meeting with the blind Bartimaeus, who was sitting beside the road out of the town. Surely he had already heard about Jesus and wanted so much an opportunity to meet him. What he did not know was that Jesus also wanted to meet him to assign him a new path, a new way of living. Well, the opportunity has arrived! The blind’s enthusiasm was so great that nothing and nobody can made him to stop of screaming for Jesus.

        The cry of the blind man is the cry of every human being conscious of his poverty and of the need of the divine mercy. He (the blind) is the symbol of the glaring exclusion of which many of our brothers and sisters (the poor) continue victims. It is an opportunity to realize that many people are fallen or were left along the way. They cry out for compassion and opportunity because they believe that those who call themselves religious and followers of Jesus can listen and empathize. Jesus not only heard the cry of the blind man, but also the screams of those who told the blind man to shut up. The answer of Jesus expresses a mixture of compassion and indignation, because he had to deal with two blindness: the blindness of Bartimaeus and the crowd that followed him without taking communion with the same feelings he had in his heart. However, among those who tell the blind to be quiet, there are some lost voices that represent those that, in our society, are true prophets and prophetesses of hope, able to motivate the desperate. With the life and testimony, they continue saying to those who suffer, “recover the cheer up; stand up, the Lord has not forgotten you, he calls you as well as he called us and he will not allow that your suffering endure for long.”

      The Jesus whom we follow is very human. He has the eyes and the ears very attentive to what is happening with the people. He calls us to have this same sensitivity. Often we are like the blind man: we desirous of a transformer encounter, but we stay on the edge, on the surface, without depth. We are also like the others around Jesus, but closed to what is happening around and still find ourselves with authority to tell others to shut up. We are before a big mistake. One must be wary of "certain experiences" that open us to God and close to others. If my piety does not lead me to meet other, it is alienating and misguided. In this case, “too much faith does not smell well.”

Pe. Degaaxé

Revision: Brother Cipriano