Have Pity On Me

5:30 Homily

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”  There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by.  He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.  He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.  He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.  That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.

The boy recognized his footsteps and asked: “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”  I wrote: “Today is a beautiful day, and I cannot see it.” Both signs told the people you are blind. The first simply said you are blind. The second sign told people they are lucky that they are not blind. The second sign was much more effective because it told everyone: “Be thankful for what you have.” 

Yes, we must be thankful for what we have, such as our sight. However, many of us here today have some real vision impairment. Just look around and see how many of us are wearing glasses, or hidden contact lenses. Some of us may be almost blind and perhaps a cataract operation is needed. Losing one’s precious vision can be a serious consequence of diabetes, age, perhaps from an accident.  

Jesus speaks to you who are blind or nearly so, and he speaks to those of us who can see clearly, but who are really blind.  How so? We are blind to injustice.  Blind to lies and deceptions.  Blind to immorality and unethical behavior, especially from our leaders, and us when we hurt people through social media. Blind to what is against Church teachings. Blind to what we should do to keep each other safe.

Some, perhaps most of us are willing to turn a blind eye to what is clearly wrong and contrary to Jesus’ commandment such as loving our neighbor and loving God with all our hearts and minds. We may be blind to the consequences of ocean warming, sea level rise, and climate change caused by humanity. A recent World Health Organization report quotes health experts saying the impacts of warming globally may dwarf those of COVID-19. We need to open our eyes, and see.

Let’s listen to Jeremiah in our first reading. He planned to bring back to Israel all of God’s exiled and scattered people including those who were blind, by leading them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none would stumble. But for those of us who wear blinders we call prejudice, bias, stubbornness, hard-headedness, pig-headedness, and closemindedness, we just won’t see what is right and just and then act accordingly. We stumble; we fall. 

However, we walk upright and sure-of-foot when we follow Jesus along the bumpy roads he levels for us. Our blindfolds come off, and our eyes open. We no longer stumble.

There is another kind of blindness caused by darkness. Many of us feel we are sitting in the dark and crying out like Bartimaeus. We cry out: “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”

For some of us we might cry out: "I spend most of my time in a senior citizens apartment.  The children don’t call very often. I’m no longer able to work, no longer able to contribute.  I feel useless. I’m a blind beggar.”

“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me. Once I was considered important when I was raising the children, but they are on their own now.  Oh, I know they love me, but the fact is they are gone and they don’t call me or visit me that much. I’m a blind beggar.”

"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me. I go to work and the system is doing things I don’t like. I disagree with the dog-eat-dog attitude and the ruthless methods that are used, but I feel stuck and powerless. My opinions don’t seem to count. 

We can all think of examples where we are blind beggars asking Jesus to have pity on us.

It all boils down to the question Jesus asked Bartimaeus. Jesus asks us pity-seekers the same question: "What do you want me to do for you?" Do we really want to say, “Jesus, have pity on me.”

We all have problems, big and small, but self- pity won’t do us any good.  It’s perfectly fine to have pity – sorrow and compassion – for the suffering of others, but self-pity is a different animal all together.

For those of us wallowing in self-pity and are sitting in the dark, let’s get up and open the blinds. We need courage; we need to get up; and we need to go to Jesus, who reaches for us. He tells us to stop being blind beggars and asking to be pitied.

Here are some quotes about self-pity: “Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics. It is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.”

“Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self.”

“Self-pity is spiritual suicide. It is an indefensible self-mutilation of the soul.”

“It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are finished.”

I began with a story about a blind boy sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and the second sign telling people they were lucky that they were not blind. I end with this related last quote: “When we pity ourselves all we see is ourselves. When we have problems, all we see are our problems and that's all what we love of talking about. We don't see the good things in our lives.”

We need to see the good things in our lives, not ask for pity, and not wait for Jesus to ask us: “What do you want me to do for you?" In fact, it’s just opposite. We are the ones who should ask Jesus, “What can we do for you?!” Perhaps Jesus would answer: “Be thankful for what you have.”

Deacon David Pierce