Jesus says to the blind man: “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” (Mk 10:46-52)
So today our gospel is about faith. Or is it?
Certainly the blind man has faith, he clearly believes that Jesus can help him. But his faith isn’t new, it didn’t suddenly start when Jesus showed up. Why did he have to wait for Jesus to come along for his faith to save him? And what about all the blind beggars that Jesus didn’t meet? Don’t any of them have faith, don’t any of them get the chance to call out and ask Jesus for help, for sight?
And why is this gospel reading paired with a passage from Jeremiah foretelling that the Lord will deliver his people (Jer 31:7-9). He is going to free them from their captivity in Babylon and they will return to Jerusalem. At least some of them will. There is only a “remnant of Israel” left. Many of the Israelites died in Babylon, in captivity.
We are not given a simple recipe – have faith and you will get what you want. We know this isn’t true, but somehow it’s still what we want to believe.
What ties these stories together isn’t faith but hope. Yes the blind man had faith. But he also had hope. What Jeremiah is telling the Israelites is that they should have hope. What kept the blind man going over the years that he sat by the roadside begging was hope. His faith gave him hope, and his hope fed off his faith, but what kept him going through those years until Jesus happened to come by was hope. What kept the Israelites going through the years in Babylon was hope.
So it is for us. Faith isn’t like a key that we put in a lock, open the door, and get what we want. Faith is a foundation, faith is a well, out of which comes hope. A hope that we can be what we want to be, a hope that Jesus will come by, that we will get to talk to him, despite the interference of those who think they need to protect him and keep him away from nuisances like us. And when we get to talk to him he will recognize the faith that we have held to through all the hard times, and in that recognition he will affirm that we are saved – that we are one with him and the Father.