Reading Luke 18:35–43 Ecologically: Part  Eight

Luke 18:35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him: “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 Then he shouted: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him: 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said: “Lord, let me see again.” 42 Jesus said to him: “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” 43 Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

Habitat, Human and Holy is the title I gave to my new book in which I undertook an eco-rhetorical reading of the Gospel of Matthew. The three aspects — habitat, human and holy — are intimately intertwined in the fabric of living and being as are the “cry of the earth” and the “cry of the poor” to which Laudato Si’ draws our attention. There is a shift in human consciousness, or what we might call a growing ecological awareness emerging amongst us. It is enabling us to read our gospel story anew. This new reading in its turn, deepens our ecological awareness. Our monthly readings are drawing us into this spiralling process.

In the opening verse of the narrative of the blind beggar of Jericho (Luke 18:35–43), the reader will notice interconnectedness networked into the story. In the four previous verses, Jesus had reminded his disciples that they were “going up to Jerusalem” with him where he would face suffering and death (Lk 18:31–34). However life would prevail. Death and life, always profoundly intertwined for all earth creatures, are explicitly spoken of about Jesus. In the opening words of Lk 18:35 Jesus is said to be approaching Jericho en route to Jerusalem.

Oasis of Jericho

Jericho is a built-up environment, reminding readers of the places and spaces where we live and where the interconnections between habitat, human and holy are enacted in our lives.

For first-century readers, reference to Jericho would have evoked the oasis, with its abundance of water and mild climate. Together with its proximity to Jerusalem, these aspects made it a favoured wintering place for wealthy Jerusalemites. Not surprisingly, Jericho did not escape the notice of Herod who built his winter palace complexes there — a hippodrome, gymnasium and theatre. Those travelling the road to Jerusalem, like Jesus and the disciples in this story, would have been confronted by these Herodian symbols of power and wealth.

Lost Sight Isolates

Both the built and natural environments are in tension in the first-century Jericho. This tension is evoked in the Lucan story of a blind man sitting by the roadside begging. Initially the reader encounters a man “sitting by the roadside” — sitting on the ground at the edge of the road. He is out of place, as the road is a medium of travel for the movement of crowds.

The man’s blindness alerts readers to the physical sense of sight that he has lost. He is not able to engage visually with any of the material and tangible elements around him: the road itself, perhaps the palace, a glimpse of the oasis and presumably the crowd. His plight reminds readers that the senses are the medium through which material beings — members of the human and animal communities — process their relationships with all else that is material.

The man’s begging at the roadside alerts readers to the social aspects of his blindness. It is impossible for him to earn a living in his own right. It seems that his family and friends are unable to support him and that he must rely on the generosity of others. So the failure of his sense of sight renders him extremely vulnerable, physically and socially.

It is a second sense, that of hearing, that alerts the man to the “crowd going by”. His sensing that something is happening invites readers to be attentive to what our senses can tell us about our habitat and the human and holy that are inseparable from it.

Hearing Prompts Cry for Healing

The blind man receives/hears the words of the crowd: “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by”. These words trigger a strong reaction from him. He shouts out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” What is it that might constitute this encounter and response? Does the blind man sense in the name, Jesus of Nazareth, that the holy is present and that this holiness can function interactively with habitat and the human to bring about change, healing and restoration?

The man’s cry to Jesus as “son of David” is not one commonly used in healing narratives in Luke’s gospel as it is in Matthew’s gospel. The blind beggar’s cry is the only time “son of David” is used as a cry for healing in Luke’s gospel. Similarly the plea to “have mercy” is used only one other time — by the lepers (Lk 17:13). Both are repeated as cries. They rise up from the depths of the brokenness in the material body of the man and from the marred socio-cultural and material relationships in which he is embedded. Each cries out for healing and restoration.

Some in the human community seek to block this restoration — the restoring of right relationships. They want to silence the man’s voice, ordering him to be quiet. But he cannot be silenced and shouts out even more loudly.

Jesus, on the other hand, asks what it is that the man seeks. The man responds that it is the restoration of his sight: “Let me see again” (Lk 18:41).

Restoration Heals Relationships

The man’s restoration is material and corporeal, taking place in his body. It catches up elements of habitat, human and holy. The man’s sight is restored and re-establishes right relationships in his human body. It is the man’s recognition of the power of the holy in his restoration, named in the gospel narrative as “faith”, that brings this about.

His “faith” is expressed in the story’s conclusion. Habitat, human and holy come together. There has been a change in the man’s body as he regains his sight. And so his habitat is able to change. He is no longer confined to the edge of the road but is able to “follow” Jesus — a gospel term that designates discipleship. The holy is revealed through the healed man’s response that ripples out and includes that much wider group called “the people”.

Published in Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 208, Sept 2016.