They will approach with weeping. And I will lead them back with mercy. And I will lead them through the torrents of water, by an upright way, and they will not stumble in it. For I have become Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. (Jr 31:9)
בִּבְכִ֣י יָבֹ֗אוּ וּֽבְתַחֲנוּנִים֮ אֹֽובִילֵם֒ אֹֽולִיכֵם֙ אֶל־נַ֣חֲלֵי מַ֔יִם בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ יָשָׁ֔ר לֹ֥א יִכָּשְׁל֖וּ בָּ֑הּ כִּֽי־הָיִ֤יתִי לְיִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לְאָ֔ב וְאֶפְרַ֖יִם בְּכֹ֥רִי הֽוּא׃
in fletu venient et in precibus deducam eos et adducam eos per torrentes aquarum in via recta et non inpingent in ea quia factus sum Israheli pater et Ephraim primogenitus meus est.
ἐν κλαυθμῷ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἐν παρακλήσει ἀνάξω αὐτοὺς αὐλίζων ἐπὶ διώρυγας ὑδάτων ἐν ὁδῷ ὀρθῇ καὶ οὐ μὴ πλανηθῶσιν ἐν αὐτῇ ὅτι ἐγενόμην τῷ Ισραηλ εἰς πατέρα καὶ Εφραιμ πρωτότοκός μού ἐστιν.
The way (דֶּרֶךְ derek), this seemingly ordinary noun in Hebrew has a very wide range of meanings and applications: “journey”, “behaviour”, “way of conduct or life”, “custom”, and even “fate”. Also, “salvation history” can be described as “the way of salvation”.
In today’s first reading (Jr 31:7-9), דֶּרֶךְ (derek) indicates God’s leading of those taken into captivity, who return home full of joy. The joy of liberation is the experience of those who are wounded, sick, blind, and crippled, but are led to the “stream of water” like thirsty sheep by a shepherd and like children by a caring father.
In the Gospel passage (Mark 10:46b-52), however, the healing that the Lord Jesus performs, restoring sight to the blind man of Jericho, is a symbol of what every disciple of Jesus needs to follow Jesus on the way. There are many kinds of blindness, and each of them is a kind of disability that causes a person to sit on the margins of life like a blind man by the way, begging, instead of following Jesus, watching him walk resolutely to Jerusalem. There is, however, a way out, thanks to the simple words: Rabbi, let me see.
