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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 25, 2009
Reading 1
Jer 31:7-9
Thus says the LORD: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at
the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say:
The LORD has delivered his people, the remnant of
Israel. Behold, I will bring them back from the land of
the north; I will gather them from the ends of the
world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the
mothers and those with child; they shall return as an
immense throng. They departed in tears, but I will
console them and guide them; I will lead them to brooks
of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble.
For I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my first-born.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
R. (3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are
filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are
filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are
filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are
filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are
filled with joy.
Reading II
Heb 5:1-6
Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from
among men and made their representative before God, to
offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal
patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself
is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make
sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No
one takes this honor upon himself but only when called
by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, it was not
Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him: You are my son:
this day I have begotten you; just as he says in
another place: You are a priest forever according to
the order of Melchizedek.
Gospel
Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a
sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of
Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it
was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked
him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out
all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus
stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind
man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, Jesus is
calling you." He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and
came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you
want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him,
"Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way;
your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his
sight and followed him on the way.
HOMILY:
Once, there was a General who wanted to cross a river.
He was unsure of the depth of the river, and whether his
horse could make it across the river. He looked around
for help and saw a little boy nearby. He asked the boy
for advice. The boy looked at the size of the General’s
horse and paused for a moment. He then confidently told
the General that it is safe for the General and his
horse to cross the river. The General proceeded to cross
the river on his horse. As he approached the middle of
the river, he suddenly realized that the river was, in
fact, very deep, and he almost drowned. After he
recovered from his shock he shouted at the boy and
threatened to punish him. The boy was stunned and
innocently replied, “But General, I see my ducks
crossing the river everyday without any problem, and my
ducks have shorter legs than your horse”.
If you need advice, get it from people who know what
they are talking about. Napoleon Hill says that,
“opinion is the cheapest commodity on earth”. Make sure
you review for yourself the opinion of others before you
act on them.
"It is not the straining for great things that is most
effective; it is the doing of the little things, the
common duties, a little better and better."
Jericho is on the way to Jerusalem for Jesus, but
apparently nothing of interest happened while he was
there. Upon leaving, however, Jesus encountered another
blind man who had faith that he would be able to cure
his blindness. This isn’t the first time Jesus cured a
blind man and it’s unlikely that this incident was meant
to be read any more literally than previous ones.
wonder
why, at the beginning, people tried to stop the blind
man from calling out to Jesus.
I’m sure that he must have had quite a reputation as a
healer by this point — enough of one that the blind man
himself was obviously well aware of who he was and what
he might be able to do. If that is the case, then why
would people try to stop him? Could it have anything to
do with him being in Judea — is it possible that the
people here are not happy about Jesus? Were the people
thought they were wiser than the blind man? Of course we
would like to advise, pretend to know many things, but
we need to know who knows. The blind man knew, but not
the others. Others just blindly followed Jesus, but the
blind man in spite of not seeing Jesus with his eyes,
was already full of Jesus and knew that he can heal him.
It should be noted that this is one of the few times so
far that Jesus has been identified with Nazareth. In
fact, the only other two times so far came during the
first chapter. In verse nine we can read “ Jesus came
from Nazareth of Galilee” and then later when Jesus is
casting out unclean spirits in Capernaum, one of the
spirits identifies him as “thou Jesus of Nazareth.” This
blind man, then, is only the second to ever identify
Jesus as such — and he’s not exactly in good company.
This is also the
first time that Jesus is identified as a “son of David.”
It was foretold that the Messiah would come from the
House of David, but so far Jesus’ lineage has not been
mentioned at all (Mark is the gospel without any
information about Jesus’ family and birth). It seems
reasonable to conclude that Mark had to introduce that
bit of information at some point and this is as good as
any. The reference may also harken back to David
returning to Jerusalem to claim his kingdom as described
in 2 Samuel 19-20.
Isn’t it odd that Jesus asks him what he wants? Even if
Jesus weren’t God (and, therefore, omniscient), but
simply a miracle worker wandering around curing people’s
ailments, it has to be obvious to him what a blind man
rushing up to him might want. Isn’t it rather demeaning
to force the man to say it? Does he just want people in
the crowd to hear what is said? It’s worth noting here
that while Luke agrees that there was a single blind man
(Luke 18:35), Matthew recorded the presence of two blind
men (Matthew 20:30).
I think it’s important to understand that it probably
wasn’t meant to be read literally in the first place.
Making the blind see again appears to be a way of
talking about
getting Israel to “see” again in a spiritual sense.
Jesus is coming to “awaken” Israel and cure them of
their inability to properly see what God wants of them.
The blind man’s faith in Jesus is what allowed him to be
healed.
Similarly, Israel will be healed so long as they have
faith in Jesus and God.
Unfortunately, it is also a consistent theme in Mark and
the other gospels that the Jews lack faith in Jesus —
and that lack of faith is what prevents them from
understanding who Jesus really is and what he has come
to do.
I
guess I am not much different from those folks. I really
thought I was. They were so insensitive to this blind
person. Those out front even had the boldness to hush
that man into silence. The more I read this story
though, the less and less I found myself to be
different.
I
would have been paying attention of my joys with Jesus
rather than caring for the needs of someone on the
outside. I personally wouldn't have been one of those
people out front telling this blind beggar to be quiet,
but I would be thinking how I could keep as close to
Jesus as possible. After all, I, like these other people
have been greatly blessed by Jesus. My life has been
transformed. There is no doubt about it. Jesus Christ
has been good to me. It can't be wrong to want to be
close to Jesus.
Healing stories in the Gospels never seem to be simply a
reversal of physical misfortune. A paralyzed man stands
and walks. A man stretches out a withered hand to Jesus
and sees it become useful again. A girl who was
pronounced dead awakens. Particular suspicious are the
stories of those who "once were blind, but now they
see." The connections between seeing and believing are
so strong in the Gospel accounts that these miracles
worked through Jesus almost always seem more about
growing in faith than taking off dark glasses. Though
Bartimaeus was blind to many things, he clearly saw who
Jesus was.
Seeing
"who Jesus is"
is the goal of faith, and it leads to discipleship. Only
the unblind can see where to follow. Indeed, at the end
of the story we’re told that this is exactly what
happened. Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed
Jesus on the way. Given that the very next verse in
Mark narrates the entry into Jerusalem, the way
Bartimaeus followed was the way to the cross.
Physical sight is not required for
discipleship, but restoration is.
Again and again in history, prophesy and gospel, God
works through miracle, through political forces, through
social action and through ordinary living to pick us up
from where we have fallen and redirect us along right
pathways. Blind Bartimaeus calls from the gutter until
the Lord hears him. Then he returns to the Lord and is
restored. I picture him, the last recruit in
the discipleship army, marching toward Jerusalem with
palm branch in hand.
Those
who return to the Lord are restored, the Bible
instructs. But how do we come to the point of return?
Sometimes we make it sound easy and quick. I’m
fairly skeptical of the 180 degree, overnight kind of
return. Some changes are no doubt fast and immediate,
but the changes that endure unto the generations are the
result of a process of human or divine origin. Our
returning to the Lord for restoration is a process which
may be described in many ways.
Decades later, we know that "troublemakers" become
martyrs and a heroes, whose birthday is a national
holiday. We continue to be amazed at our
collective blindness to the effects of jealousy,
partisan spirit, dirty politics. Well, when people try
to malign you, ill treat you, sideline you, you are like
that blind man. But you never give up.
These
are the rhythms of reformation. The troublemakers become
heroes. The radical new ways eventually become beloved
traditions. We are always moving from blindness to
sightedness, from unfaithfulness to faithfulness. On
days such as this, I am less interested in how
the Catholic Church was reformed. Reformations teach us
that we continue to need reform.
What
corners of the church, of society need serious
reformation in this 21st century?
Where are our blind spots? Will a reformer arise among
us? Should one arise, what will we do to him or her?
What do we allow to go unchallenged today that will one
day cause our grandchildren to shake their heads at how
blind we were to the gospel?
We
disciples of Jesus have vision problems. We sometimes
describe our blindness as an inability to see the forest
for the trees, but that’s a compassionate analysis. More
worrisome is the inherited blindness of each generation,
which so often assumes as if it is the best
generation of all, with no lessons left to learn, only
an inheritance to enjoy. This arrogance is the root of
our blindness. We still need the miracle of restored
sight. We advise others through our blindness, and we
lead them astray as the boy did to the General on the
horse.
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