30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 31:7-9, Hebrews 5:1-6, Mark 10:46-52

 

Dear sisters and brothers,

 

Shout with joy today because the Lord has delivered His people! Every day we can shout and sing with joy because we are delivered and made free. Many of us do not experience that freedom very deeply or we do not believe in it. Today’s readings want us to meditate on that freedom and try to understand it more profoundly. We are invited to experience that freedom in our daily lives and in the way that we make our choices. We have been freed by Christ and invited to live in that freedom.

The Prophet Jeremiah, in our first reading, reflect on the captivity. The remnant of Israel, taken into captivity, is now freed to return to the promised land and begin to live there once again. For us today, there is a need to recognize that often we are taken into captivity by the values of our present world. So much of what we believe is dictated by the culture. We accept so easily the values of pleasure, power, wealth, sexuality and seeking only what I want and what makes me happy for the moment. These are the values of the world. They are not entirely bad and that is why they seduce us. We hear at times people saying: “Surely God would not want you to suffer!” or “What kind of a God would want you not to have the things that bring you happiness?”

What we forget is that this present world will pass away. The choices that we make in this world are not only for now, but for the world to come. When we begin to recognize that our Lord invites us to live in awareness of another world, another set of values, another reality that is present even now but not yet fully present. Today so many of us simply forget about the “life in the world to come.”

Today we continue to read from Mark’s Gospel. In this Gospel, we find evidence of Jesus’ fame in the sizable crowd that accompanies him as he journeys to Jerusalem. Jesus’ reputation as a healer has preceded him. When the blind man, Bartimaeus, hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, he calls out to him, asking for his pity.

When Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus, the crowd around him tries to silence him. Yet Bartimaeus persists, calling out more loudly and with greater urgency. He will not be silenced or deterred from getting Jesus’ attention. We notice how quickly the crowd’s reaction changes when Jesus calls for Bartimaeus. Those who sought to quiet him now encourage him.

When Jesus restores Bartimaeus’s sight, no elaborate action is required. (In other healing stories in Mark’s Gospel, actions accompany Jesus’ words). In this instance, Jesus simply says that Bartimaeus’s faith has saved him. Throughout Mark’s Gospel, the success of Jesus’ healing power has often been correlated with the faith of the person requesting Jesus’ help. For example, it is because of her faith that the woman with the hemorrhage is healed. When faith is absent, Jesus is unable to heal; we see this after his rejection in Nazareth.

Once his sight has been restored, Bartimaeus follows Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. In Mark’s Gospel, Bartimaeus is the last disciple called by Jesus before he enters Jerusalem. Bartimaeus hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, but he calls out to Jesus using words of faith— “Son of David.” Many in Jesus’ time believed that the anticipated Jewish Messiah would be a descendent of King David. Bartimaeus’s words prepare us for the final episodes of Mark’s Gospel, which begin with Jesus’ preparation for the Passover and his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. As Mark has shown us in our readings over the past few Sundays, however, Jesus will be the Messiah in a way that will be difficult for many to accept. Jesus will show himself to be the Messiah through his suffering and death.

Peace and all good!

Fr. Valery Burusu

Parochial Administrator