October 25^th 2015.  Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Mark 10:46-52­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man. ‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road.
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel a blind man calls out to Jesus insistently. Why does he do so? Because he could once see and he wants his sight to be restored. Each one of us, like the blind man, has a deep memory of the light, the light that is the goodness and beauty of God. We all have a desire to follow that light, but the desire is stifled by the inner voices and the voices from our culture that say, “Hope is futile! Life is futile and transitory!” The cry of the blind man is a true model for prayer. We must delve deep within us for the kernel of goodness and beauty that the Lord has sown in us and yearn for the full realisation of that light. This kernel can become the true source and energy for our prayer. The blind man throws away his cloak and rushes to Jesus. In Jewish culture, the cloak was a symbol of a person’s identity. We too must shed our old self-referential identities and follow Jesus. In profound prayer we can cast off the old cloak and discover our authentic, beautiful selves. Jesus is our saviour, the light of the world. We all have a deep-seated desire to be fully illuminated by this light. With the blind man, let each of us cry out to the Lord, “Jesus, son of David, let me see again!”

A journey must be made from perdition to salvation, and this is represented by Jesus’ journey from notorious Jericho to the holy city of Jerusalem.

The first reading from  Jeremiah speaks of the joyous return of the Jews from exile. The seventy years in exile represent the most tragic period in the history of Israel, the complete loss of their inheritance as a result of their infidelity to the Lord. “I will bring them back from the land of the North and gather them from the far ends of earth; all of them: the blind and the lame, women with child, women in labour.” Why are these four categories of people mentioned? Because all of them have difficulty in walking for one reason or another. It is an act of the Lord that enables them to return to the Promised Land. He is the one who can enable these people to accomplish the journey. In the Gospel, Jesus is on his journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. Jericho was the notorious city, the first place conquered by Joshua when the Jews entered the Promised Land. It represented the first obstacle to the Jewish people entering their inheritance, and when it was destroyed it was never to have been rebuilt. But Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem from here, and it becomes a marvellous journey from perdition to salvation, from darkness to light.

Why does Bartimaeus cry out so insistently? Because he knows that the light exists. This is a model for prayer. We have a deep memory that light exists and this must become the source and energy for our prayer.

But there is a man who cannot follow Jesus on the journey. Bartimaeus is blind and dependent on others, unable to move. However he does manage to do something. He hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. The hearing of a blind man is not ordinary, but hearing of an amplified kind. He can analyse and do much more than people with vision with the things that he hears. He makes a connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the promised one of Israel, the Saviour.  As we shall see at the end of the story, he has the desire to see again. This implies that he once had sight and longs for its restoration. It is the memory of light that gives this man his drive. He begins to shout and call out. The onlookers try to silence him, but he only cries the louder. Why does this man insist so much? Why is he such a model for prayer? The Eastern Church makes the supplication of Bartimaeus a paradigm of prayer. “Jesus son of David, have pity on me!” The title “son of David” is equivalent to the title “Messiah” because this son was to be the anointed one who would take up the kingship of Israel. Bartimaeus cries out continually from the heart and with insistence because he has an inner conviction that the light exists, the light of the Christ that will come to save the world.

Within each of us there is a seed sown by the Lord, a memory and a conviction that light and goodness exist. We must fan this memory into a flame that impels us to call out to the Lord and throw ourselves before him as Bartimaeus did

We too gain the capacity and energy to pray from a memory that has been sown in us by Providence, a memory of happiness and love, peace and reconciliation. In our hearts there is an inheritance, a capital of good written within us. We could not implore the Lord for Salvation if we did not already have some notion of what it consists in. In order to pray we must delve within us to discover this light. Our capacity to pray does not come from pain and suffering but from the memory of joy, from the luminous reality that exists at the essence of our being. From the fact of this deep knowledge that joy and happiness exist, that a beautiful relationship can prevail between God and us, we attain the capacity to pray. Bartimaeus insists because he knows that what he is searching for exists. Pope Francis continually exhorts us not to lose our hope. At the heart of every human being there is a kernel of hope. If we do not listen to that hope, then we cannot find have authentic meaning or purpose. The third lamentation of the prophet Jeremiah states that we cannot manage without the hope that comes from the Lord, if we do not bring to mind his light.

The blind man throws away his cloak and goes to Jesus. Jesus then fulfils his desire to see again. We too must throw away the cloak of our former self-referential identity. By calling out to Jesus and immersing ourselves in profound prayer, we can shed our old identities and discover our true and authentic selves.

Bartimaeus cries out insistently until Jesus stops and calls to him. The blind man throws away his cloak and springs to his feet. He is blind but already he begins to move! He has heard the Lord and his hearing has been confirmed by Jesus’ response to him. Throwing away his cloak is a sign that he has renounced his former identity to some extent. The cloak was an inalienable possession in the Jewish Law. No one had the right to take it from another. Bartimaeus leaves his cloak, leaves his former existence. We too, when we pray, are battling against forces within and without that resist change, voices that say “Hope does not exist, light does not exist, prayer is futile!” Prayer liberates us from these entrenchments and leads us into freedom. Jesus says to the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” There can be no doubt that Jesus is attentive to our desires. He himself has sown these deep desires within us and wishes us to give them voice, as Bartimaeus did when he asked for his vision to be restored. This Sunday the Gospel makes a bountiful promise to the blind, the lame, the woman in labour, whoever is in difficulty of any kind. Each of us is invited to combat against the resistance to walk with Jesus, resistance that springs from within us or from outside in the culture. We are invited to throw away the cloak of our former identity. Whenever prayer becomes profound, it has the capacity to change our identity and to bring us to our true and authentic selves. Our old cloak is the cloak of the blind man; the new cloak is that of the disciple. In the Gospel Bartimaeus uses his new-found vision to no longer lose sight of Jesus. He has found his Lord and begins to follow him along the road.