Friends,
today in the Gospel passage we see Jesus’ mercy toward the blind man as
a hallmark of his ministry. Jesus comes as healer, savior, inaugurator
of the kingdom. He is the embodiment of hope. Jesus wanted to connect
human suffering to the very source of life and health. The energy of God
pours through him to the
needy.
Now,
I realize a question may be forming in your mind: "Well, why doesn’t he
simply cure everyone, then?" The answer is obviously wrapped up in the
mystery of God’s will, but the important point is this: Jesus is healer
in many senses, but ultimately in the sense that he heals us from sin
and death, not only physical maladies. What appears historically in
Jesus is an eschatological anticipation, a hint and foreshadowing of
what is coming in God’s time and in his everlasting kingdom.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 149
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.
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.
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