October 28, 2012

Bulletin October 28, 2012 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52
“What do you want Me to do for you?” What a wonderful question from Jesus. I believe that it is the one of the key passages that has been a part of my spiritual development and is just as important for each person trying to get closer to the Lord; let me explain.
The scene says so much about Jesus and what it means to be His follower. In Mark 8, Jesus predicts for the first time His passion and death; He repeats this prediction in Mark 9 and a few verses before today’s passage from the 10^th chapter. In each of these Jesus tries to explain His mission but without success. The disciples just wouldn’t listen; they wanted Jesus…the Messiah…to be what they wanted Him to be. They are in opposition to the blind Bartimaeus who wants to see; who wants to know. Also earlier in the 10^th chapter, Mark tells of the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked, “Good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus told him to keep the commandments; the young man said that he keeps the commandments but he knew there was more, he just wanted to get closer to God and His love. Jesus told Him that there is one thing lacking if he wants this closeness: ‘Give up your riches; these are too important to you, give them up and you will be able to see God and His love and His calling you closer to Him.’ The man was sad and left because as Mark says, “…he had many possessions.”
So Jesus is asking me, ‘What do you have that is blinding you from Me?’ What is more important to me than striving to live so that I can be in heaven for all eternity?
Mark does not say anything about Bartimaeus outside of his being a blind beggar, and the son of Timaeus. Jesus came along and Bartimaeus ‘cried out’; you would think that the apostles would be sensitive to his needs, but they were insensitive and Mark, writes that they “rebuked him, telling him to be silent.” But Bartimaeus wisely and courageously “kept calling out the more.” Every day the Lord asks the same question of me, ‘What do you want me to do for you’; my response really has to be to cry out that I want to be healed, to be loved, to be helped, to feel God’s intimacy. I can’t understand why the crowd didn’t want Bartimaeus to get to Jesus. It doesn’t matter really because what is wonderfully shocking is that not only does Jesus hear the blind man calling out but He stops and wants to talk to him. Jesus wants this encounter with me and each person every day.
Then the man “threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.” This may not seem like much, but being a beggar, I’m sure this was the only cloak he had to protect him from the elements and he threw it aside. He would also store the coins that he received from his begging in the pockets or folds. So throwing this aside, risking the change that someone would grab it and run, he really gave up possibly everything to respond to Jesus’ invitation. And Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” I look at my own blindness: in my busyness, do I become blind to the people who mean the most to me and to the pursuits that bring joy and meaning to my life? In the craziness of my life do I stop seeing the possibilities for doing good and affirming others? Jesus is always present and comes to restore ‘my sight’ enabling me to realize His presence and to make me aware of the opportunities to be Him. Bartimaeus said, “Master, I want to see.” Don’t I want to see God’s compassion and forgiveness, His mercy and justice in my life and the lives of those around me? To do this I have to stop, throw off the ‘comfort zone’ I am in and disregard the ‘precious things’ I have and be willing to follow and trust Jesus. Do I trust that the Lord is leading me the way I should be going? What do I have to do to throw off whatever shackles me and come to Him?

Fr. John Dear wrote a beautiful book, The Questions of Jesus. He says about today’s passage, “The blind beggar shows us our proper disposition before Christ and His question. We too are poor, blind beggars. We too need to come before God in our brokenness, helplessness, blindness, and poverty. We too need to call out to Christ to take pity on us. If we dare renounce our egos and selfishness and beg for God’s help, we too will hear God ask, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

The question is beautiful because it not only shows God’s desire to help us, but it reveals the very nature of God. In Jesus, we have a God who is humble, loving and generous, a God who longs to serve humanity, especially in its brokenness, poverty and blindness. Jesus came ‘not to be served but to serve.’ With this question, we see once more how serious He is.

Like all the questions of Jesus, this one requires reflection, not a hasty response. Do we want to sit beside God in heaven in powerful domination over others, like the selfish male disciples did? Do we want eternal life as if it is our rightful inheritance, as if we deserve it, as if we are the great, worthy elite? Or do we recognize our poverty, brokenness, helplessness, and blindness—our need for God, our need for vision—and want simply to see again, to see God face-to-face?

If we come before God as the broken beggars we are, we can trust that Christ will restore our vision, and, like Bartimaeus, we will see God.”
So I reflect on…all the questions I have asked and these:

• Bartimaeus was referred to as the son of Timaeus; the fact that this was stated means that he remained with the early Church community. He wasn’t just cured and went off, how could he? Every time he opened his eyes he could see what God has done for him. What faith; how is my faith? Am I filled with gratitude like this?
  
• Is there really a thing called ‘blind faith?’ If there is one thing in life that isn’t blind its faith. True faith doesn’t always give immediate answers, but it gives meaning and direction. The apostle Thomas ‘saw and believed’; Bartimaeus believed and then was able to see. Where am I in this process of living with God?
  
• What does my faith allow me to see?
  

“Lord Jesus, You heard the cry of a blind man and answered his plea, giving him a new life with You. In our blindness, we sometimes fail to remember how near you always are. Remove any obstacles that prevent us from calling out, trusting in Your mercy and love.”