Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 149

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....

After the Babylonians sacked and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, the Prophet Jeremiah offered a reassuring promise to our displaced spiritual ancestors in Babylon, 800 miles from home. They would return to Jerusalem some day. Their city had been razed; their farms and livestock destroyed; and, like the Cherokee Americans in 1938, they had been forced to walk a trail of tears to the outskirts of Babylon where they served as servants and slaves of their conquerors. 

But Jeremiah promised, 

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.

In Advent we hear the same message in more familiar words in the Prophet Isaiah, 

In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD!

Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!

Every valley shall be lifted up,

every mountain and hill made low;

The rugged land shall be a plain,

the rough country, a broad valley.

After healing Bartimaeus, the blind man in today’s gospel, Jesus commands the beggar to "Go your way," and he follows Jesus – because his way is the Way of the Lord, a journey to the New Jerusalem. Jeremiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled: the Lord gathers the poor, the blind, the lame, and mothers with children from the ends of the world, and he leads us on the Way back to our heavenly homeland. There are several details in today’s gospel we should not overlook for they tell us about how to make that homeward journey to the Kingdom of God. 

First, we hear the beggar calling  on Jesus, “Son of David, have pity on me!” He knows the ancestry of “Jesus, the son of David;” who was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We must know and appreciate the Jewish ancestry of Jesus and Mary and the apostles. As Saint Jerome said, “Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Jesus.” If you’re not familiar with the Old Testament story of King David, the warrior, ruler, songwriter, adulterer, and murderer, how do you expect to know his son, Jesus? If you do not sing the psalms of David how will you sing with the angelic choirs?

Secondly, Bartimaeus will not be quieted by the crowd around Jesus. He kept calling out until Jesus stopped. We have often heard the Lord urge us to, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you” – no matter what anyone says. 

We might receive many blessings from the Lord – security, comfort, wealth, pleasure, even love – but if we have never asked for those things we assume we have a right to them. And, because we show neither appreciation nor gratitude for them, they don't – in fact – belong to us. And they will be taken away. We cannot receive the Lord’s favors without opening our hearts and asking for help – often, daily, and many times a day.  Bartimaeus asks, and dares to ask persistently, despite the rebuke of the crowd. And he is heard. 

When Jesus asks, “What do you want?” The man answers, “I want to see.” I have heard parents pleading with their children, “What do you want?” And the children could not or would not answer. “Well then, just sit there and feel sorry for yourself!” the frustrated adult finally says. 

Spouses also sometimes do that to one another. They say, “If you love me, you should know what I want!” Hello, it doesn’t work that way. Do you know what you want from God? Are you willing to ask for it? 

We should notice how the crowd rebuked the man for making a fuss, but he would not be quieted. Who were they? The Lord’s disciples! They were apparently listening intently to him; but they didn’t recognize his voice in the cry of the poor. And so Bartimaeus was given particular attention by the Lord, and was favored because he shouted, and disturbed everyone. 

It’s comical how the crowd suddenly changed their tune, when Jesus called him. “"Take courage; get up!” they said, “Jesus is calling you." But he was never afraid of them or the Lord. 

So Bartimaeus “threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.” His cloak is not an irrelevant detail. It was apparently his only and most valued possession. It was his shelter against the sun and rain, the roof over his head, and a cushion when he sat upon it. But he threw it off and came to Jesus. 

Two weeks ago, we heard the Lord tell a rich man to “Sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Even the poorest of the poor cannot cling to their few possessions when they come to the Lord. We’re often told you cannot take your wealth to heaven; Bartimaeus didn’t even take his one and only cloak. 

Now listen to the words of Jesus: "Go your way; your faith has saved you." When Jesus healed Bartimaeus, he opened the way for the blind man. A few years later, Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the People of the Way until Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus and he became Saint Paul the Apostle. Jesus restored Bartimaeus’s eyes so that he could walk the Way of faith. He could walk with all the confidence of an adult who cheerfully helps children, the aged, and people with disabilities. He does not travel alone because he wants to help others go with him. 

Secondly, as we have often heard, the Son of David saves us by our faith in him just as the blind man’s eyes were opened. “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”

When Bartimaeus can see the first thing he sees is the face of Jesus. Can you imagine his beautiful face? Like his ancestor Jacob who wrestled with God, Bartimaeus looked upon the face of God and lived! The Letter to the Hebrews tells us to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, he is “the leader and perfecter of faith.”

And finally, Saint Mark says, Immediately, upon receiving his sight, he followed Jesus on the way. There’s no time for hesitation here, and no going back to retrieve your cloak. The Lord said, “Go your way,” and his way, like ours, is the way of the Lord. And in the words of Jesus’s ancestor and King David’s grandmother Ruth, we will go wherever he goes. Wherever he stays, we will stay. His people will be our people, and his God will be our God.