Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
30th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle B)
Readings:
Jeremiah 31:7-9
Psalm 126:1-6
Hebrews 5:1-6
Mark 10:46-52
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words LORD or GOD rendered in capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Church's Universal Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Healing the Blind and
Restoring the Faithful Remnant
In the First Reading, God gives Jeremiah a prophecy of a
joyful procession of the faithful remnant of God's covenant people returning to
Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile. Persian King Cyrus historically fulfilled
Jeremiah's prophecy when he allowed the covenant people to return to their
homeland in the late 6th century BC. However, Isaiah's prophecy has
a greater fulfillment in Jesus Christ. His mission was to redeem the people of
God from their spiritual exile, welcoming the faithful remnant back to a fruitful
relationship with the Divine. Jesus called the new Israel of His disciples and
Apostles and all the others from the ends of the earth who had come to believe
in Him, the Davidic Messiah, in His universal (catholic) Kingdom of the Church,
in anticipation of their homeward journey to the heavenly Jerusalem.
The Responsorial Psalm is one of the "Songs of Ascent" that the faithful of Zion sang on the journey up to Jerusalem to celebrate the God-ordained pilgrim feasts. The faithful covenant people came to Jerusalem from wherever they lived in Gentile nations, like the Jews in AD 30 who traveled to Jerusalem from distant regions of the Roman Empire to attend the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost (Acts 2:9-10). Upon arriving at the holy city, the pilgrims in the psalm reading remembered and relived the joy felt by the returning remnant of Israel from the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. They petitioned God to bring back all exiles and have them share in that same joy.
In the Second Reading, the inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims that the Messianic son of David is the Son of God promised in the Psalms (Ps 2:7; 110:1-2). He is a priest-king like God's representative at the beginning of salvation history, the priest-king Melchizedek (Ps 11:4), who blessed God's chosen, the faithful Abraham, and made the sacrificial offering of bread and wine (Gen 14:18). Jesus our covenant mediator and compassionate High Priest of the heavenly Sanctuary, offered Himself in the sacrifice on the altar of the Cross. In His ongoing sacrifice, He continues to bless the faithful, giving Himself in the bread and wine that becomes His Body and Blood for God's chosen people in the "thanksgiving" meal of the Eucharist.
The First Reading anticipates the Gospel Reading, where Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus of Jericho. Ironically, many who saw Jesus and His mighty works failed to recognize Him as the promised Messiah. However, Bartimaeus, even in his physical blindness, had the faith and spiritual insight to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the son and heir of the kingdom promised to David (2 Sam 7:12-16; Is 11:1-5, 10-13; Jer 23:5; Ezek 34:23; 37:25b-28).
Bartimaeus is a symbol of the faithful remnant of God's people. The preservation of the "faithful remnant" is a Biblical theme found throughout the books of the Old Testament. Like Jesus's disciples, they are the faithful few who are not blinded by the power of sin but recognize God and His works. Jesus came to restore spiritual sight to God's people by forgiving the sins that closed their eyes to the deeds of God. Jesus came to bring them back from the exile of sin to a new relationship with God in His Kingdom of the Church. In recognizing the Messiah, the "faithful remnant" became the people of Zion we sing about in today's Psalm Reading. Bartimaeus acknowledged that God had done great things for him, and his tears of suffering turned into tears of joy as he began a new life by following Jesus "on the way" to take him to the gates of Heaven.
Jesus, our Savior, has also redeemed all baptized believers, making them the "faithful remnant" of His universal Kingdom. He frees all who believe in Him from the darkness of the exile that sin causes in our relationship with God, and He shows us the path to our homecoming in the heavenly Jerusalem. All we need to do is to continue to follow Him "on the way."
The First Reading Jeremiah 31:7-9 ~ God's Deliverance
7 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. 8 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; 9 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 firstborn.
Before Jerusalem's destruction and the exile of the population of Judah into Babylon in 587/6 BC, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied the divine judgment of a 70-year exile for the people (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10). In this passage, he promises that after 70 years of atonement for their sins of rebellion, God will have mercy on His people. He will return them to their homeland. God will bring back the exiles of Judah and the descendants of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim) sent into exile by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC. God will gather unto Himself a people from the "ends of the world," including the physically disabled and most vulnerable.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah's promised deliverance. Jesus is the promised Davidic heir sent to shepherd God's covenant people (i.e., Jer 23:5-6; Ezek 34:23-26). During His ministry, Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. He healed the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the spiritually disabled (Is 35:5-6; Mt 11:5; Lk 7:22). In His universal Church, Jesus also established the everlasting kingdom God promised King David and Daniel the prophet (2 Sam 7:16, 29; Dan 2:44) in His Universal Church. This deliverance was revealed to Simeon when he held baby Jesus in the Temple. Simeon joyfully proclaimed: "... for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the sight of the nations; a light of revelation for the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel" (Lk 2:30-32).
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; 9 they
shall return as an immense throng.
This prophecy was fulfilled at the end of World War II when
Jews from across the world began to return to their Promised Land and when the
United Nations reestablished the nation of Israel in 1947 to become a fully
independent nation in 1948. A nation named "Israel" had not existed since the
Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 BC. It was indeed a miracle!
Responsorial Psalm 126:1-6 ~ God's Mighty Works
Response: The Lord has done great things for us; we are
filled with joy.
1 When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion, we
were like men dreaming. 2a Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our
tongue with rejoicing.
Response:
2b Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done
great things for them." 3 The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad
indeed.
Response:
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the torrents in the
southern desert. 5 Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.
Response:
6 Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be
sown, they shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.
Response:
Psalm 126 is one of the "Songs of Ascent" that pilgrims sang on the journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the God-ordained annual pilgrim feasts. They traveled to Jerusalem from different nations where they lived, like the Jews in AD 30 who traveled to Jerusalem from distant parts of the Roman Empire to attend the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in Acts 2:9-10. Upon arriving at the holy city, the pilgrims remembered and relived the joy felt by the returning remnant of Israel from the Babylonian exile (verses 1-2; also see 2 Chr 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-5; 2:1). They gave thanks to God for His great work of kindness in bringing the exiles home to Jerusalem in the 6th-century BC (the "them" in verse 2) and for bringing the pilgrims safely to Jerusalem (the "us" in verse 3).
Next, the returning people petitioned God to "restore our fortunes" and compared His blessings to the abundant rain He sends to awaken the desert. They ask that those who suffer ("sow in tears") will experience rejoicing in a fruitful harvest of God's blessings. The last two verses are probably a symbolic reference to the painful work of life that God will crown with His salvation those who remain faithful until the harvest of souls into God's storehouse in Heaven.
The Second Reading Hebrews 5:1-6 ~ Christ our Compassionate High Priest
1 Every high priest is taken from among men and made
their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is
able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by
weakness 3 and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well
as for the people. 4 No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called
by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified
himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: "You are
my son: this day I have begotten you"; 6 just as he said in another place: "You
are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
On the two previous Sundays, we had readings from the Letter to the Hebrews. In today's passage, the inspired writer again refers to the Jewish High Priest who officiated in the Liturgy of Worship in God's Jerusalem Temple. He represented the people in a covenant relationship with God by offering gifts and sacrifices. However, that human representative is no longer needed since God has ordained a new High Priest. Our priestly representative serves in the heavenly Temple where an earthbound life does not limit His priestly service. Jesus Christ is the High Priest of the New Covenant faithful. He exercises His priesthood by continually offering His sacrificial death on the Cross as an unblemished sacrificial gift that pleads for mercy for all humanity.
God, in His mercy, intended for the Old Covenant as well as the New that the covenant mediator who serves in the role of High Priest should possess human nature to lead the people to salvation with an understanding of and sympathy for the struggles the faithful must wage against the temptation to sin. Thus, in the Old Covenant Church, the High Priest's role was to act as the covenant representative of the "people of God." In the same way, Jesus Christ, who is fully human and Divine, serves as our compassionate High Priest, continually interceding for us at the altar of the heavenly Temple.
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
The duties of a priest included offering sacrifices on
behalf of the people and for himself. In the age of the Patriarchs, every
father in covenant with Yahweh and his sons served a priestly role, offering
sacrifices to Yahweh. For example, Cain and Abel presented sacrificial
offerings in Genesis 4:3-5; Noah offered sacrifices in Genesis 8:20; Abraham in
Genesis 15:8-21; 22:13; Jacob/Israel in
Genesis 31:54 and 46:1;
etc. But with the formation of the corporate covenant at Mt. Sinai with the children of Israel, for
the first time, God established an ordained priesthood through one father,
Aaron. In this section, the inspired writer contrasts Christ's eternal
priesthood with the priesthood established at Mt. Sinai through Aaron (the
brother of Moses) and his descendants. The Aaronic priesthood continued through
his sons and their descendants, lasting only the duration of their earthly
lives (Ex 28:1-2). However, in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus, God established
a new and eternal priestly order in Jesus that harkens back to before the Sinai
Covenant to the priesthood of God's representative, the priest-king Melchizedek.
Christ becomes the sacrificial victim and the High Priest in the New Covenant. Sins are no longer simply "covered" by the blood of the sacrifice as they were in the old covenants. Now, in the New Covenant, atonement becomes "complete cleansing" through the expiation of sin by the sacrifice of the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (as St. John the Baptist identified Jesus in John 1:29, also see Jn 1:36). Expiation means: "Atonement for some wrongdoing. It implies an attempt to undo the wrong that one has done by suffering a penalty, by performing some penance, or by making reparation or redress. Etym. Latin ex -, fully + piare, to propitiate: expiare, to atone for fully" (Catholic Dictionary, page 139).
New Testament Scripture identifies Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross as the act of atonement for the sins of humanity:
God reconciles us and the world to Himself through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah: And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ (2 Cor 5:18). We become reconciled with God for our sins by the offering of Jesus's perfect sacrifice on the altar of the Cross, which the Father has accepted:
In Jesus's perfect sacrifice, He has made it possible to cleanse us of all sins: Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1).
Unlike the Old Covenant priesthood, our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is both the means (sacrifice) and the agent (offerer) of atonement as the representative of humankind and the agent of reconciliation. This concept of the atoning work of Christ and God's response is one of the major themes of the Letter to the Hebrews. The Letter to the Hebrews compares Jesus's role as both High Priest and perfect sacrifice with the priesthood and sacrifice of the High Priest Aaron. Aaron performed the act of atonement for the people of God in the old Sinai Covenant by offering a blood sacrifice just as Jesus, as our High Priest, offers the sacrifice in atonement for the sins of humanity.
2 He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and
erring, for he himself is beset by weakness 3 and so, for this reason, must
make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 4 No one takes this
honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
The inspired writer already introduced the necessity
of a priest to sympathize with the struggles of the people in Hebrews 4:15. He
wrote concerning Jesus's role as high priest: For we do not have a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has
similarly been tested in every way yet without sin. The role of the
High Priest wasn't to be a harsh judge; his role was to be a sympathetic
mediator. God expected His High Priest to be merciful to sinners because he faced
temptations by the same sins. For this reason, the High Priest needed to make
sin offerings for himself and the people. Jesus, in His humanity, experienced
our same struggles, and He understands our weaknesses since He was Himself
tested, but Jesus is the perfect High Priest because He never sinned. St. Cyril
of Alexandria wrote that Jesus offered "his life as a model of saintly
existence to be used by earthly beings, he took on the weaknesses of humanity,
and what was his purpose in doing this? That we might truly believe that he
became man, although he remained what he was, namely God" (Letter to
Euopitus, Anathema 10).
5 In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified
himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: "You are
my son: this day I have begotten you"; 6 just as he said in another place: "You
are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
In Hebrews 5:5, the inspired writer quotes twice from
Scripture: first from Psalm 2:7, You are my son, this day I have begotten
you, which he also quoted in Hebrews 1:5, and then from Psalm 110:4, You
are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, the psalms previously
quoted in Hebrews 1:13. However, in that passage, he quoted Psalm 110:1, Sit
at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Although Psalm
110:1 is the most quoted verse from the Psalms in the New Testament, the inspired
writer of Hebrews is the only writer to quote from verse 4 in this passage and
again in 7:17 and 21. The writer of Hebrews will invoke the name "Melchizedek" eight
times in the Book of Hebrews, five times in Chapter 7 alone (see
Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, and 17). In Sacred Scripture, there are eleven references to
this ancient priest of "God the Most High" (Old Testament references =
Genesis 14:18 and Psalm 110:4;
New Testament references =
Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, 17, 21).
Twice in this passage, the writer of Hebrews compares Jesus Christ's ministry to the priestly order of God's priest-king Melchizedek, which came centuries before the Aaronic priesthood. It was by divine appointment and not a priesthood ordered by heredity like the Aaronic priesthood of the Sinai Covenant. First, he quoted Psalm 110:4 in verse 6 and then, for a second time, in verse 10. Melchizedek or "Melek-zedek" in Hebrew means "king of righteousness." It was a title and not a proper name (Hebrew "king" = melek; "righteous" = zedek or sedek), like Messiah/Christ is a title for Jesus. Upon Jesus's Ascension to Heaven, He became the High Priest and King of the heavenly Sanctuary by divine appointment.
Genesis Chapter 14 identifies Melchizedek as God's priest-king of Salem (Shalom = peace), a settlement on Mt. Moriah which was later called jireh-salem ("will provide peace") or Jerusalem (Gen 22:14; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 1.10.2). The first mention of "Jerusalem" appears in Joshua 10:1-3, in which the king of Jerusalem's throne-name appears as "Lord of Righteousness" or Adonai-zedek. Jerusalem will become the place that God prepared for His people to worship Him and the "dwelling place for His name" (Ex 23:20; Dt 12:5-9, 11-12).
Genesis 14:17-20 reveals Melek-zedek/Mechizedek's relationship to Abram/Abraham. Abram acknowledges Melchizedek's authority over him by paying a tithe and receiving Melchizedek's priestly blessing together with bread and wine. Church Father, St. Clement of Alexandria, wrote of this significant encounter between Abram and the priest-king of Salem: "For Salem is, by interpretation, peace; of which our Savior is enrolled King, as Moses says, Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who gave bread and wine, furnishing consecrated food for a type of the Eucharist. And Melchizedek is interpreted "righteous king"; and the name is a synonym for righteousness and peace" (Stromateis 4.25). And St. Jerome also understood the offering of bread and wine as a prefiguring the "thanksgiving" communion of the Eucharist. He wrote: "And as to the Scripture which says, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek," our mystery is foreshown in the word "order"; not at all, indeed, in the sacrifice of non-rational victims through Aaron's agency, but when bread and wine, that is the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, were offered in sacrifice" (St. Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis 14.18-19).
In addition to Genesis 14, Biblical references to Melchizedek appear in Psalm 110:4; Heb 5:5-10, 6:20, and 7:1-17 (seven times in the Letter to the Hebrews). Also, see references identifying Shem as God's "king of rightesousness," Melchizedek, in the 1st century BC and AD Aramaic Targums, found at Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave I. Those ancient writings identify Noah's righteous firstborn son, Shem, as Melchizedek, a common belief when the inspired writer (believed to be St. Paul) wrote the Letter to the Hebrews. The footnotes of the modern Jewish Tanakh identify Shem as Melchizedek. St. Ephraim, the 4th-century Doctor of the Church, believed Melchizedek was the throne name of Noah's righteous son Shem, chosen to succeed his father as covenant mediator (Gen 9:26-27). St. Ephraim wrote: "This Melchizedek is Shem, who became a king due to his greatness; he was the head of fourteen nations. In addition, he was a priest. He received this from Noah, his father, through the rights of succession. Shem lived not only to the time of Abraham, as Scripture says, but even to the time of Jacob and Esau, the grandsons of Abraham" (St. Ephraim, Teaching on Genesis 14:18-20). Abraham was a descendant of Shem (Gen 11:10-27).
The Letter to the Hebrews offers Melchizedek as a figure who prefigured Jesus, the priest-king of the New Covenantal order. The Catechism records: "The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, 'priest of God Most High,' as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique 'high priest after the order of Melchizedek,' 'holy, blameless, unstained,' 'by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified,' that is by the unique sacrifice of the cross" (CCC# 1544).
Finally, the Church teaches that the King of Righteousness offering bread and wine to Abraham in Genesis 14:18 prefigures our righteous priest-king's offering of Himself to the Church in the Most Holy Eucharist, an offering He first made at the Last Supper (Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19-20). In addition, "The Church sees in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and wine," a prefiguring of her own offering" (CCC# 1333).
The Gospel of Mark 10:46-52 ~ Jesus Heals Bartimaeus
46 They came to Jericho. As he (Jesus) was leaving
Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the
son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. 47 On hearing that it was Jesus of
Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all
the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." 49 Jesus stopped and said, "Call
him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, Jesus
is calling you." 50 He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 51
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." 52 Jesus told him, "Go your way; your
faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Jesus and His disciples traveled southward down the length of the east side of the Jordan River and came to the river's ford across from the city of Jericho. What is historically significant about this ford across the Jordan River is that it is where Joshua and the children of the Twelve Tribes of Israel crossed the Jordan River to begin the conquest of the Promised Land (see Josh 3:1, 16). Jesus is the new Joshua (their names are the same in Hebrew). He and His Twelve Apostles are the spiritual fathers of the "new Israel," who are beginning a "conquest" to establish the Kingdom of the Church and open the gates to the Promised Land of Heaven.
46b And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and
a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
roadside begging.
St. Mark explains to his Greco-Roman audience the Aramaic
meaning of the patronymic by which he identifies the poor, blind beggar in
verse 46b. Bar means "son" in Aramaic (the word for "son" in Hebrew is ben).
Mark does not give the man's personal name, but he is the only Gospel writer to
identify the blind man from Jericho by any name, even a surname. Bartimaeus is
the only person Jesus healed that St. Mark names in his Gospel. Some Bible
scholars suggest he was still alive and known in the Church when St. Mark wrote
his Gospel.
47 On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
The way Bartimaeus addresses Jesus is significant. He identifies
Jesus as the Davidic Messiah promised by the prophet Ezekiel to restore and
heal the nation of Israel (see Ezek 34:23-24; 37:21-24). You might ask how this
man from Jericho knows enough about Jesus to believe that He is the Davidic
Messiah. St. Mark concentrates about two-thirds of his Gospel narrative on
Jesus's mission in the northern region of what was once the Northern Kingdom of
ancient Israel. However, we also know from St. John's Gospel that Jesus
attended the God-ordained pilgrim feasts
(Ex 23:14-15; 34:18-24;
Dt 16:16; 2 Chr 8:13). He, therefore, must have made those three trips to Jerusalem each of
the years of His ministry for the pilgrim feasts of Unleavened Bread,
Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths (see
Jn 2:13; 7:2, 10, 14; 12:1). St. John also records that Jesus attended the national feast of
Dedicated (Hanukkah) in John 10:22-23, which was not a feast that required
national attendance. Therefore, it is possible that Jesus, the perfect Jew,
attended all seven annual festivals every year in addition to the national
feasts of Dedication/Hanukkah and Purim. If this is the case, the people of
Judah had many opportunities to hear Jesus preach.
50 He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
The blind man threw off his cloak; it was probably the one
item of value he owned, but nothing would hinder him from immediate access to
Jesus the Messiah. Jesus asked him what he wanted; the response is in itself a
profession of his faith, and therefore, Jesus tells him: "Go your way; your
faith has saved you."
52b Immediately, he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Once again, Mark's favorite word, "immediately" [eutheus], instills
a sense of urgency. Bartimaeus follows Jesus "on the way" to discipleship,
Jerusalem, and becoming a witness to Jesus's Passion, death, and Resurrection.
And at the end of his life, he will follow Jesus to the Promised Land of
Heaven.
In the story of Bartimaeus, Mark has continued with his subtheme of "hearing and seeing" in the deaf to whom Jesus restores hearing and the blind to whom He restores sight in fulfillment of what the prophets foretold about the Messiah (i.e., Mk 4:9, 12, 18, 20, 23, 24, 33; 7:16, 37; 8:18, 35, 22, 25). Yet, many people continued to be both deaf and blind to His true identity and its significance (also fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah in 6:9-10). Yet, the unique greeting Bartimaeus gave Jesus in Mark 10:47-48, identifying Him as the son of David, is ironic. It is the same greeting other blind men gave Jesus in the other Gospels (Mt 9:27; 20:30-31; Lk 18:38-38) and the same greeting as the Gentile woman Jesus complimented on her faith and then healed her daughter in Matthew 15:22. The irony is the blind men who could not see Jesus's miraculous acts and a Gentile woman who was not a member of the covenant people are the only ones outside the disciples who acknowledge Jesus's true identity as the "son of David" and the Messianic son of the Davidic kingdom.
Those who are "blind" and remain "outsiders" are those who witnessed Jesus's miracles and prophetic acts and still did not acknowledge His true identity. In healing Bartimaeus, not only were his physical eyes "opened," but he also had the opportunity to have his spiritual vision confirmed in recognizing the Messiah. Unfortunately, this same spiritual blindness that afflicted the people who refused to acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah in the 1st- century AD is present today in 21st-century men and women who persist in rejecting Jesus's gift of love and salvation by ignoring His invitation to "follow Me."
We are all called, like Jesus's disciples and Bartimaeus, "to follow Him on the way." It requires taking Him as our pattern, receiving nourishment from His grace, and letting Him be the ransom for our sins. In the sacrifice of the Mass, we partake in His sacrifice and Resurrection. When the priest says Jesus's words of consecration, time as we know it becomes suspended. Suddenly, we are present at the Last Supper when Jesus began His walk to the Cross and gave the faithful the bread that became His Body and the wine that became His Blood. In the Eucharistic procession, we move forward to the altar, we receive the Body and Blood of the glorified, resurrected Christ, and we proclaim to the world that we live with Him and for Him in the new life He gave us when we first experienced the Sacrament of Christian baptism.
Catechism references (* indicates Scripture is quoted
or paraphrased in the citation):
Jeremiah 31:7-9 (CCC 1611*)
Hebrews 5:1-10 (CCC 1564*); 5:1 (CCC 1539*); 5:3 (CCC 1540*); 5:4 (CCC 1578*); 5:6 (CCC 1537*)
Mark 10:46-52 (CCC 2667*); 10:48 (CCC 2626); 10:52 (CCC 548*)
Jesus performed Messianic signs (CCC 547*, 548*, 549*, 550*)
Faith is a gift of God (CCC 1814*, 1815*, 1816)
Filial confidence in prayer (CCC 2734*, 2735, 2736*, 2737*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2024 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.