30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October,25th.

JER 31:7-9; HEB 5: 1-6; MARK 10:46-52 (OCT 25th)

The central theme of today’s readings is the overflowing mercy and kindness of a loving and forgiving God to His people. Today’s gospel explains how Jesus shows the same mercy and compassion of his heavenly Father by healing Bartimaeus a blind man. Just as the blind and the lame were God’s concern in the first reading, Jesus is concerned with the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. On hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, Bartimaeus loudly expressed his trusting faith in the healing power of Jesus. As Jesus passes by Bartimaeus quickly grabbed the opportunity for healing. He was not discouraged by the hostile attitude of the crowd shouting him down.

Some years ago in a small village in the Midwest, a little twelve-year old girl named Terri was babysitting her little brother. Terri walked outside to check the mail. As she turned back from the mailbox, she couldn't believe her eyes. The house was on fire. So very quickly the little house was enveloped in flames. Terri ran as fast as she could into the flaming house only to find her baby brother trapped by a burning rafter which had fallen and pinned him to the floor. Hurriedly, Terri worked to free her brother. She had trouble getting him loose as the flames were dancing around their heads. Finally, she freed him. She picked him up and quickly took him outside and revived him just as the roof of the house caved in.

By this time, firemen were on the scene and the neighbors had gathered outside the smoldering remains of the house. The neighbors had been too frightened to go inside or to do anything to help, and they were tremendously impressed with the courage of the twelve-year old girl. They congratulated her for her heroic efforts and said, "Terri, you are so very brave. Weren't you scared? What were you thinking about when you ran into the burning house?" . She said, "I wasn't thinking about anything. I just heard my little brother crying."

Bartimaeus had just one opportunity to meet Christ, just one, and he took advantage of it. He jumped at the opportunity, disregarding the crowd’s objection. He had only one thing in mind, not to let this opportunity pass by him. William Barclay once said there are three things which cannot come back: the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity. Bartimaeus could not know what lay just ahead for Jesus in Jerusalem. He could not know that the Master would be crucified there and that this opportunity would never come again. He did know, however, that the opportunity was here, now, and he wasn't going to allow it to pass him by. How do we use our opportunities to meet Jesus one on one ? Are we waiting for a better chance to show up ?

This is the last healing miracle in Mark's Gospel. This is about the only place in the Synoptic Gospels where the name of a person who was healed by Jesus is given.
Bartimaeus stands before us as a man of faith. His call to discipleship comes through healing. Only when we can see and accept our weaknesses can we allow Christ to come and serve us. On the road all the way to Jericho, as Jesus talked of the suffering and death which awaited him in Jerusalem, the disciples could not understand it. The disciples’ spiritual "blindness" is evident in their persistent misunderstanding in the preceding accounts.
Bartimaeus gave Jesus a raucous yell. His eyes were dead but God had gifted him with a first class set of lungs. Though all else lose their cool with the blind man's shouting, Jesus does not. He had every reason to. Mark is telling us if we want to get something from the Teacher, we must keep after Him. We must even pester Him. We must not abandon our quest by saying, "God's busy; He's got the whole wide world in His hands!" Some one said "You won't get an answer at God's door if you aren't knocking."
Bartimaeus becomes the first person of record from whom the Master accepted an acknowledgment of His Messiahship. This is the reason Mark names this important man. Bartimaeus shouts, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me." That was clearly a Messianic title. Bartimaeus, though blind, could see. His instincts were sharper than a fresh razor blade. The divinity of Jesus had come across to him in waves. But those about him, who enjoyed good vision, were blind to the Son of Man. The blind and deaf Helen Keller said, "The most beautiful things in the world can't be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."

When Jesus calls to Bartimaeus, he throws away his cloak, leaps up and goes to him, which is odd because blind people do not throw their things about. They need to remember where their things are, so that they can find them again. They don't leap up and go to someone in a crowd. They feel their way bit by bit. It is as if Bartimaeus has no longer any need for a cloak. It is as if Bartimaeus could see already. In throwing away his cloak, he gave up everything he had depended on, putting his complete trust in the Lord.
When Jesus asked: “What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus replied promptly: “Master, I want to see.” The problem with many of us is that we donot know what we really want. What would make us really happy. If Jesus asks us today “ what is the only one thing that you would ask me to do for you , what would be our answer ?

Thousands of years ago a young Chinese emperor called upon his family's most trusted advisor. "Oh, learned counselor," said the emperor, "you have advised my father and grandfather. What is the single most important advice you can give me to rule my country?" And Confucius replied, "The first thing you must do is to define the problem."

Many unhappy people cannot put their finger on what is really causing their distress. Many unfulfilled people cannot even tell us what it would take to satisfy them. Many of us have no clear idea or conception what our real needs, our real desires, and our real priorities are. And because we have never defined the problem or clarified our goals, we spend a lifetime anxiously wandering with very little to show for the pilgrimage.

Applications: We need to have the courage of our convictions. We need people who, like Bartimaeus, will refuse to be silenced by the secular leaders of our society. We must make our politicians realize that our country is rejecting Christian principles and facing a loss of values.

Each one of us suffers from spiritual blindness, and hence we need the light of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us. Hence, let us pray to have a clear vision of Christian values and priorities in our lives and to acknowledge the presence of God dwelling in ourselves and in our neighbors. Remember the miserable people are not those who are blind but rather those who refuse to see.

One would say seeing is believing but for Bartimaeus believing was seeing. Let us not be among the many who, though not blind, still refuse to see. Let’s not miss any chance coming in our way to welcome Jesus in our lives

Let’s pray: Lord Jesus, remove from me the darkness of sin and unbelief and give me eyes of faith to recognize the truth of your word and your saving presence in my life."