30th Sunday in Ordinary Time B. October 27, 2024

 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B. October 27, 2024

Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52

Theme: What Discipleship Entails

In our first reading, Jeremiah prophesizes to the remnant of Israel that one day, God will bring them back from their exile in Babylon to their land. The author of our second reading points out that Jesus is the high priest forever appointed by God to sacrifice his life to forgive our sins. In the Gospel, Jesus is at the end of his long trip to Jerusalem, where he will be sacrificed on the cross to save us from the exile of sins, fulfilling what is said in our first and second readings. We need Jesus to open our spiritual eyes as he did with the blind man Bartimaeus in our Gospel so that we might see his Passion, Death, and Resurrection as the Paschal Mystery of our salvation and to learn from Bartimaeus what discipleship entails.  

It is with purpose Mark placed our Gospel passage immediately before the story of Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem (11:1-11) and after the stories such as the three predictions of Jesus’ Passion (Mk 8:31-38; 9:30-37; 10:32-45), the Blessing of the Children (10:13-16) and the Rich Man (10:17-31). With Bartimaeus calling Jesus “Son of David,” Mark prepares his readers for Jesus’ messianic entry into Jerusalem, where the crowds will cry out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!” (10:9-10). The healing of Bartimaeus’ eyes starkly contrasts the spiritual blindness of Jesus’ disciples, who, even though Jesus announced his Passion to them three times, could not see Jesus’ cross as the way to salvation. The people who rebuked Bartimaeus, preventing him from coming to Jesus, echo the disciples who rebuked the children not to go to Jesus (see 10:13-16). The rich man could not give up his riches and follow Jesus (see 10:17-31), but Bartimaeus throws aside his cloak, representing the only valuable thing a poor can have, and follows Jesus with joy. In brief, through Bartimaeus’ story, Mark teaches his readers what discipleship involves.   

Our Gospel text is a narrative story through which Mark teaches his readers what discipleship entails. Discipleship is a determination to initiate a personal encounter with Jesus through prayer. (46-47). It entails perseverance in prayer. It requires using spiritual ears, as Jesus did, to hear the people of God who are in need (v. 49a). It is becoming Jesus’ mediators who tell people, encourage them, and help them to go to God and start their personal relationships with him (v. 49b).  Discipleship requires getting rid of anything (sins and possessions) that obstructs the personal relationship with God (v. 50). Discipleship is following Jesus not temporarily but permanently (v.52).  

(1) Discipleship entails a determination to initiate an encounter with Jesus through prayer. The narrator depicts Jesus’ disciples and the large crowd in movement, walking on the road and following Jesus, who leaves Jericho and is heading to Jerusalem, where his Passion, Death, and Resurrection will occur. He describes Bartimaeus as a blind man and beggar who is not moving or walking on the road like the crowds but is seated by the roadside. Eventually, he hears the crowd's noises and learns that Jesus is passing by. He decides to initiate an encounter with him. Due to his lower social status and being poor and blind, crying out to catch Jesus’ attention is his only option. Crying out here stands for prayer. So, Bartimaeus uses prayer to initiate his encounter with Jesus. In his prayer, Bartimaeus calls Jesus using Jesus’ divine title: “Son of David.” The Son of David is the king the Jews were waiting for to come and rule once more over the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, which immediately follows our story, the crowds welcomed Jesus under this Davidic title: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9-10). So, by calling Jesus “Son of David,” Bartimaeus confesses his faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, who comes in the name of the Lord to redeem the world. This part of the Gospel teaches us that we must be determined to initiate our encounter with God through prayer. To be Jesus’ disciples means we must be the men and women of prayer. Our prayers must demonstrate our faith in Jesus as the Son of God who willingly sacrificed his life on the cross to save the world.

(2) Discipleship entails perseverance. Many people rebuke Bartimaeus and force him to be silent. Rebuking here involves physical and verbal abuse. I guess these people used words such as “Be silent, you stupid! You do not realize that Jesus is far away from you, and with all these noises, he can never hear you. Just shut up.”  But the more the people rebuke him, the more he cries out to catch Jesus’ attention. The louder the crowd’s noise is, stifling his vocal prayer, the louder he cries out. The more he realizes that Jesus is far from him (as Jesus and all people are moving forward) and he is seated by the roadside, not moving at all, the more he persists in calling. Here, our Holy Mother Church teaches us that discipleship entails perseverance in our prayer to God. These crowds who rebuked and silenced Bartimaeus stand for people around us or far from us who do not love us and situations such as illnesses and unemployment, which we face daily. All sufferings we go through can constitute obstructions to our discipleship. In this part of the Gospel, our Holy Mother Church teaches us not to relinquish our relationships with God no matter what we face. The more we realize that people or difficult situations try to force us to disconnect from God, the more we must reinforce our prayer life to stay connected to Jesus.

(3) Discipleship involves using spiritual ears, as Jesus did, to hear people in need. Considering the crowds’ noise, the distance between Bartimaeus and Jesus, and the people's rebuking and silencing Bartimaeus, there is no way that Jesus hears the vocal cries of this blind man. However, Mark tells us that Jesus heard, stopped, and ordered the people to call Bartimaeus to come to him (v.49a). Jesus did not use his physical ears but his heart to hear Bartimaeus’ prayer. There are many people around us and abroad who cry out every day for different needs. If we use our physical ears, we cannot hear them. The Church exhorts us to imitate Jesus and use our hearts to hear and assist them. Parents are called to use their hearts to hear and discern their children's concerns and help them accordingly. Spouses should use the love from their hearts to hear each other’s needs. Let us use our hearts to hear what God speaks to us and observe them. To be Jesus’ disciple involves hearing people’s cries and God’s calls from our hearts.

(4) Discipleship is telling people, encouraging them, and helping them to go to God and start their personal relationship with him. Jesus commands the people to call Bartimaeus to come to him. Can we imagine if the people Jesus asked to call Bartimaeus were the same who rebuked and silenced him before? Jesus continues to command us today to call the “Bartimaeus” of our time to go to him, including those we “rebuke” or do not get along. Pay attention to the three words the people in our Gospel employed to call Bartimaeus: “Take courage; get up, [Jesus] is calling you.” (V. 49b). First, “Take courage.” Our blind man must have been tired as he kept calling out amid the noisy crowds. The first word to him must necessarily be the encouraging one, “Take courage.” We have our brothers and sisters in our families, parishes, neighborhoods, and societies weakened by the different trials they go through daily. Let us minister to them with words of encouragement.

Second, “Get up.” The narrator already told us that Bartimaeus was seated by the roadside, not walking (see v. 46.) The seating position explains that because of his blindness, he could not see the road. Consequently, he could not walk alone like everybody. So, by asking him to get up, the people probably held his hands and helped him to get up and stand on his feet. In the spiritual sense, people who are not in a one-on-one relationship with God are spiritually blind and “seated by the roadside” since they cannot see and walk on the road that leads to eternal salvation. The Church reminds us here that our mission is to help this kind of people to get up and start moving spiritually. As long as they remain seated spiritually, they will never reach their destination, which is the kingdom of heaven. We must help them to get up and start “walking on the spiritual road” by accepting God’s call.

Third, “[Jesus] is calling you.” Bartimaeus did not personally hear Jesus calling him. The people in the crowd let him know that Jesus heard his cries and was calling him.  Jesus continues to use us as mediators between him and our brothers and sisters. Likewise, he uses our fellow humans as intermediaries between him and us. As Jesus’ disciples, our mission is to bring Jesus’ words of love and calling to our brothers and sisters, letting them know that Jesus loves and calls them. Likewise, let us accept our fellow humans who bring God’s Word to us and remind us that God loves and calls us.   

(5) Discipleship entails removing everything that prevents us from following Jesus. When Bartimaeus learned that Jesus was calling him, he did three things: He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and went to Jesus. “Cloak” can have two interpretations. First, it stands for sins; second, it represents the only valuable thing a poor could have in Jesus’ time. “Springing up” is the expression of joy. And “coming to Jesus” is the positive response to Jesus’ call. So, here, Mark informs his readers and us that Bartimaeus said Yes to Jesus’ call. Before he went to him, he abandoned all his sins and riches, which could prevent him from “springing up,” expressing his joy when coming to and following Jesus. In the story of the Rich Man, Mark narrated previously (see Mark 10:17-31,) we saw how the rich man walked away being sad because he could not do what Bartimaeus did here in our Gospel passage, giving up all his possessions as a condition to follow Jesus. From our baptism, we are all called to follow Jesus. The Church reminds us to learn from Bartimaeus and do the three things he did: Let us “throw aside our cloak” of sins and any possessions that prevent us from “springing up” when we go to Church (especially on Sundays) and when we follow Jesus by practicing charity works. Discipleship entails conversion and following Jesus with joy.

(6) Discipleship means following Jesus not temporarily but permanently. Bartimaeus arrived when Jesus was. The conversation starts. Although Jesus knew what Bartimaeus needed, he still asked him to tell him what he wanted him to do for him. This means God knows our minds and hearts but still waits for us to tell him what we need. This is what prayer is about. The blind men did not ask for money or possessions to be rich; instead, he asked for the sight: “Master, I want to see.’ (V. 51). “To see” is all this blind man needs. What does he want to see exactly? Well! He wants to see the road of Jerusalem, which leads to the Paschal Mystery of our salvation, so he can also walk on it. Jesus heals him and gives him an option to go his way. However, he did not go anywhere except following Jesus on the road, meaning he became his permanent disciple. This last part of our Gospel story teaches us always to ask Jesus to open our spiritual eyes to see Jesus’s Passion and Death culminate in his glorious Resurrection. We also want to see how our calling as Baptized Christians is the way of the cross that leads to eternal salvation. To be Jesus’ disciples is a commitment to follow him not temporarily but permanently.

May the liturgy of this Mass open our eyes to see and accept that discipleship entails a constant prayer life even amid sufferings, using our hearts to hear people’s cries, and becoming Jesus’ mediators who encourage people to go to God. May this Eucharistic celebration open our eyes to abandon anything that prevents us from following Jesus permanently and enthusiastically. May the Word of God we heard and the Holy Communion we will share soon enable us to see and accept that discipleship is the way of the cross that leads to eternal salvation. Amen.

    Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD