Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How deep are you into Jesus? The healing of the blind man in today’s gospel reading is hardly an isolated story. Mark wrote this gospel very carefully to communicate a very intentional message – that Jesus is the Son of Man (one of the Old Testament titles for the Messiah), that he was put to death by undiscerning religious and political authorities and that God raised him from the dead. However there are two more things to consider about Mark’s composition of his message. First, Mark is writing from the perspective of discipleship. He wants the reader to take a personal stand with regard to Jesus when he or she reads his Jesus story. Second, he is writing in time of great persecution. This means that taking a stand for Jesus will cost the reader something, if not everything.
1. Discipleship: An Experience of God’s Mercy. Since our parish is in the year of merciful discipleship, let me begin with discipleship as the experience of mercy. When Bartimaeus realized that it was Jesus that was Jesus was passing by, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have [pity] mercy on me.” At this, many people, including some of the disciples of Jesus rebuked him, asking him to be silent. Basically, they were asking him to shut up. Now think about it – if you were Bartimaeus, and this was your one chance, would you shut up? Bartimaeus did exactly, what I would do. He began shouting all the more and perhaps even louder, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” And then, the unimaginable happened. Jesus stopped! Everybody stopped! The world stopped! Jesus uttered what the blind man so desperately wanted to hear – “call him.” They brought him to Jesus and the rest is history. A blind man cried out for mercy and he received mercy. In his document preparing for the Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis says, “Jesus is the face of the Father’s Mercy” (MV 1). That day, when the whole world wanted a poor blind beggar to shut up, Jesus showed him the face of the Father’s mercy. That day the blind man saw the face of God. Discipleship begins with an experience of the mercy of God. Discipleship begins when we realize that Jesus is nearby and we cry out like Bartimaeus to meet him.
2. How Deep are You Into Jesus? I mentioned in my introduction that Mark composed the story of Jesus from the perspective of discipleship and persecution. In the central section of Mark’s gospel (the section from which we have been reading the last few Sundays), Jesus predicts his passion and death three times. After each passion prediction, Jesus instructs his followers on discipleship. For example, after the first passion prediction Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it.” After the second passion prediction when the disciples discussed among themselves about who was the greatest, Jesus told them, “If anyone wishes to first among you, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all. Finally, after the third passion prediction when James and John came to Jesus requesting him a seat on his right and his left in the Kingdom, Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to the first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Now here in lies the climax of Mark’s story. What Jesus preached, Jesus did. He denied himself, took up his cross and followed his Father’s will. He did not save his life but rather gave it up for the sake of the gospel. He became the servant of all and the slave of all. He came not to be served, but rather, gave his life as a ransom for many. Now Mark invites Jesus’ disciples to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Here, then, is Mark’s question for you and me: “How deep are you into Jesus?”
3. Take a Stand. To help us give an answer the above is question, Mark gives us two stories. The first story is the story of rich man that we heard two Sundays back. Today we hear the story of the poor blind beggar. These two stories provide two different stands taken in relation to Jesus The story of the rich man portrays the rejection of the call to follow Jesus and today’s gospel reading portrays the acceptance of the call. Because of persecution, Mark’s reading will have to make a decision about Jesus. At the end of the gospel the readers cannot just keep the story of Jesus down and go about life. They are compelled to either throw their weight behind Jesus or to walk away from him. When it comes to Mark there no sitting on the fence. That is precisely where Mark leaves us as well. For Mark, discipleship is not simply about performing religious duties and obligations. For Mark, discipleship is about walking in the footsteps of Jesus like the blind man did. Here is the bottom line – “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it.”
How deep are you into Jesus?
- Fr. Satish Joseph