Jeremiah 31 : 7-9 ;
Psalm 126 (125) : 1-6 ;
Hebrews 5 : 1-6 ;
Mark 10 : 46-52
“As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd...” (Mk 10 : 46).
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem where he will have to face the cross. Today he is passing through Jericho. It is said that Jericho is the oldest city in the world. It lies much below sea level and is just forty kilometres away from Jerusalem. The climb from Jericho to Jerusalem is the last stage of Jesus’ decisive journey from Galilee to the City of David (1).
The Passover of the Jews is fast approaching. Hence the large crowd of pilgrims around Jesus, on its way to the Holy City for the Paschal Feast.
“Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside...” (Mk 10 : 46).
Bartimaeus, who is blind and therefore a beggar, is sitting, as is his custom, by the side of the road. He warms himself in the sun, but he cannot see the sun. He lives in the dark.
People know him in Jericho, he is the son of Timaeus, but he is rather looked down upon by them, because in those times the common thinking was that blindness was a punishment from heaven. People thought that the blind were wicked, and if they got an opportunity to see, they will surely commit bad acts; that is why, to hinder them from doing evil, God hindered them from seeing. So thought the man of the street (2).
But Bartimaeus knew that his blindness was not because of his fault. In the depths of his heart, he kept alive the flame of hope: one day, he was sure, he will get out of the dark; he will see light.
“Hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mk 10: 47)
What is all this noise and agitation around Bartimaeus on the road: feet trampling about? “What is happening?”
Without paying much attention to him who knows only one thing, that is, to put out his hand to beg, what reaches his ears is: it is Jesus of Nazareth who is passing by. At that very moment, a spark of faith hits his heart, and he cries aloud: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Bartimaeus is lucid. He steps beyond the prejudices of his time and the mentality of his people. He has a foreboding that his salvation is at hand. He shouts out his distress. His cry pierces through the night of his blindness and disturbs those who see.
“Many of them scolded him and asked him to keep quiet, but he only cried out all the louder, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mk 10 : 48)
Oh, is he a real nuisance, this son of Timaeus! He cries out, he implores, you hear nothing but him! He takes himself to be the commander of a cohort or what to be shouting like that? Will somebody please ask him to shut up! Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to establish his kingship in Israel, and nobody should stop his progress, especially not those who are sitting by the roadside. So think the disciples.
But Jesus is moved. He hears the great cry of his people, the cry that the Psalms pick up again and again in the Old Testament: “God, have mercy on me!” It is an echo of Israel’s cry transmitted to us by prophet Jeremiah in the First Reading today: “Lord, save your people!” (Jer 31 : 7). It is also the supplication that is raised at the start of every Eucharist: “Lord, have mercy!” Jesus hears someone calling him by his Messianic title: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (See II Sam 7 : 13-16) (3).
Jesus stops. “Call him”, he says. So they call the blind man. “Get up, Bartimaeus!”, say those who just a few moments ago were irritated by his cry. “Courage, Bartimaeus!”, say those who just now had tried to keep him inside his solitude. “He is calling you, Bartimaeus!” say those who just a couple of minutes ago could not tolerate the sound of his voice (Mk 10 : 49). It is the crowd that is healed first.
Bartimaeus throws off his mantle to be able to run unhindered to the Lord. His cry has been heard. His anguish has been understood. He has found sympathy. Bartimaeus is not a wicked man; on the contrary, he is a man of faith. He sees in this Jesus of Nazareth the Saviour, the one whom the prophets had announced, the one who has come to make the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and to announce a year of blessings from the Lord (4).
Jesus asks him a question that few would ever ask a beggar, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Jesus must have sounded very kind and Bartimaeus answers, “Rabbouni”, which means, “My Master!” (5), “Let me receive my sight” (Mk 10 : 51). And the blind man is cured. Jesus bids him goodbye: “Go on your way, it was your faith that saved you” (Mk 10:52).
‘It is not miracles that generate faith, but faith that generates miracles’, said Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Miracles can happen. Let us make miracles happen through our faith.
Today once again Jesus passes by our way. As he comes into our midst through the Eucharist, he puts us the same question that he put to Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” Perhaps like Bartimaeus some of us have been marginalized or asked to shut up for no fault of ours, but Jesus asks us, “What can I do for you?”
We may come across people who, like Bartimaeus, cry out their distress in the crowd. Let us try to understand the sorrow behind their cry. Often what they want us to understand is their feeling of powerlessness, their indignation or their sense of revolt in the face of what they feel is unjust. Through us, they cry to the Lord. Let us be kind enough to tell them: “Courage, get up, He is calling you.” Amen
(1) The last decisive journey of Christ from Galilee to Jerusalem covers one single chapter in Mark whereas it covers two chapters in Matthew and ten in Luke.
(2) We can have an idea of what people thought in those times in relation to the question that the apostles put to Jesus in front of another man born blind: “Lord, why was this man born blind? Was it because of his sins or the sins of his parents?” (See Jn 9:1-3).
(3) The cry of the blind man forms the first note of the Messianic acclaim of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Bar-Timaeus implores Bar-David: “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
(4) Perhaps he has already learnt how Jesus had healed the man born blind in Bethsaida (Mk 8 : 23).
(5) “Rabbouni!” is also how Mary Magdalene addressed the risen Christ (Jn 20 : 16).
Tiburtius Fernandez SMA, © Treasures of The Word, Homilies for Year B, St. Paul's, Bandra, Bombay, India, 2023, pp. 262-265.