Gospel Commentary for Sunday, October 27, 2024

Have mercy on me.

Dear brothers, peace and good.

Last Sunday we saw how the apostles did not understand anything. The lust for power went against everything Jesus preached. They only saw what they wanted to see. Today, however, we have the testimony of a true believer who understood who he was dealing with. Some seers who saw nothing and a blind man who saw.

The exiles of the first reading saw everything black. In exile, without temple or priests, reduced to a minimal remnant, they are depressed and see no way out. And where the majority sees only the end, the prophet Jeremiah makes them see the situation in a completely different way.

Out of this remnant, seemingly barren, with no future, the Lord will make the best of the people. The material, of course, is not the best: blind and lame, pregnant and in childbirth. No one dares to bet on the success of the journey: you don’t go very far with people like that, you don’t go very fast. Their condition is desperate: they are blind, disoriented, crippled, unable to move, women burdened by pregnancy or in labor. Only a miracle of the Lord can bring a group of people in such conditions to the finish line. He loves all, but the «poor of Yahweh» are especially appealing to Him. With this material, the people of Israel will be reborn. Weeping will turn to joy, for under the protection of the Lord they will return to the land from which they were exiled. As today’s Psalm reminds us, «The Lord is great with us, and we rejoice.

When we feel small because we are small before God, this reading is also addressed to us. As with Israel, our Father cares for us so that His people may grow more and more each day, even if it is not visible to the naked eye, so that these people may return to their Lord. As it was planned from the beginning of time.

We feel this protection in our brother Christ. In Christ, through Him and in Him, we know that God is not far away, we do not live «out of God’s hand. He is not a high priest far away from us, no. He understands us because He is an incarnate being like us, capable of suffering heat and cold, hunger and thirst, joy and pain, equal to us in everything, with our weaknesses – except sin – and capable of sharing our suffering. As a man he could be appointed to this office. Moreover, He did not choose Himself, but the high priesthood was given to Him by the Father, so that with His blood He could redeem our lives and enable us, through faith in Him, to attain eternal life.

And so we come to the Gospel. We are now ten chapters into the text of Mark. Along the way, Jesus makes it clear what the goal of his journey is and sets out the moral requirements that those who want to follow in his footsteps must accept: gratuitous love, unconditional and without limits, the renunciation of goods and all ambition, selfless service to others. But…

But the disciples are still preoccupied with their own things. They are blind to see beyond their own world of interests and ambitions. That is why this Bartimaeus is a true model for the twelve. He confesses him as a son of David, asks him for help, regains his sight and becomes a fervent follower. This encounter with Christ is the first step towards the light. As always, it is not easy. Obstacles must be overcome, in this case Christ’s own companions, who demonstrate their blindness by trying to prevent him from approaching the Lord.

Perhaps the same thing is happening today. We should examine whether we have really understood Jesus, or whether we still lack the light to see the needs of the people around us. For example, do we listen to those who are reeling because they do not see the light, or do we pretend not to hear them? Do we silence them, perhaps because we have other more important things to do? Whoever believes that there is something more important than to stop, to listen, to understand and to help those who want to meet the Lord, even if he perfectly observes all religious practices, is still blind.

We, more or less experienced disciples, can also be among those who do not understand the Lord. We do not understand His silence when we call on Him and He does not seem to hear us. Our requests do not always correspond to what he wants to give us. What we should really ask is that he give us the light and the courage to follow him and to do so until the end. The rest can be ambitions that do not suit us, or personal or collective poverty that we have to accept and reconcile ourselves with in order to be Jesus’ companions on the road.

We should rather be among those who helped the blind man to approach the Master. It is not easy to go to Jesus and we need mediators, facilitators of the encounter. Therefore, we must be attentive. And speak clearly. Whoever wants to meet Christ must know that a comfortable life without problems does not await him. Bartimaeus lets go of his cloak, probably the only thing he owned, and runs away. In other words, in order to see, he has to let go of what bound him to the darkness. And to reexamine attitudes, behaviors, habits, friendships… To live differently, to use his possessions differently, to spend his time differently… To choose between the cloak and the light.

In conclusion, let us wait for Jesus to come again; let us know how to live in reconciliation with the limitations or poverty that we have to endure because of our own human condition. Let us put our hope in Jesus, who knows how to give us the light and the encouragement to be his constant companions on the way. Let us ask him in each Eucharist for the portion of bread that is himself, so that we may be his true followers.

Your brother in faith,