Homily
10-28-2012 Bartimaeus and Us!
The
very basic foundations of the life are presented before us in today's
readings. Jeremiah reminds us of the Lord's restoration to Israel
after they were captives in Babylon on account of their sins.
Hebrews reminds us how important it is to have humility, especially
as priests, since even Christ did not exalt Himself. However, I want
to focus on the Gospel. Last week I spoke about how we should pray
with Sacred Scripture, particularly through the ancient form of
Lectio
Divina. One
of the best ways for making scripture prayerful is to follow the
teaching of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of
Jesus or the Jesuits, and simply put ourselves in the story either as
a bystander or as one of the characters. We see in the story of
Bartimaeus a summary of our journey on earth, and this is perhaps why
his story is remembered so vividly by the evangelist, Mark. And in
this story, all of us are Bartimaeus. Here we see a fallen humanity
left broken on the side of the road, unable to see and therefore
incapable of moving forward, always stumbling along.
And
into this sorrowful scene comes God Himself, God become man for us, a
living image of the wholeness that our human nature was made for, the
new Adam who will father a new people restored in Him. And the new
Adam passes by the fallen, blind one, so close he is within reach,
all that is required is a shout of faith! “Jesus, Son of David,
Eleeyson me!” This same word which we cry three times at the
beginning of Mass, modeling Bartimaeus' constant shouting even as
other forces try to stifle him. What stifles our shouts to the Lord?
The constant noise of a busy-body lifestyle; a sense of
self-sufficiency and pride; our past sins which we feel are too grave
to be forgiven; the allurements of wealth, success, worldly fame, or
pleasure. Whatever they are, we all have them, and we all must name
them for what they are: walls between us and Jesus whom we will miss
if we don't shout through them. That is the first step of conversion
– shouting out to God to be healed – and it can only be
accomplished if we are humble enough to admit the fact that we are
not whole, that we need help from God.
Then
the Lord stops and summons the man, who is brought to Jesus with the
help of the Church. As the man rises, he throws away his cloak and
jumps to his feet, which symbolizes abandoning his former way of
life. This is the second step of conversion – changing our ways
and losing worldly things for higher gifts. Then through the help of
the Church, Bartimaeus meets Jesus, expresses is deepest desires to
Him, and receives from Him the healing he needs. Fallen humanity is
restored into the image of the Redeemer; the son of the flesh made
from clay is now changed into an adopted child of God born-again from
water and the spirit.
And
since he has encountered the fullness of truth in Christ, he can now
see the truth of the both this life and the next. And even as the
New Adam tells him, “Go on your way,” this new child of God can
do nothing but follow Christ, saying through his deeds, “Lord,
having been restored into Your image, my way is now your way.”
This is the third step of conversion, and it takes our entire life to
affirm it. Following Jesus all of our days, moving right into our
crosses and embracing them in the faith of the Lord's Resurrection.
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