October_29_2006

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for October 29, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. John Carney
Topic: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
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Gospel
Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

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Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Mark’s gospel that we hear week after week in this B cycle, we see the interaction between Jesus and the Apostles and other Disciples as they make their way towards Jerusalem, as they make their way towards Calvary, as they make their way towards Jesus’ sacrifice. It is interesting, like every paragraph there is a lesson for the Apostles and a lesson for us.

Last week, you will recall that James and John were arguing, or trying to get Jesus to give them the places of honor when He comes into the kingdom. The other 10 apostles were angry at this, this attempt of ambition. Today, we meet a new disciple, the latest one, and that is the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. James and John, the Holy Apostle, last week taught us how not to act. Bartimaeus, the sinner, teaches us how to act. I say sinner, because the Jews would have seen this story in a different way than we do. The Jews, most of them, thought that when someone was blind or poor that God has shown his disfavor, that they deserve it. Of course, we know better, but this was the culture of the day. When we see this encounter between Bartimaeus, he is not even worthy to call out Jesus’ name. He’s told to be quiet. But he is persistent. The sinner, Bartimaeus, seeks Jesus’ healing, and Jesus cures his sight. The irony is that the Apostles, the Holy ones, the Twelve, teach us how not to act and the blind sinner Bartimaeus, tells us how to act.

Bartimaeus utters perhaps the most important words in the Bible for us. There are 8 words, and they are very important. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” These 8 words, this one sentence speaks volumes about who Jesus is and who Bartimaeus is. “Jesus, son of David,” the word Jesus is Hebrew and Aramaic, Yeshua, meaning, “Yahweh is salvation.” Son of David is a divine title for the Jews knew that the Messiah would come from the son of David. Bartimaeus knew who Jesus was. He called him by his divine title, and in so doing, in this same sentence, we know that Bartimaeus knew who he was, a sinner because he said, “have mercy on me.” He knew who he was in relation to Jesus Christ. Because he did, he was in right relation to Jesus Christ. Not looking for a place of honor or glory like James or John, but admitting before Christ that he was a sinner and asking for mercy. After all, that’s what the definition of holiness is. We take our word “holiness” from the Hebrew concept of “kah-dash” which means, “Set apart for God”, or “Other”, or “purify or make sacred.” In other words, to be in the right relationship with God. If we are in right relationship with God, then we can say that we are holy and we had better be holy because if we are not, we will never see God.

Again, the contrast between James and John. Of course, they later would drink from the cup of Christ, and would give their life, at least James would give his life as a martyr, and John would give his life in service to the Gospel. Both stories remind us of who we are, that we are all sinners. Yes, even the twelve and the blind beggar. We are all unworthy, even you and even me. Yes, even those who are on the right path. We’re gathered. We’re not doing anything wrong right now. This would be a good time to wrap this life up wouldn’t it? But that’s ok. We’ll wait. After Notre Dame wins 38-14, hey?

The need we have of God’s mercy never diminished. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are a priest or deacon or you are a hospital Chaplin and you are visiting someone on death row or if you are visiting a holy old woman in a nursing home with rosary beads wrapped in her fingers. All these people are sinners in need of God’s mercy.

For two reasons, this doesn’t change. The first is that there is always the struggle with the self to be holy. I have never met anyone who is there. Even those close to God. Emilie Griffin, the Catholic author and mystic, says this of a Christian, “While he is a new man in Christ, he has brought a good deal of the old man with him. His little sins and temptations begin to creep back into his life and catch him unawares. The new man and the old man coexist throughout our lives in constant tension. The mature Christian accepts this duality as something he will experience throughout his life.” Right? If you don’t know, you’d better take a deeper look at yourself.

We are never there. We are never there. We never get to the point where we can say, “I’m good.” Never. There is a reason for that. As much as we may progress spiritually, which of course is our greatest goal, the reason we are never there is because the closer we are to there, the closer we are to God, to the light, the more we are aware of our sinfulness. You may think you look pretty good in a mirror from a distance, but if you get a magnifying glass and a lot of light, the prettiest one here is ugly. That would be me. The closer you are to Christ, the more aware you are of your weakness and sinfulness. Therefore, we are never there.

Bartimaeus knew what we know. That Jesus saves, if we let him. In order for him to save us, we have to acknowledge who he is, “Jesus, son of David,” and we have to acknowledge who we are, “Have mercy on me.” When Bartimaeus spoke those words, his eyes were opened. It was a beautiful thing. The first thing he saw was Jesus Christ. Imagine? May these words be your last words. When you close your eyes in death, may you open them up to that same face that Bartimaeus saw.

Please join me in this simple prayer. Our response is Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

When I am afraid,