Jer. 31:7-9
Hebrews 5:1-6
Mark 10:46-52
Bishop Untener's Homily
Given at a special Sunday evening Mass for Saginaw area youth
Sometimes it's a treat to sit down, take a Gospel passage like this that is so graphic, put yourself in the scene, and experience what is going on. When you do this, you can be any one of the people who are in the scene, or you can just be someone watching - but if you do that, you still have to be inside, not outside the scene. As it unfolds, you can supply all the details that aren't mentioned in the Gospel. It's a very old and wonderful way to pray. So let's do that.
Jericho
Jericho is about 18 miles northeast of Jerusalem - about from here to the west side of Bay City. The whole area around it is harsh land - a rocky desert, hot, dry, and empty. But Jericho is a lush oasis. The Jordan River flows nearby; in and around Jericho there are many springs bringing precious water to trees with lush fruit, all kinds of plant life, flowers. Marc Antony gave it to Cleopatra as a gift. (She must have appreciated that. I'm sure she wrote him a thank-you note.) Herod the Great built a palace there - a place to go in the winter.
Because of its location, pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem from the north (which is where Jesus was from) often used it as a stopover, the last stop before going on to Jerusalem. So, there were always people passing through. They would usually be in high spirits, with the excitement of being close to their destination. In this scene there is even more excitement because the great feast of Passover was near, sort of like the spirit in the air as Christmas draws near.
Bartimaeus
Bartimaeus was blind. But don't picture him as an old man. There's no reason to assume that he was. You see, blindness was much more common back then. He probably wasn't born blind. At that time there was an infectious disease call "trachoma". It was contagious, and you could catch it like we catch a sore throat. And when you got it, you went blind. That's probably what happened to Bartimaeus. The sad thing is... the disease was preventable. Simple hygiene was usually all that was needed. But... in much of the land there wasn't much water, and people didn't wash themselves too often. So, Bartimaeus probably grew up as someone with good sight, and then one day he lost it. Let's picture him as a man in his thirties. (By the way, in this Gospel passage, when Jesus calls Bartimaeus over, it says that he sprang to his feet. That doesn't sound like an old man.)
Back then they didn't have the support systems for the blind. And Braille hadn't even been invented yet. If you were blind, the only work you could do was to beg, and that's a job nobody wants. But if you wanted to eat, you had to beg. So this young man, Bartimaeus, was a beggar. He picked a good spot - on the road going out of Jericho towards Jerusalem.
I've never had to beg... at least I've never had to beg for money. Looking back I might have begged a referee now and then. But I've never had to beg for money, so I don't know what it is like.
A modern example that might help us understand what it's like might be a middle-aged man today who loses his job because the company moved. He starts looking for another job and maintains his respectability when he does the interviews, giving the impression that he's not going to take just anything. But he misses out on one job after another. Finally, in an interview, he breaks down and says something like, "Look, I need this job. I'm just about out of money, and I'm going to lose the house, and what that would do to my family... Please, give me a chance. I'll work hard for you." That's what it's like to beg. That's what it was like for Bartimaeus.
Jesus Passes By
Well, Bartimaeus is sitting there one day, and he finds out that this man called "Jesus of Nazareth" is passing by. Now Bartimaeus had been begging at this roadside for a couple of years, and he got a lot of news by listening to the passers-by. A lot of them were coming from up north in Galilee, and he had heard some of them talking about this famous preacher up north - "Jesus of Nazareth". He figures a famous person like this could be a pretty good hit. So he calls to Jesus by name: "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." He's asking for money.
Some of the people with Jesus come over to Bartimaeus and tell him to keep it down. Besides, Jesus doesn't have any money. He's a holy man who simply wanders from place to place preaching. So leave him alone.
But Bartimaeus is a seasoned beggar. He knows that if you keep yelling for a handout, a lot of people will give you something just to keep you quiet. So, he keeps on yelling.
The Cure
Picture Jesus and the disciples and the others from up north walking along, and Bartimaeus calling out. The disciples tell Jesus that the thing to do is just to keep on walking. But all of a sudden Jesus stops right there in the middle of the road. Everyone with him stops. Jesus says to James and John, "Bring that fellow over to me."
So they go to Bartimaeus and tell him excitedly that Jesus wants to see him.
Now, Bartimaeus is no fool. He's been at the begging business for a long time, and this is not your average response to his stock cry, "Have pity on me!" Something's up. This could be a golden opportunity. So he springs to his feet and has James and John lead him to Jesus.
When he gets there, Jesus says - carefully and slowly: "What do you want me to do for you?"
Bartimaeus realizes that this is different. This isn't someone asking, "How much do you want?" It's a clear question from someone who can do what money can't buy. Bartimaeus isn't going to waste an offer like that by asking for a lot of money. Forget the money. So he goes to the heart of it. What do I want? "I want to see."
Jesus says, "Done."All of a sudden, the lights go on, and Bartimaeus can see!
Can you imagine... all of a sudden being able to see the sky, the people, your shoes, Jesus of Nazareth, the gate you've been sitting at for years, the road, the grass... Forget the money. This is priceless.
Bartimaeus is happy beyond words and he asks Jesus if he can go with him, and Jesus says yes. [Interesting. It's the opposite of the rich young man whom Jesus asked to come with him and the young man said no.] So Bartimaeus grabs his cloak and the coins that were sprinkled on it, and joins the group with Jesus. The Gospel says that he "followed him on the way." That's how the Gospels describe disciples.
The Rest of the Story
They all went to Jerusalem and... Do you know what Bartimaeus got to see with those newly opened up eyes? He saw this kind and gentle man, who gave him his sight... he saw him tortured, and nailed to a cross. And he saw him die. The other disciples had fled when this all started, but I'm sure Bartimaeus was there... there to see Jesus die a terrible death. And he probably said to himself, "I wish I'd never got my sight back. I never wanted to see a thing like this."
But that's not the end of the story. Three days later, those newly healed eyes enabled him to see the Risen Lord - glorious, bright, and transformed. What a sight to see!
Now, I'm not pulling this out of thin air. Listen to what St. Paul says in his first Letter to the Corinthians: "Now I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you... that Christ died for our sins... that he was buried... that he was raised on the third day... that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters..." Don't think for a minute that Bartimaeus was not one of them. Why, there were hardly 500 disciples in all of Palestine. You've got to believe that Bartimaeus was one of the 500. And he said, "This is what my eyes were meant to see - the best sight I've ever seen." I'll bet he spent the rest of his life going far and wide to tell the good news of this good man who gave him back his eyes.
What About Us?
Now here's what I want you to do. I want you, later on today or sometime this week, to spend 15 minutes of prayer alone somewhere. Take some moments to sense the presence of Jesus right there - he really is present everywhere. What we have to do is become tuned in to his presence. So, picture Jesus using your first name and saying to you what he said to Bartimaeus: "What do you want me to do for you?" He would say to me, "Ken, what do you want me to do for you?"
What do I answer? I guarantee that I'm not going to waste an opportunity like that and say something like, "I want to win the Lotto." I'm going to take some time and think hard about what I need most. What would I ask for? What would you ask for? This is the chance of a lifetime.
If I were your age, I know what I'd say. At least now, looking back, I know. I'd say "I want to see... I want to see what you want me to do with my life. Show me what you want me to be. I don't want my life to be a ‘nothing’. I want to give my life for something worthwhile, but I don't know what it is. I want to see. Show me what you want me to be."
I guarantee you... the Lord will show you. It won't be a lightning bolt, and it might not happen all of a sudden. But the Lord will for sure guide you - in sometimes subtle ways - toward becoming the person he created you to be... which is the path to true happiness.
Make sure you do this. Hear the Lord say to you, "What do you want me to do for you?" And then, you tell him.
Originally given on October 26, 2003