30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B - A New Way of Seeing & “For the Healing of the Nations”

Friends, today’s Gospel (Mk. 10:46-52) turns on an irony—it is a blind man, Bartimaeus, who becomes the first person outside of the Apostles to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. His healing is the last miracle Jesus performs before entering the holy city of Jerusalem for his last week on earth. This scene on the road to Jerusalem evokes the joyful procession prophesied by Jeremiah in today’s First Reading (Jer. 31:7-9). In Jesus this prophecy is fulfilled. God, through the Messiah, is delivering His people from exile, bringing them back from the ends of the earth, with the blind and lame in their midst.

Jesus, as Bartimaeus proclaims, is the long-awaited Son promised to David; upon his triumphant arrival in Jerusalem, all will see that the everlasting kingdom of David has come. As we hear in the letter to the Hebrews (Heb: 5:1-6), the Son of David was expected to be the Son of God. He was to be a priest-king like Melchizedek, who offered bread and wine to God Most High at the dawn of salvation history.

Bartimaeus is a symbol of his people, the captive Zion of whom we sing in today’s Psalm (Psalm 125). His God has done great things for him! Bartimaeus should be a sign for us too. How often does Christ pass us by—in the person of the poor, in the distressing guise of a troublesome family member or burdensome associate - and yet we don’t see him. Christ still calls to us through his Church, as Jesus sent his Apostles to call Bartimaeus. Yet how often are we found to be listening instead to the voices of the crowd, not hearing the words of Jesus and his call. Today, Jesus asks us the same question he asked Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” Rejoicing, let us ask the same thing of him—what can we do for all that he has done for us?

In honor of these readings, we present our latest video, “For the Healing of the Nations”, a beautiful Christian hymn praying for peace in the world, something we need today, more than ever.

Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below: