“I WILL LEAD THEM BACK… IN A STRAIGHT PATH IN WHICH THEY SHALL NOT STUMBLE” (Jer 31:9)
⏰THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
📕Jer 31:7-9; Ps 126:1-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6 (R.v.3); Heb 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52
In the past few weeks, our liturgy has been reminding us of the end of time and the importance of remaining attached to Jesus if we are to survive the travails of that end. In today’s liturgy, especially, knowing that many of us have wandered away in the valley of the shadows of death, like the Israelites in exile, we are given hope once more that the Lord himself will lead us back to himself.
In the First Reading, after spending his life as a prophet, prophesying doom for the unrepentant people of Israel, Jeremiah was given the privilege of having a vision of what is to come – a time when God shall make a new covenant with the people (cf. Jer 31:31), having seen their repentant hearts. It is the Lord himself who will lead them to that place of the new covenant.
In the scriptures, blindness and lameness are signs of captivity. In the Gospel, through the healing of Bartimaeus, Jesus is presented as the fulfilment to that prophecy of Jeremiah in the First Reading.
Note that it was Jesus who moved towards the place Bartimaeus was staying in Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. But he wasn’t going to force the healing on Bartimaeus. He allowed Bartimaeus to first express his need for healing. In the same way, Jesus is always around us to lead us into light. He wants us to have life in abundance. But he is not going to force us to accept him. He gave us the free will to accept him or follow another way. But to all who did accept him, he has given the power to be called children of God (cf. John 1:12).
Jerusalem is a place of glory, and Jesus wants us to join him on the way as Bartimaeus did. He keeps calling us through his priests as the Second Reading tells us today. Do not fail to make use of the opportunity he gives you. If you follow him, he will lead you to greener pasture in this life and beyond.
We therefore pray with Bartimaeus to Jesus, “Lord, that I may see again!” May we see his glory around us in this life and in the life to come. Amen
Have a happy Sunday. Peace be with you.
