It seems throughout history the nation of Israel was threatened, eventually defeated, and the Jewish people sent into exile. This is the background behind Jeremiah’s incredibly hopeful and consoling oracle we hear today. The Lord will bring back the exiles, the strong and the weak, the young and old, the blind and the lame. Gathering them from near and far guiding them as a parent would a child. As Christians, this reminds us of our journey to the cross, Jesus gathering us all, consoling us and guiding us as he did the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, with the promise of eternal life.
Bartimaeus did not know at the time, but when he decided to follow Jesus, our Lord was approaching the most difficult part of his journey. Jericho was only twenty miles from Jerusalem. The verse that immediately follows today’s Gospel says that Jesus sent two disciples into Jerusalem to get the beast of burden that would bear Jesus into the holy city. Bartimaeus may have been one of those. Though blind, he was able to see Jesus as the Messiah and was willing to throw aside his old life and follow him.
Bartimaeus’s request, “Master, I want to see,” can be ours today. We may not be physically blind, but we may fail to see the answers to the big questions of life. Jesus offers us the chance to see what may elude us. We want to see what is truly important in life. We want to be what we are called to do and to be. We want to see the path that Jesus calls us to follow. Not that Bartimaeus immediately followed Jesus on the way; he just wanted to see the way. Like him, we want to see the way too.
Love, Peace, Joy,
Fr. Bob.
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