Sunday October 27th. Pentecost 23

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In today’s Gospel we read about Bartimaeus, a Blind man who was commended by Jesus for his faith, which is revealed in two ways – his persistence (he will not be silenced) and his discernment (he knows who Jesus is).

In a society that has a welfare state, and that has a history of special education and adaption for people living with disability it is hard for us to really know or understand the difficultly that Bartimaeus would have faced.  He is a beggar, making a living by the charity of others, and we only know him by his patronymic (that he was the son of Timaeus “Bar”– Timaeus), which ironically, given his circumstances means “son of the highly prized.”

His call, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” is shushed, partly I would guess because he was being annoying or embarrassing or intruding into other people’s space, but equally because the form of address “Son of David” is borderline blasphemy – “Son of David” is one of the marks of the Messiah, and calling Jesus the Messiah was not going to endear him to those who thought that Jesus was a teacher and nothing more.  He compounds this blasphemy by asking for “Mercy” – something that one asks first and foremost of God.  He was shushed because he was disturbing the well ordered beliefs and lives of those about him.  But, he is not going to be silenced – he knows who Jesus is and he knows what Jesus can do.

Jesus cures him because “your faith has made you well.”  For a lot of people this phrase feels odd – why would Jesus not just cure him for his need?  However again and again, in Mark, healings are accompanied by recognition of faith, and indeed in one place the lack of faith means that Jesus cannot heal, or is prevented from doing what he is capable of.  It seems that the Gospel points us to a deep truth that the healing love of God can only be effective in our lives if we are open to it’s work.

This truth is hard for us, for it speaks beyond physical need to our Salvation.  God cannot heal what separates us from His love without our co-operation.  He isn’t a dictator forcing us to Love him, for that is not Love.  He is a God who seeks what is best for us, and we need to be a part of what is best for us.

Poor, blind Bartimaeus is a constant encouragement to our faith, for he shows what is possible when we co-operate with God.

Love and Prayers

Fr Clive