ME
NU

OMELIE / Omelie EN

24 ott 2021
24/10/2021 - 30ª Sunday in O. T. - year B

24/10/2021 - 30ª Sunday in O. T. - year B

Reading 1 JER 31,7-9 Psalm 125/126 Reading 2 HEB 5,1-6 Gospel MK 10,46-52

World Mission Day

The announcement of joy given by Jeremiah is repeated today in the psalm. The joy is even greater the deeper is the suffering which the people was finding itself in. “They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them!”. First the crying, the tears, the humiliation of slavery, the imprisonment, the annihilation, the exile, then the returning, the joy, fruit of a sowing almost devoided of any hope. This is the story of the people of Israel, this is then the prophecy for the servant of God who is going to come. He, in solidarity with the people, is carrying its weight and its weakness.

The letter to the Hebrews is highlighting the Messiah’s vocation, a vocation which gives Him great honour, but which is also having Him go through suffering. He is called to offer sacrifices for the sins, so to perform a service that is quite similar to Aaron’s and his children’s, but His priesthood is different from these: it is different, special, is according to the order of Melchizedek: it is not a priesthood which is derived from men, but is invested directly by God, who calls Him “my son”!

The gospel is showing us Jesus while He is leaving Jericho to journey to Jerusalem to fulfill there the sacrifice of His priesthood. During this journey He is surrounded by a big crowd, but only“a blind man, begging”, recognises Him and is not ashamed to cry out his certainty: “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!”.

The Jesus going to Jerusalem is the one who can intervene and change the condition of poverty and suffering of men, the one you can rely on in our most painful poverty. He is the Son of David, is the Messiah. He is the one awaited by the whole people. Nobody dared to say these things in public, just like nowadays nobody dares to show in the streets or in public his faith in Jesus. Even worse, everyone wants him to shut up. Nobody likes someone else to say what others are ashamed to confess.

Jesus is not ashamed of him, He can see that he is the only one present who is not blind. The blind man recognises who Jesus is, and now Jesus, opening even his eyes, is giving him the possibility to take another step: start walking with Him.

Opening his eyes, Bartimaeus sees Jesus' face, sees His light, His uniqueness. He realises that He really is “il più bello tra i figli dell’uomo”, as the psalm says.

Since he is not blind anymore, this man is not a beggar anymore either, he is not dependent anymore upon other men, all sinners and tempted to remain focused on themselves only, and he can follow Jesus in all freedom. He can and want to follow Him in the journey towards Jerusalem, towards the sacrifice of Himself to the Father.

By listening to this story we have a lot to learn.

We learn we can see when we recognise Jesus.

We learn we are free when we confess our faith in Jesus.

We are full of joy when we ditch everything to run towards Jesus.

We are on the way to life when we follow Jesus in His journey towards offering Himself.

To offer oneself with Jesus is not a way to death, but certainty of life, safety, true peace!

The blind, while he was blind, has behaved like a true missionary: he has attracted everyone’s attention on Jesus, a different attention, true, deep, witnessing. It is he who has let all the crowd recognise that Jesus was the Messiah who was fulfilling the prophecies: when He will be here, the blind will see again. It is he who has demonstrated to the whole crowd, which was following Jesus superficially, the true way to follow Him, not like nosy people, but like faithful, not like followers, but like true believers.

Today, world mission day, we have in Bartimaeus an example, a model, a teacher: we will look at Jesus with new eyes, helping the people who are around us to do the same. We will be able in this way to console those who are crying, those who are begging for love along the roads trumped by the sinners. We will tell everyone that among us there is the one who, by giving us a new light, is giving us new life. By asking Him humbly and consistently for true light, we will help also others listen to Him and follow Him.