OMELIE / Omelie EN

28 ott 2018

28/10/2018   30th Sunday in O. T. - B 

28/10/2018   30^th Sunday in O. T. - B 

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

 “I am a Father to Israel, Ephraim is my first-born”. With these words Jeremiah’s prophecy ends, announcing joy and peace, while everybody is suffering from the tremendous punishment of the deportation, earned out of unfaithfulness to God’s covenant. If the people goes back to live the obedience to his God, the latter will make himself known again as a Father attentive and tender. He is after the man’s salvation and well-being: everybody will be able to see it, even the weakest of the people, like the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the one in labor! It is necessary to enjoy and be glad, because God’s promises are for sure! Situations of suffering and pain are not permanent, they last only as long as it is needed for us to convert for good!

The miracle that Jesus performs in Jericho is there to show us indeed that God fulfills his promise: it is He, Jesus, the one fulfilling it, it is He guiding the people to its true and stable dwelling, to its true well-being! Jesus is the “son of David”, as the blind Bartimaeus screams, and He is even more. If He gives back sight to the blind this is the sign that through Him God himself is visiting His people in order to guide it, accompany it, save it! The miracle, for Jesus, it is not so much a gesture coming from compassion, as a way to make himself known as the Messiah, God with us, the one that doesn’t delude men, because He is not after His own interest! As a matter of fact Jesus is firmly going towards Jerusalem in order to give up His life.

The blind man is sitting along the way, begging. He’s a very good representation of the man, nay, of humanity. Because of the sin coming from everyone’s selfishness, everyone is unable to use and enjoy the freedom that God has given us. We are dependent from one another, unable to walk by ourselves, without light in order to see the way of life, unable to enjoy the good things of this world. The others can help us, but also mistreat us, make fun of us, take advantage of the weakness of our situation, but they are not able to change our condition.

Jesus arrival gives hope to the blind man: he starts screaming at Him in order to attract His attention on himself. He is screaming his faith in Him, the faith that, however incomplete, is not a mistake. Jesus is the son of David, the one the people is waiting for, even if this waiting does not match the promises way greater and universal of God! The others, even if they are following Jesus, are not helping him, on the contrary they are discouraging him: this is exactly what happens too often to us. We are even scared to show our weak faith, scared of what someone else could say. This blind person has overcome this fear. If faith overcomes the obstacle provided by men, it is true faith: Jesus cannot ignore it.

He then stops, send them to call him, asks him to come closer, helped right by those who were discouraging him. The man throws away everything that could prevent him from proceeding fast, throws away the dirty cape, usually laid on the ground, and therefore also unclean. Jesus now asks him to tell Him what he wants; he needs to state clearly what his request is in order to make his faith public. It is this faith that saves him from being conditioned by others.

Faith in Jesus! Whoever believes in Jesus is welcoming God’s gift, following the Father’s hand introducing it to him, and in this way he finds himself next to God, from whom sin was keeping him away. Whoever welcomes Jesus is not far from God any more, therefore he is saved. This is why the Church insists so much in announcing Jesus, in suggesting him to everybody, young people and elders, to everybody, good ones and sinners! Whoever welcomes Him in his life, whoever approaches Him with freedom and will, like the blind Bartimaeus, is close to God, has overcome the distance imposed by his sin and has overcome the fear to go against everybody else’s opinion.

Now the blind man follows Jesus along the way. Before he was sitting at the edge of the road, now the road is under his feet and he is using it to follow Jesus, to go to Jerusalem, carrying as well his cross alongside his Savior and Master.

The second reading is helping us to look at Jesus with open eyes, open like those of the blind man, and to see Him in the same way as God does, the Father: Jesus is the high priest, true son of God, who brings the divine life. Therefore we can refer to him and call on him for everything with confidence and trust. He has not claimed for himself any honor or title: He has carried the cross in complete obedience to God and perfect love for us, freeing us in this way from the sins. We love Him, we follow Him, we adore Him, we are looking for Him in order to obey Him and let Him guide us on the way leading us for sure to meet and enjoy the Father’s light!