A Homily – The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:7-9

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 125(126)

Second Reading – Hebrews 5:1-6

Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Timothy 1:10

The Gospel According to Mark 10:46-52 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 It is wide and good to trust in the divine, the way is before us and it leads to salvation, have faith in God.

 From north to south, from east to west, all people are included in God’s plan for the salvation of the world; this is the meaning of the cross, upon which God draws all things and beings into the divine self and there is no-one left behind.

 Be mindful.

 Whatever trials we face on earth, we leave them behind in the end; from that point of departure, the divine spirit leads us along the way, on smooth paths beside clear streams, where we are graced not to stumble.

 Know this.

 It was not God, the creator of the universe, it was not God who freed the Jews from Babylon; it was the Cyrus, the king of Persia.

 It was a good deed and insofar as all good deeds have their origin in the goodness we all derive from the creator, then yes, God deserves the credit. Nevertheless, it was the free choice of the Persian King to release those who had been enslaved and their children who had grown up in captivity, it honored our common humanity to allow them to return to their homes.

 Not all the Jews went home, many of those whom the Persians freed remained where they were, more moved out into the diaspora establishing communities throughout the Mediterranean and the ancient Near East.

 When the contingent who returned to Judeah encountered their neighbors and cousins who had not been deported and enslaved by the Babylonians, the returnees made a choice to regard the people who were living on the land as impure, outcast or even as gentiles, not Hebrew at all. They built the second temple in Jerusalem, in part, to drive this point home.

 Know this!

 There are no priests along the way, God has no need for them. There is no rank or station among those who are on the way, we are sisters and brothers helping each other without regard to who is Jew or Gentile, male or female, stranger or exile.

 Remember.

 God prefers acts of mercy over blood rites and burnt offerings. Give God what God desires, walk humbly and serve justice all the days of your life, knowing that we are all in the way, and the way excludes no-one; we are all moving inexorably toward God, the divine source of all being.

 God is calling us to be holy, at all times God is speaking in our hearts, pulling at us with the constancy of gravity, inviting us into a life of compassion that leads to wellbeing. God calls us for the sake of love, God calls everyone and there is not one of us, not one child of God, not one being in the whole of creation who is outside of God’s plan.

 This was God’s plan from the beginning of time.

 Not for God to abolished death, but to revealed that the death of the body is merely a transition, a transition we all pass through on our journey toward the creator.

 Now consider the Gospel reading for the day:

 Jesus opens the eyes of the blind; this is a metaphor not a miracle of healing. Neither Jesus, nor we ourselves are able to suspend the laws of nature. It is not physical blindness that Jesus’ teaching addressed, but spiritual blindness for which the way is the cure.

 We must read the story metaphorically, acceptance of the literal interpretation, the reliance on the miracle narrative leads to a different kind of spiritual blindness that that which Jesus cured.

 The fact that the sacred text is replete with miracles and phantasmagoria is not the fault of Jesus, who never wrote a thing; it is the fault of the Gospel writers, and every succeeding generation of Christians who came after who failed to challenge these false constructions.

 The first false construction the narrative encourages us to accept is the notion that Jesus is the son of David: he was not; Jesus was the son of Joseph.

 Joseph is said to be in the lineage of David, and Jesus after him, but the only reason to call him that is to put forward the notion that Jesus had some kind of Royal authority.

 He did not. Jesus was not a king, he was a servant; just as God is not a king, God is our parent.

 We do not relate to Jesus and God as subjects to a ruler, but as siblings to a brother and child to their mother and father.

 Know this!

 A person cannot subject themselves to an authority that pretends to control the modes of mediation between the loving power of God and God’s own children.

 God is the sole arbiter of God’s power.

 When the disciples tried to block the man from approaching Jesus, Jesus moves them aside so that he may approach the man according to the way.

 Finally, today’s reading asks us to remember this: Jesus is addressed as Rabbi, he is himself a Pharisee. He was not a priest, he was a teacher, a scholar and a commentator on the law. 

 

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:7-9

I Will Guide Them By a Smooth Path Where They Will Not Stumble

The Lord says this:

 

Shout with joy for Jacob!

Hail the chief of nations!

Proclaim! Praise! Shout:

 

‘The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel!’

 

See, I will bring them back from the land of the North and gather them from the far ends of earth; all of them: the blind and the lame, women with child, women in labour: a great company returning here.

 

They had left in tears, I will comfort them as I lead them back; I will guide them to streams of water, by a smooth path where they will not stumble.

For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born son.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 125(126)

Gladness and hope in the Lord

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

When the Lord gave Zion back her captives, we became like dreamers.

Our mouths were filled with gladness and our voices cried in exultation.

Among the Gentiles they were saying,

  “By his deeds the Lord has shown himself great.”

The Lord’s deeds showed forth his greatness,

  and filled us with rejoicing.

Give us back our captives, O Lord,

  as you renew the dry streams in the desolate South.

Those who sow in tears will rejoice at the harvest.

They wept as they went, went with seed for the sowing;

but with joy they will come, come bearing the sheaves.

Amen.

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 5:1-6

'You Are a Priest of the Order of Melchizedek, and For Ever'

Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honour on himself, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was. Nor did Christ give himself the glory of becoming high priest, but he had it from the one who said to him: You are my son, today I have become your father, and in another text: You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Timothy 1:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 10:46-52 ©

Go; Your Faith Has Saved You

As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man. ‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road.

 

A Homily – The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)