Homily Thirtieth Sunday Year B Spiritual insight into the person of Jesus
Homily:
Thirtieth Sunday Year B
Reading
1: The prophet Jeremiah is in exile with the people. He sees the dejection of
the people who now recognize that their chastisement is the result of their
sins and the sins of their leaders against God.
Jeremiah
tells the people a word of hope. He indicates what is about to come and how
they are to respond and why was it to happen. What was to come? God would
deliver them from exile and return them to the Promised Land. “I will bring
them back from the land of the north.”
How
were they to respond to what God was about to do? Be joyful; even though your
ancestors departed Israel in tears, God will console his people in their
return. Why was God doing all this? “I am a father to Israel.”
How
do we apply this to us today? Jesus delivered us from the bondage of sin once
for all. That grace is ever present to us when we fall again and again. All we
have to do is repent and return to the Lord. Why does he so love us? Because we
are his, our Creator, our Redeemer and our Sanctifier.
What
should our response be? Not only praise and gratitude, but a firm decision to
remain faithful to our Father, God. What is the reality in my life? What has
been our past history? What should be our reality now?
Reading
2: The Son was called by the Father to be the Priest and Victim for our sake.
He did this by embracing death on the cross. As Priest he offered his life for
our life. As Victim he sacrificed his life that we may have life. Though
sinless, he took upon himself the consequences of sin. He chose freely to do
the will of the Father out of love of the Father and love of us.
He
did this to glorify the Father. “It was not Christ who glorified himself in
becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my son.”
Gospel:
When Jesus predicted for the second time his upcoming passion and death, the
apostles were too blind to see and embrace the truth before them. That was last
Sunday’s Gospel. Today, a man recognized his physical blindness but he had
spiritual insight. He believed that Jesus could heal him and would heal him. He
professed Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah. He remained resolute in spite
of the negative reactions of the crowd.
He
trusted in the word of Jesus, “what do you want me to do for you?” His faith,
his acceptance and his trust opened him to the healing he desired. His
spiritual insight lead to his physical commitment to Jesus. He followed him; he
became his disciple. He didn’t receive the gift of sight and walked away. He
just couldn’t be the same after as before. This would be a sign of ingratitude.
What
a contrast with the Apostles. They could see the signs and wonders. They could
say the right words but could not believe that Jesus as Messiah had to suffer
and die for our sins. Their blindness remained until the Resurrection.
What
is our blindness to Jesus, who he really is? What is the block in our heart?
What is the fear which keeps us away from totally trusting in him? What are we
unwilling to let go? Bartimaeus was willing to let go his cloak and his identity
in the eyes of others in order to come to Jesus.
To
be touched by Jesus means that one becomes more committed to him. To be more
committed means we become more aware of other areas of spiritual blindness and
we cry out to be healed.
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