Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary time - 24 October, 2021
GO YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU
The Word of God this weekend enables us to live our own time of adversity with courage, faith and hope. It opens us to the God who is not indifferent but intimately involved with our daily struggles. In Jesus who ministers at the precarious frontiers of human existence, we are invited to join with him and one another in the mission of making God’s kingdom a reality.
Our first reading on this weekend is a radical articulation of hope that functions as a road map for liberation and survival. Hence, we find images of homecoming, restoration, and renewed relationships. In their weak and exiled state, the Israelites could not help themselves. This means that redemption and peace come from God. He has revealed himself through his son Jesus Christ, who in turn, reveals himself through the leaders of Church in our Christian community.
The Gospel depicts Jesus as one who engenders hope in despair, light in darkness and grace in vulnerability. He and his disciples were found around Jericho which was a long way outside their familiar territory in Galilee. Jericho is a rich symbol for God’s inclusive embrace. It was the site of the battle against the Canaanites in the Old Testament and also the place of grace-filled encounters with life-changing stories of Zacchaeus and the Good Samaritan.
So the Gospel episode is no less powerful. Jesus met, healed and changed the life of the blind beggar. He saw the faith and dignity of someone whom society dismissed as inconsequential. In the midst of public rejection and condemnation, Jesus recognised and affirmed the beggar’s spiritual maturity and vision. “Your faith has saved you” he said. For Bartimaeus was able to see that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David.
Jesus manifested the God who surrounded himself with human vulnerability and insecurity. To be a true believer and an authentic disciple is to do likewise. It is to embrace and accompany the most vulnerable; it is to go and serve them in their need and precarious places; it is to transform them into life-changing encounters.
Fr. Joseph Kanatt MCBS
Parish Priest
FIRST READING: (Jeremiah 31:7-9) 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.
SECOND READING: Hebrews (5:1-6) Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins and he so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitation 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 priest of the order of Melchizedek and for ever.
GOSPEL: (Mark 10:46-52) 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.
GO YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU
The Word of God this weekend enables us to live our own time of adversity with courage, faith and hope. It opens us to the God who is not indifferent but intimately involved with our daily struggles. In Jesus who ministers at the precarious frontiers of human existence, we are invited to join with him and one another in the mission of making God’s kingdom a reality.
Our first reading on this weekend is a radical articulation of hope that functions as a road map for liberation and survival. Hence, we find images of homecoming, restoration, and renewed relationships. In their weak and exiled state, the Israelites could not help themselves. This means that redemption and peace come from God. He has revealed himself through his son Jesus Christ, who in turn, reveals himself through the leaders of Church in our Christian community.
The Gospel depicts Jesus as one who engenders hope in despair, light in darkness and grace in vulnerability. He and his disciples were found around Jericho which was a long way outside their familiar territory in Galilee. Jericho is a rich symbol for God’s inclusive embrace. It was the site of the battle against the Canaanites in the Old Testament and also the place of grace-filled encounters with life-changing stories of Zacchaeus and the Good Samaritan.
So the Gospel episode is no less powerful. Jesus met, healed and changed the life of the blind beggar. He saw the faith and dignity of someone whom society dismissed as inconsequential. In the midst of public rejection and condemnation, Jesus recognised and affirmed the beggar’s spiritual maturity and vision. “Your faith has saved you” he said. For Bartimaeus was able to see that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David.
Jesus manifested the God who surrounded himself with human vulnerability and insecurity. To be a true believer and an authentic disciple is to do likewise. It is to embrace and accompany the most vulnerable; it is to go and serve them in their need and precarious places; it is to transform them into life-changing encounters.
Fr. Joseph Kanatt MCBS
Parish Priest
FIRST READING: (Jeremiah 31:7-9) 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.
SECOND READING: Hebrews (5:1-6) Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins and he so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitation 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 priest of the order of Melchizedek and for ever.
GOSPEL: (Mark 10:46-52) 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.