30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 10/24

It is interesting to compare last week’s Gospel with what we have this week. Last week James and John came to Jesus telling him that they wanted Jesus to do for them whatever they asked. Anyone with a Christian sensibility would immediately cringe at the question. They explain to Jesus that they would like to sit at his right and at his left in his glory. I would imagine that Jesus must have been discouraged by the seemingly wayward ambitions of honor and power of two of his closest friends, especially after all the time he had spent with them. I’ve always admired and have been consoled by the great patience of Jesus for his disciples.

Today however, in great contrast, we are introduced to one who is not a close friend of Jesus—one who was considered a societal outcast, and was most likely thought of as a great sinner, a bad man. His name was Bartimaeus, a blind man begging on the street.

At a distance, Bartimaeus hears that Jesus was passing by, so he calls out to Jesus. And what does he ask for? “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” The people began to reject and rebuke him for acting so improper in the presence of the great Jesus of Nazareth. But in contrast to James and John—not caring about honor or reputation—he cries out all the more, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!”

Jesus calls Bartimaeus over and asks what he wants. He responds, “Master, I want to see!” Like James and John, Bartimaeus asks for power—the power to see. But we notice what is in his heart in the last line that the passages offers us about this man: Immediately he received his sight and followed [Jesus] on the way. What is the great gift of “power” that Jesus comes to offer us? Not a power in order to take, but rather a power in order to give—the power to follow Christ and to give one’s life as a great gift both to God and to others.