30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – 24th October 2021 — Gospel: Mark 10,46-52
The Obvious Question
This blind man was brought to Jesus, and Jesus asks him a question: What do you want me to do for you? Was Jesus serious? Wasn’t it obvious what this man wanted? He had heard about Jesus’s miracles, and he wanted a miracle for himself; he wanted to regain his sight. So why did Jesus ask the question? Maybe it was just a conversation starter. But maybe it was a sincere query. Maybe Jesus respected this man so much that he was actually giving him a chance to exercise his own human dignity by making a free, explicit request of the Lord.
God wants to be involved in our lives, but he also wants us to live our lives to the full, and that means taking responsibility for ourselves, our actions, our desires, our decisions. Certainly, he knows what we need even better than we know ourselves. But he didn’t create us to be robots, programmed by our Creator down to the slightest behavior. He created us to be co-creators, to be creative, to take ownership of the gifts and opportunities we have been given. Without Christ and his grace, we can do nothing (John 15:5), but without exercising our own freedom and choosing to enter into friendship with him, no matter the cost, we cannot access that grace: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (Matthew 19:21).
Our Lord’s interaction with Bartimaeus is a pattern of his interaction with each one of us: Jesus hears the cry of our hearts that suffer in this fallen world; he arranges for us to come to him, to encounter him, and he invites us into his grace; but then he patiently and respectfully awaits our faith-filled response. Will he wait in vain?
