Trust

Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time A-1

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 18 (17):19-20 The Lord became my protector. He brought me out to a place of freedom; he saved me because he delighted in me.

Collect Grant us, O Lord, we pray, that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and that your Church may rejoice, untroubled in her devotion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12; Psalm 100:2-5; Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving Jericho, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus stopped and said, Call him. So they called to the blind man, Take courage! Jesus is calling you. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Master, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:46-52)

Trust Our Gospel passage today comes from the Gospel of St Mark. Of course, we ought read any particular passage of the Gospels in light of passages from the other Gospels. Indeed, we ought read any passage in the Bible in the light of the rest of the Scriptures. With the fine advances in Scriptural exegesis there is a tendency, I think, to read passages from a particular Gospel only in light of the rest of that Gospel. We tend to do this now because we have a deeper appreciation of the distinctive character and purpose of each Gospel. But of course, all the Gospels and all of the Scriptures have the Holy Spirit as their common Author. Hence we ought read any passage of a Gospel not only in light of that particular Gospel but in light of the other Gospels too. The same divine Author who speaks in one passage also speaks in all other passages of the inspired Scriptures. Well then, let us begin our brief consideration of today’s Gospel by thinking of our Lord’s words at the Last Supper as given to us in the Gospel of St John. St John, writing years after the event but with our Lord’s long instruction to his disciples during those final hours before his Passion still lovingly in his mind, tells us of the union between Christ and his disciples. Our Lord tells them that they are to remain in him as branches of the vine. Remain in me, as I remain in you (John 15). Long after, with our Lord now gone from visible sight, St John reminds his readers of the intimate yet unseen presence of our Lord to all those who are in him by baptism. The Christian religion has for its heart and soul the relationship between Jesus and each member of his Church, and between Jesus and the Church as a whole. He is in us and we are in him, just as he is in the Father and the Father is in him — and all of this by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian religion is not merely the acceptance of a teaching. At its heart it is the total acceptance of a Person, and the total acceptance of his teaching is an essential component of this. It is because we remain in the living risen Jesus that we remain in his word and teaching.

That is to say, from generation to generation, from age to age, the living Jesus calls on each of us his disciples and on all of us together who make up his Church. He calls us, gazes on us, and invites us to follow him more and more generously. The ongoing call and gaze of Christ defines and shapes the life of the Christian. The Christian must come to experience that call and gaze of the living Jesus, and our Gospel passage today is one which can help us do this. Let us place ourselves in the Gospel scene, then. Christ was passing by (Mark 10:46‑52). The blind man heard that it was he. Conscious of his need, he called out to Jesus for pity, for mercy. Nothing and no one would or could stop him. Christ stopped. He was told that Christ was calling him — and the Church tells us all that Christ is calling each of us and the whole world. The blind man came forward and Christ gazed on him, asking how he could help him. Then came the word of Christ making him whole. Christ called him, he gazed upon him and he saved him. And so Bar Timaeus followed our Lord along the road. Whatever be the need we are suffering from, Christ is nearby. He calls us to him and the Church is the messenger of that call. Christ gazes on us, though we do not see him visibly. He asks us to trust him and asks what we want of him. The first thing we ought ask for is Christ himself, his grace and love. We ought ask also for our other needs, but knowing that all will be well if we remain close to Jesus. How and when and in what precise way he will answer our prayer, only he knows but answer it he will if we continue to pray for it. Why would he answer the request of the blind beggar, and refuse us if we continue to ask him? He may see that what we are asking is not at all in our best interests, and so his answer may not be what we wanted and expected, but it will be the true and best answer to our prayer. The blind beggar became, we may presume, a disciple of Christ — for Mark gives us his name and tells us that he followed our Lord along the road. His need led him to call on our Lord. That call by Bartimaeus led to the gaze of Christ. Christ’s gaze led to his salvation. Bar Timaeus, the blind beggar, became Christ’s disciple and that was the greatest blessing of all.

Every day we ought place ourselves, with all our needs and with all the blessings we have been granted, in the presence of the living unseen Jesus. Day by day Christ calls us to come to him. He is constantly gazing on us. We live in the presence of the one who is our brother and our God, our Saviour and our Friend. He loves us more than do all others. He is the blessing beyond all blessings and to possess him is to possess all. Let us never separate ourselves from him.

(E.J.Tyler)

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