Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday of Year B

# The Romans had their healers like Apollonius of Tyana and the Jews their miraculous rabbis like Honi HaMe’aguel and Hanina ben Dossa. In the Gospels,Bartimaeus , whose name means ‘son of Timaeus ’ in Aramaic, is a blind man healed by Jesus at the entrance to Jericho. This episode appears in the three synoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luke, but Bartimaeus’ name appears only in Mark. Bartimaeus begs: ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’.according to Daniel Marguerat : « It turned out that, in the variety of motifs and characters, these stories were like endless variations of the same stereotyped genre, found in abundance in Greco-Roman culture. « 

Flavius Josephus, as well as some closer rabbinic sources and the New Testament, have preserved the memory of these individuals. A certain Eleazar cast out demons from the possessed; Hanina ben Dosa of Galilee healed at a distance; the historian Geza Vermes has seen a striking parallel between this thaumaturgic power and that attributed to Jesus in the episode of the healing of an officer’s son, where Jesus supposedly acted at a distance.Other charismatics commanded nature Honi, Joseph’s circle-maker, and his nephew Hanan had a reputation for bringing rain. These rain-makers were aware of their special relationship with God : Hanan the rain-maker even went so far as to pray that his audience would distinguish between him and the one who really gave the rain, the Abba [Father] of heaven.

Bartimaeus, whose name in Aramaic means ‘son of Timaeus’, is the name of the blind man healed by Jesus at the entrance to Jericho. This episode appears in all three synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke), but Bartimaeus’ name appears only in Mark. Bartimaeus begged : ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’. On this point, the value of miracles as signs, stated in the New Testament, is in line with the analysis of historians, for whom they were not an objective description of events, but a way of expressing a religious truth.

Daniel Marguerat emphasised that the narration of miracles is a religious language that has been known since antiquity and that has a much stronger ambition than the simple re-enactment of a marvellous event from the past ; this language means to protest against evil. This episode can be read as a parable of the discovery of faith. At first, Bartimaeus was blind, sitting on the side of the road. Eventually, Bartimaeus becomes a seer and follows Jesus along the road.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Mark

At that time, as Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out : ‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me !’. Many rebuked him to keep him quiet, but he shouted louder and louder : ‘Son of David, have mercy on me !’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ Then they called the blind man and said to him, ‘Trust me, get up,; he is calling you.’

The blind man took off his cloak, jumped up and ran to Jesus. Jesus said to him, « What do you want me to do for you ? The blind man said to him : ‘ Rabboni, let me see again! And Jesus said to him: ‘Go, your faith has saved you. Immediately the man regained his sight and followed Jesus along the road (Mk 10,36b-52).

The blind Bartimaeus

Only Mark presents this blind beggar by name and even by his father’s name:Bartimaeus means son of Timaeus, and these patronymic names, Bartholomew and Barsabas, take the place of the proper names. The blind man healed by Jesus became a well-known Christian in the Apostolic Church; his name has been preserved by tradition. ‘The great faith of this blind man who invoked as the Son of David the one whom people announced to him as the Nazarene’ (Bengel).The appellation Son of David that Mark attributes to Jesus shows how widespread was the belief among the people of the time that Jesus was the Messiah. We hear these various words of encouragement spoken by different voices in the crowd, the same crowd that just before wanted to prevent the blind man from crying out.

The compassion with which Jesus was moved and which made him stop at the head of his large procession when he heard the cries of this poor beggar, this compassion penetrated people’s hearts. Nothing is more contagious than true love. Responding to the movement that had led the blind man to Jesus and to the faith that animated Bartimaeus, Jesus’ request had no other purpose than to encourage the unfortunate man and put him in personal contact with his deliverer.The goal was achieved; the cry of Rabbouni (my Master) confirmed all his confidence. According to Mark and Luke, Jesus restored the blind man’s sight only through his powerful and creative word and without touching his eyes.

This faith, which opened his heart to the divine power of Jesus, became for him the source of a grace infinitely greater than the recovery of his sight. Bartimaeus followed Jesus along the road, joining the procession that was about to joyfully acclaim him as Messiah and Saviour. Luke noted that he glorified God in the midst of all the people, who joined in his thanksgiving.

Deacon Michel Houyoux

Links to other Christian sites

Loloya Press : click here to read the paper →Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

◊ Young Catholics : click here to read the paper → 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Video North Cross Church : click here →https://youtu.be/caCUKWPPKu4

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