27 October 2024 – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

by Fr Joachim Robert

A story of of how God created us as a Father, a Father who reaches out in compassion, in love and in mercy. And it is also a story of how God heals people, heals community, heals one another.

The First Reading reminds us that God reaches out to Israel who has been exiled. And that time of exile gives them opportunity to cry out to God and ask God to be merciful towards them. And the Lord hears their problem.

As Jeremiah says:
Shout with joy for Jacob! Hail the chief of nations! Proclaim! Praise! Shout: “The Lord who has saved his people, the remnant of Israel!”
See, I will bring them back to the land of the North and gather them from the far ends of the earth.

The people who are in exile, now God heals their relationship and brings them back to Himself. This story, dear friends, of how we have distanced ourselves for God and how God reaches out to us is an example of life for each and every one of us here today.

If you go to the Gospel today, it begins as Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was seated at the sidewalk. Here we see a man who is blind, seated at the sideways of the road and begging for people’s compassion, for people’s mercy and for people’s love.

And the crowd that passed together with Jesus, those who were around sometimes give, sometimes perhaps don’t give. Sometimes they only see Bartimaeus as a landscape that is there rather than recognising his dignity, recognising that he too is the child of God.

We take a look at that, dear friends. As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd and he was seated there when Jesus passes by. Many of them were crowding around Jesus wherever Jesus moved. But when Bartimaeus heard, perhaps a whisper of what has been talked about that Jesus of Nazareth is here, he took courage. He took courage to seek Jesus with heart.

Let’s take a look at Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is a blind man. A man perhaps who has distanced himself, or the society has distanced themselves from him because he is an outcast. He had been rejected, he had been isolated from the larger  group of the community.

As we look at him, we also can identify ourselves of how we can be rejected by the people whom we love, by the people in our community that are supposed to care for us and the people whom we think can help us but are not able to.

And the other is the crowd. The crowd who looks at Bartimaeus and chooses to ignore him. Chooses to ignore a blind man and regard him as only a landscape
that is there.

But we see how Jesus response. Jesus responded when he heard that cry and the shout of Bartimaeus. And he shouted: Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me. And Jesus heard his cry and turned to him and called to the blind man.

Then the crowd comes and says: Courage, they said, get up he is calling you. Throwing off his cloak, he jumps and then goes to Jesus.

When Jesus was able to recognize the voice of Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus ran towards Jesus. But we see how the crowd too supported him when he was recognized by Jesus.

And we too, dear friends, as a community, must be able to recognize people who are in difficult moments and difficult situations. And when we are able to recognize the cry of Bartimaeus that is present in every one of us, we need to grow in faith. We need to come before God, begging for His mercy and love and He response with faith and brings us to Himself.

But that crowd too as we look at it, we too are part of that crowd as well who chooses to ignore the blind Bartimaeus. And sometimes we need to open our hearts, dear friends, open our hearts to listen to that call of Jesus, to open our hearts to embrace and to be inclusive towards everyone who needs comfort. 

Yes, there may be challenges and difficult times. But if we trust ourselves entirely to God like how Bartimaeus surrendered his life because he saw hope, we must come to that realisation that we too are a child of God. That we too are a child of God who is restored in that relationship.

And today as I see those singing in the choir today, little ones, and especially Joshua singing, actually it warms my heart. It truly really warms my heart to see how we as a community has come together to look at someone who is in need, someone who perhaps a family who cries for help and God listens to that voice.

And you and I, dear friends, in that situation, there in power we find hope, there in power we find healing, there in power we find inclusivity.

So as we grow as a community in inclusivity, care and unity, there are so many areas of our parish life that we have seen and we need to be grateful for how Jesus has looked upon us and have called us to be courageous in taking that step forward to reflect a life of unity as church.

So let us pray today, dear friends, for God to restore our hope even when times are difficult, even when you find we are in helpless situations. And let us restore our hope in God who heals us and brings us back to that relationship of love with Him.

Click below to listen to homily:-