Amen. Hallelujah!
1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12
...Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul...
The Jews knew of the prophecy that from King David’s lineage would come forth a King, the foretold Messiah of Israel. During the reign of King Ahaz and all other kings of Israel who did evil things the royalty was cut off. During the Babylonian captivity and in exile, those born of the line of David, of royal blood went in hiding for fear of being killed. Even though the divinic dynasty was cut off, from the tree of Jesse, the father of King David, came forth the shoot that brought forth the King. We remember that it was prophesied in Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 tells of this family tree. We would find at the end of this lineage, Joseph who is the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. Joseph is not king but a carpenter and being Jew knew of the prophecy as foretold by the prophet including this one from Isaiah 7:14 … the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Emmanuel.” as spoken to him by the angel who appeared to him. He finally understood the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel. Isaiah is important to better understand Jesus. Joseph knew of the need for secrecy and not to make public these things because the reigning king at that time is Herod. He is not Jew but an Edomite who was just appointed by the Romans to be king. He is king not for the Jews but for the Romans to collect taxes for them. This is mainly the reason why Herod wants all male babies born at the time of Jesus, dead. Joseph dreamed a lot of dreams and it was through them that Joseph was able to successfully carry out his mission as the protector of the baby Jesus. Another point of reference here is the fact that in the Old Testament (OT) there was a foreshadowing of the Magi or Wise Men who came to worship Jesus in the manger. It was at the time of the reign of Balak an evil king in the OT when Balaam also a wise man from the East prophesied in Numbers 24:15,18 that there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel who will dispossess Edom. He was asked to exact a curse upon Israel but from his mouth came forth a blessing. A star and a scepter signifies kingship. In parallel, it was also the 3 wise men who were looking for a star that would direct them to the newborn King of Israel who would inform Herod of his whereabouts but warned in a dream not to go back to him in a dream. Jesus is truly our King. The Kingship of Jesus is accompanied by many more wonderful things that we still have to know of. In the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness. It is somehow puzzling to know that there are 3 sets of 14 generations from the time of Abraham to the exile to the time of Jesus. So why the #14? The significance of the #14 stands for the name of King David which is equivalent to 14 in Hebrew. The 3 sets of 14 stands for perfect royalty and king that all leads to Jesus. It could also be equivalent to 6 sets of 7. The #6 signifies the date when the beast is made or the beginning thus the #666 which signifies the beast of all beasts. The 6 of 7 sets could mean the beginning of the 7th set. 7 is also the Sabbath. The new 7 is the new creation. Jesus is the beginning of the 7th set. Why the fuss in all of these? It is a consolation to know that we have a God who is King. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. We will eventually come face to face with our Creator and God who made heaven and earth. The time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch with this truth. It is such a waste that we don't always realize God's presence among us. When there is nothing more rewarding than to always be aware of God's presence and cry out to Him in joy. Whenever we are in a relationship with someone and give our 100% into it then we can not help but expect it to work. But there are times too when we have given our all and yet it doesn't seem to be enough. We sometimes are bound for disappointments. When these things happen then is really no reason to be sad for we can always go to God for consolation whose love for us endures forever. We are all called to become partakers and residents of the eternal Kingdom of God. The invitation to be His favorite is open to all because we are all special to Him. Only through enrichment of our souls can we truly appreciate and experience this reality now and for all eternity. If we as human beings are concerned about our physical appearance, all the more should we strive to enhance our overall spiritual condition. We should also build up spiritual muscles and strive to maintain a balanced Christian life. The best way to do it is to always attach to the main source of all goodness. In the horror movie entitled, "Nightmare on Elm Street" every time the girl in this movie falls asleep, her nightmare begins and Freddie Krueger appears to wreak evil and havoc in her life. She has to stay awake or else something really bad happens to her and the people around her. Somehow this should make us realize the importance of being awake, conscious and in touch with reality. If there's one thing that we have to always be aware of, that is God has our best interest in mind. It may not be easy to see, understand and have a grip on this reality always especially at times when we seem down and out as in falling flat on bed without a care in the world like dumb sleepyheads. We have to rise, wake up and shine. We ought to always get a hold of this truth in today's psalm and never let it leave our consciousness. We will eventually come face to face with our Creator, and the time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch with this truth. Our devotion to God should have no limits for He is Almighty, All Powerful and Holy. We should remain faithful to God and never stray away from the path where He leads us. Let us stay within the flock that God has formed for us. When we are being cared for by God who is constantly and consistently good, kind and faithful forever and ever then we are confident that we are safe and secure in the fold where we belong like a flock tended by the Good Shepherd. We should always remember that we have a God who cares for all our needs for we belong to Him. May we all take part in the grand banquet that God has prepared for us in heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 100:2, 3, 4, 5
R: Come with joy into the presence of the Lord..
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; 2 serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song. (R) 3 Know that the LORD is God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. (R) 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; Give thanks to him; bless his name. (R) 5 The LORD is good: his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.
The homily of Fr. Glenn in the TV mass with regards to the gospel for today spoke of the name origin of Bartimaeus which was taken from the words honor and dignity. He said that Jesus did not heal his blindness alone but also restored his honor and dignity. He further said that all of us have a mission and there is a need to distinguish this mission from ambition. There is nothing wrong with ambition and said that there are 2 kinds of ambitions, positive and negative. In order to recognize which of them is present he spelled the word ambition in Tagalog as in ambisyon and enumerated the words that can be found in it like, bisyo which means vice, isyo=issue and yosi if read backwards which means cigarette. These words are things that can bring about problems that give rise to malas=misfortune and sakit=sickness.The words malas and sakit which are by products of a negative ambition can be turned into something good if we have a positive ambition. Since these 2 words when combined together can become concern which means malasakit in Tagalog. We are called to develop a deep sense of concern for our fellowmen and at least start with something in order to fulfill our mission. In today’s gospel the blind man cries out to Jesus by the roadside upon hearing that Jesus is there. If we hope to grow in our spiritual life then we can learn from Bartimaeus. We often times are struggling with our vices and character flaws. Jesus wants to draw us closer to Him. Bartimaeus showed us how to respond to this by calling out to Jesus as Son of David. This signifies an acknowledgement and awareness of who Jesus is. What keeps us from doing this is our struggle with our anguish and our dependence on our own strength instead of immediately turning to God by asking for the grace to grow in virtue. We can not change without God’s grace. When he cried out to Jesus many told him to be quiet but he kept on crying out. This is a beautiful point that we have to take into consideration. We should not de discouraged or disappointed so easily. Another important thing being pointed out here is the importance of family and friends that help us draw closer to God. We need help from above and our friends and families to help us. Bartimaeus has a strong spirituality because it is written that he immediately followed Jesus despite Jesus' words, "Go your way" but he didn't go his own way but followed Jesus. He was healed by word and in an instant the moment Jesus spoke. During that time, the cloak signifies who you are. He is a beggar and his cloak stands for everything he is and owns since he uses it to place the money he gets from begging. Bartimaeus even left his cloak and rushed to Jesus like he did not care about anything anymore for he found in Jesus everything. Bartimaeus throws the cloak aside, this signifies a great desire for Christ. We can not hide anything from God. In our lives, He sees the motives in our hearts. If we go to Him, we will not be left unconsoled. We call out to God to teach us faith and perseverance. There are times when what we pray for takes a while. We must have the kind of faith that believes that Jesus listens to our cries and answers our prayers. He makes us whole, holy and great saints. Our faith should give us a new sight about things. This new vision of life should make us see God so close to us. The ways that we encounter Jesus today is no different 2000 yrs ago. We can receive Him body, blood, soul & divinity in the Eucharist. We are in communion with Him through the sacraments. As Catholics we perfect this new reality & wholeness of the presence of Jesus in the sacraments where we’re given this great buffet of graces. We can make contact with Jesus in the sacraments. If are we faithful to the sacraments and also in service to our brothers and sisters then we encounter the living God in such a real way. Another similar story that could somehow be compared to this is from Jn. 4:4 of a Samaritan woman fetching water but when she learned about the life giving water which Jesus spoke of she immediately left her jar of water when she realized who Jesus is. She left behind her old life and follow the way of Jesus. On the other hand there's this story of another unnamed blind man in Bethsaida, he was not healed instantly rather slowly and gradually. He was healed by touch with a spittle and was sent home. The evangelist, Mark where today's gospel is from recognizes the differences in spirituality of the members of the community. He knows that there are people that are quick in understanding things concerning matters of the faith and there are those who are slow. But this doesn't mean that we kick them out of the community. Mark sees the community as all sinners because ours is a flawed community and it is for this reason that Jesus came. Peter whom we thought was the first person who got it all right about Jesus as the Messiah denied Jesus 3x but he was not thrown out of the community. He proved himself true to his faith by his succeeding actions which led to his dying on the cross upside down but eventually earned him the honor of becoming the 1st pope of the Church. Just like Peter we have to experience everything in order to fully understand what the secret of the gospel of Mark is all about. For in the end, the Markan community mirrors the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, the Paschal Mystery which is the Markan secret. Amen. Hallelujah!
Mark 10:46-52
46 As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. 47 On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”... Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, he is calling you.” 50 He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 51 Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” 52 Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
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