Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest Who Brings Salvation by Deliverance and Restoration for the New Covenant - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Jesus is the compassionate and eternal high priest (Hebrews 4:14-5:10), who can heal and restore wounded creations to the original goodness and beauty (being “טוֹב/towb”(Genesis 1:31), “καλός/kalos”(1 Timothy 4:4), as created by God. This includes that the damaged and diseased humanity can be healed and restored to its original perfection, for which we are called to strive for (Matthew 5:48), because we were, indeed, created in an image of God (Genesis 1:27), who is perfect (Matthew 5:48) and so are His way (Psalm 18:31; 2 Samuel 22:31) and His work (Deuteronomy 32:4).  The original state of being pleasingly good and beautiful has been lost because of the sin of Adam and Eve, corresponding with the loss of Eden (i.e. Genesis 3). Subsequently, human life has been subject to death (e.g. Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:56). However, because God so loves us and sent His only begotten Son to us (John 3:16), our life, along with all other created beings, can be restored to its original fullness, through him in reconciling, as the Son has sacrificed himself on the Cross (Colossians 1:19-20). So, Christ is to restore our life (1 Corinthians 15:22-24), giving us a new life, resurrecting us with new incorruptible bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-49).

In the Gospel Reading (Mark 10:46-52), we see Jesus healing Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, enabling him to see.

Mark did not tell if Bartimaeus had been blind since his birth or became blind after his birth (cf. John 9:1-41). And it is not sure if he was blind because of his sin or sin of his parents or ancestors. It is because such subjects are not so important here.

What matters in the Mark’s story about Jesus making Bartimaeus see, as he asked Jesus for, is Jesus, Christ the Son, restores what is lost and damaged, to its fullness and perfection. And Bartimaeus’ case was no exception.

For whatever the reason, Bartimaeus’ sight was lost. And he really wanted to have it. Though no body – no physician could help him, he seemed to know that Jesus could. So, as he noticed that the man passing by with his disciples and a sizable crowd, heading to Jerusalem, was Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 10:46-47a), Bartimaeus began to cry out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!” (Mark 10:47b). Calling Jesus “son of David”, Bartimaeus somehow knew something about Jesus – at least Jesus’ Davidic roots (i.e. Matthew 1:6-16). And he seemed to have sensed the Messianic quality in Jesus.

Though people rebuked him and tried to silence his cry for Jesus’ mercy, Bartimaeus did not give up. He kept his cry all the more (Mark 10:48). And this certainly grabbed Jesus’ attention, as he stopped and told the people with him to call Bartimaeus (Mark 10:49a). So, they called him, saying to him, “Take courage; get up”, because Jesus is calling you (Mark 10:49b).

The people who tried to shut Bartimaeus’ cry for Jesus’ mercy now encouraged him to get up to respond to Jesus’ call on him, upon Jesus’ command. And, Bartimaeus wasted no moment, as he sprung up immediately, throwing his cloak aside, and rushed to Jesus (Mark 10:50).

Then, Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”, and Bartimaeus replied, “Master, I want to see” (Mark 10:51).

And, Jesus ordered Bartimaeus:

Go your way; your faith has saved you (Mark 10:52a).

So, Bartimaeus received his sight immediately and followed Jesus (Mark 10:52b). With his eye sight, Bartimaeus started a new life, following Jesus, being able to see the way, the truth, and life, which is Jesus (John 14:6).

Yes, Jesus restored the lost sight of Bartimaeus. Jesus delivered him from the darkness of his blindness to the light of his new sight, because of his steadfast and resilient faith. The faith of Bartimaeus that was worthy of Jesus’ attention and salvific response was characterized with the fact that his cry for Jesus’ mercy grew even stronger and louder with the suppressing forces.

Do we have this kind of faith – a king of Bartimaeus’ faith, a kind of faith that nothing can deter (cf. 1 Samuel 1:1-23; Luke 8:1-18; Luke 11:5-13; cf. Matthew 9:20–22//Mark 5:25–34//Luke 8:43–48)? Or is your faith too weak to sustain through adversities, as you tend to lose faith and hope in facing worsening and prolonging challenges? Or, as Bartimaeus’ cry for Jesus’ mercy grew stronger all the more in response to the suppressing forces, is your faith rather grow ever more in facing discouraging factors?

For those who keep faith, for those whose faith grow stronger with challenges, God delivers out of such situations for restoration of what has been lost and mangled.

God’s character as the one, who delivers for restoration is reflected in the First Reading (Jeremiah 31:7-9). In this reading, Jeremiah is calling the remnants of Israel, who endured the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, for the post-Exilic joy and for the new covenant, as God delivered them back to Jerusalem for restoration. And what was restored by God through the hands of those remnants was not only Jerusalem and the Temple but their relationship with God, caped with the new post-Exilic covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). During the Babylonian Exile, though they lost Jerusalem and the Temple, the remnants of Israel did not lose their faith and kept it strong with hope that God would deliver and bring them back to Jerusalem through their prayers in contrition and lamentation (e.g. Psalm 137).

The Jews had been kept in the darkness of the Babylonian Exile, upon losing Jerusalem and the Temple to Babylonian destructions. But, they were delivered and what had been lost were restored for keeping their faith and hope, upon penance. Bartimaeus was delivered from the darkness of his blindness and his lost sight was restored because of his steadfast faith.

So, what is it that you need to let Jesus, the Christ the Son, deliver you from? What is it that needs to be restored by God incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus through his blood?

Remember, as the Second Reading (Hebrews 5:1-6) reminds us, we do have the eternal high priest, who can patiently deal with us, for our healing and restoration needs, as he has offered him to expiate our sins. Why don’t we cry out to him, our eternal high priest, Jesus, the Christ the Son, as Bartimaeus did?

So we sing with joy and gratitude, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”(Psalm 126:3) in the refrain from the Rsponsorial Psalm (126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6), recalling how God has delivered the captives into freedom and new life – how God has restored the fullness in Bartimaeus’ life, which was plagued with blindness. With this Psalm singing, we keep our faith and hope for God’s mercy on us to deliver us from what keeps us from the fullness and to restore us to the original goodness pleasing to God.  So we can celebrate a new full life under the new covenant in restored relationship with God. It is made possible through the blood of Christ (Colossians 1:20), which is the essence of the new covenant (Luke 22:20).