Sunday, October 24, 2021

24 Hebrews 2021 - thy word is a lamp


"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. 

They rebuked Bartimaeus because they thought Jesus was similar to the high priests that were taken from among men, who had to make sin offerings for themselves as well as the people. They had to be isolated by social conventions and rituals as much as possible to ensure that they would be sufficiently pure to provide some service as mediators for the people.

Christ was indeed a high priest, but in a different and superior way to the members of the Levitical priesthood. No one could simply choose to be a member of the tribe of Levi and decide to be a priest if they were not born to that tribe. Much less was one able to decide to be for themselves that they were both priest and king according to the still more ancient lineage of Melchizedek. Those honors could, properly speaking, belong only to the firstborn (see Hebrews 1:6).

The upshot to the divine origin of the priesthood of Christ is that it did not require that he keep himself separated from sinners. In fact, he chose to be made like them, like us, in all things but sin.

Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham;
therefore, he had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people (see Hebrews 2:16-17).

High priests of the tribe of Levi had some degree of patience with the ignorant and erring, because they themselves were beset with weakness. Yet it was the nature of the office that they had to resist this solidarity and try to keep themselves separated from those whom they served. Surprisingly, it was precisely in his freedom from sin that Jesus was able to most fully express his solidarity with sinners.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (see Hebrews 14:15).

Jesus had a purity that meant that the unclean could not contaminate him, and a sinlessness that meant that proximity to sinners was not a problem for him. He might well have chosen to remain aloof and apart, but he did not. His Sacred Heart was unwilling to remain apart from the people he loved. He was unwilling to see one like Bartimaeus and pass him by.

"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

When Jesus called Bartimaeus it was a beginning stage of the fulfillment of the promises about the Messiah about which we read in the first reading from Jeremiah. 

I will gather them from the ends of the world,
with the blind and the lame in their midst,
the mothers and those with child;
they shall return as an immense throng.

These same promises are still available to us. Physical healings do still happen, and it is not wrong for us to seek them. But even more importantly, Jesus is still working to heal and restore the spiritual vision of his people. We have proof of his desire to heal us by just how close he came, by the degree to which he chose to be identified with us, even to the point of dying on the cross for our sins. He knows well how the difficulties and challenges of our life feel and longs to bring us healing and set us free.

The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." 
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." 
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

We are spiritually blind when we chose lesser goods over the weightier matters of mercy and judgment and faithfulness (see Matthew 23:22-24), when we put self before God or others. Jesus can speak a word to us that so fundamentally reorients our inner life that we are made able to navigate the landscape of life in the same way that he did. His word can then provide such a nuanced map of the terrain that to really receive it is ipso facto to regain our sight. Once we do so we have Jesus himself as the point to which the needle of our spiritual compass will point henceforth.

Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

What do we find when we follow Jesus? We discover the promises of the Good Shepherd. We experience the truth of the promises in Psalm 23, that he will make us lie down in green pastures, lead us to still waters, and, finally, that he will heal and completely restore our souls.

They departed in tears,
but I will console them and guide them;
I will lead them to brooks of water,
on a level road, so that none shall stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
Ephraim is my first-born.








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