St. Benedict's Monastery, Arcadia
Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR B THIRTIETH SUNDAY - 29.10.06 Jer 31,7-9; Hb 5,1-6; Mk 10,46-52 We are all at Jesus’ school
A
blind man leading the blind? Today’s Gospel is about a blind man, who through his blindness
learned the greatest lesson of his life. Mark places the story at this point, to
show us how badly we need to discover this same lesson for our lives. Truth is
that we are all blind, we fail to see with the eyes of faith, to abandon
ourselves in God’s love, to let go & let God. To a casual reader,
today’s miracle story appears totally out of place, but in fact the opposite
is the case. Mark takes every precaution so we may picture the dramatic scene
before our eyes. A blind beggar sits along the dusty road, in despair &
abandon. Passers-by can’t wait to move to the other side & ignore him,
since blindness is God’s curse for them & the result of his sins.. But the
blind beggar is not bothered: on the contrary -as he hears that Jesus of
Nazareth is approaching-, he shouts at the top of his voice this very
instructive statement: ‘Son of David, have pity on me’. Jesus answers with
the classical invitation to discipleship: ‘Call him here’. Instantly, the
blind-man leaves behind his only possession -his cloak- & presents himself
in his nothingness, ready to be filled with all that Jesus is offering. His
faith, receptivity & his response to the invitation are richly rewarded: his
sight is restored, & now follows Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. As a
skilful teacher, Mark hides his insights for us to discover. In Hebrew,
‘Bar’ means ‘son of’ in the same way as ‘Mac’ is used in Scotland
& ‘Von’ in Germany. So the blind beggar is called ‘Bar-Timaeus’
(son of Timaeus), who shouts & calls Jesus: ‘Bar-David’ (son of
David = Messiah); by it, he proclaims Jesus as God’s Messiah,
as he had learned at his ‘Bar-Mitzvah’ when he became ‘son
of the law (Torah)’, waiting for the Messiah.
What’s
it like at Jesus’ school? As a brilliant catechist, Mark gives insights throughout each story, as
his Gospel is full of symbolic language. In today’s story, the beggar calls
Jesus not simply ‘Rabbi’
which means ‘Teacher’, but ‘Rabbuni’,
which shows familiarity with, & devotion to the master or teacher. Thus he
invites us to love our Master & Lord, Christ (Messiah). Mark writes his
Gospel in such a way that we may see in it a course on becoming Jesus’
disciples. In it, we find the discipline, required to stay at Jesus’ school.
In his rich symbolic language, Mark pictures Jesus’ disciples -& indeed
each of us today- as pupils & students at the school of Jesus, where a
life-long program is offered, until Christ is formed in us. Here, Jesus is our
Teacher, just as all Rabbis ran their rabbinical schools where the pupils lived
with their master, during the whole schooling period. Jesus is our only Rabbi, indeed our ‘Rabbuni’ = our loving, intimate Teacher & Lord. As Mark
sees it, not just the apostles, but all Jesus’ followers -women & men of
all time-, are at Jesus’ school. In it, we are all ‘Talmidin’ which means ‘disciples’, & each of us is
a ‘Talmid’ -a disciple-. In
it, & for life, we stay at Jesus’ school, learning & studying, a
really special ‘discipline or teaching’, the word for which is ‘Talmud’.
Yes, Christian life is a school of
life & for life, As with students at any school, we the disciples (Talmidin)
respond, object, protest, question, make remarks. At times we become passionate,
harsh & rebellious, until Jesus’ discipline (Talmud),
-which is Jesus himself, is formed in us. Mark stresses that -just like the
apostles- we are blind. As such we
fail to understand, & end up doing the opposite of what we are taught. It
takes years to absorb the meaning of Jesus’ ‘discipline’, namely His real
‘Talmud’, namely the
meaning of His Cross in our lives. Only slowly, we learn to let go & let
God, & stay with the Lord, our only Teacher. ______________________________________ |
