30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Jesus and the blind Barthimaeus (Mk 10:46-52)

A formula to experiencing God

Introduction

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 Story of two friends who went for trucking. One was a philosopher and other was an ordinary man. At night they made a temporary tent and slept inside the tent. At the middle of the night the ordinary man called the philosopher and asked, “What do you see now?” He said, “I see starry sky”- What do you think about that? – I think of the galaxies and its origin, the big bang etc… The philosopher asked back, “what do you see?” – I too see a starry sky – what do you think about that? – I think somebody has stolen our tent.  

-          We may have vision but sometimes we do not see things properly. It can be either blurred or partial. Barthimaeus did not have the physical vision but was rich in inner vision. That is why he could understand Jesus as the savior.

Content

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 It is interesting to analyze how he received the experience of Jesus. The formula that he used is;

WEAKNESS + STRENGTH = GOD EXPERIENCE

-          His weakness;

o   He had the problem of physical blindness. That was his limitation or weakness. But this blindness became salvific since because of this he felt the necessity of a savior.

o   In the story of Zacchaeus the problem of him was lack of height that made him to climb on the tree. Since he was on the tree Jesus looked up, called him and went to his house to stay.  so he could experience Jesus because he had his weakness.

-          His strength;

o   To reach out to Jesus through his voice – his strength. Since he had a good and loud voice though it was noisy he could reach to Jesus Christ.

o   In the story of Zacchaeus the strength was his money. He distributed it among the poor and acquired the Kingdom.

-          We may sometimes curse about our weakness or get disappointed. But Jesus reminds us that our weaknesses are the stepping stone to the experience. If Bartimaeus had physical eye sight, he would have never experienced Jesus.

-          We are given our strengths to reach out to Jesus and overcome our weakness with His experience.

Conclusion

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Our weakness or limitations can be lack of money, health, patience, courage, self-control or our sinful nature. Never get disappointed. Think that these are the steps to attain God experience. Let us use our talents and abilities (strengths) to reach out to Jesus so that he would strengthen us to overcome our weaknesses.