30th Sunday of Ordinary Time [B]

 


30TH SUNDAY, ORDINARY TIME [B]


Students are gathered around their rabbi. He wants to know: How can you tell when the night has passed and the day has begun? Response number one: When you see an animal in the distance, and you can determine that it is a dog and not a sheep. The rabbi shakes his head, and this leads to a second response: When you see a tree in the distance, and you can determine that it’s a fig tree and not a peach tree. The rabbi, continuing to shake his head, goes on to explain that: It’s when you can see the Lord’s presence within the people around you. Until you can do that, it remains the dead of night. 


We can say this with regard to the students and the rabbi: they are not on the same page. For the students, it’s all about physical eyesight. For the rabbi, it’s more about the gift of true vision. Bartimaeus would love to be able to distinguish a dog from a sheep. What a blessing that would be! Happily, now that ability is being granted, thanks to Jesus (see Mk. 10:46-52). Bartimaeus has the gift of eyesight, but what about the gift of true vision? Will he eventually become a man of vision? It’s not clear. We can only hope. And yet, the more critical question has to do with ourselves: Are we people of vision? Or is it still the dead of night? 


Vision means seeing your neighbor as a child of God. Furthermore, vision means seeing your circumstances within their proper context. Are you being consumed by your circumstances? Or are you able to recognize that your circumstances represent just one part of a much larger picture? For example, you might be facing a time of desolation. It needs to be understood as “a time of” desolation. It arrives, it afflicts you, and eventually it passes. The people of 6th century BC Judea have been facing a time of profound desolation. Imagine being invaded, being conquered, and then being forced into exile. Jeremiah makes an announcement: the time of desolation is coming to an end. Desolation has overtaken you, but now you are about to put it behind you (Jer. 31:7-11). Soon it will be in your rearview mirror. 


In some ways, it’s like driving along a boulevard. You turn onto the boulevard, you take in the sights, and then after a period of time, you exit onto another street. The boulevard is something you’re putting behind you. And if vintage rock appeals to you, then your thoughts will be turning to the year 1974, and an album titled: Desolation Boulevard. When faced with an experience of desolation, think of it as a boulevard. You travel on it for a period of time, and then you move along to some other stretch of road. 


Our second reading this weekend touches upon the subject of patience. Jesus deals with you patiently because he can relate to the condition of human weakness (Heb. 5:2). By extension, pay that patience in a forward direction. Pay it forward when you encounter your neighbor. And likewise, pay it forward when the road-sign up ahead reads: Desolation Boulevard. 

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