30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Good Samaritan Parish - Naples, Italy
Jesus asks the blind man Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” This is a type of question we ask all the time in varied forms. When we wake up in the morning we might ask our kids “What do you want for breakfast?” When we get to work we might ask someone, “What do you want me to work on today?” For those of us in school we might ask the teacher at the end of the day, “What do I have to do for homework?” These are all varied ways in which we ask, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The unfortunate thing is that, in our weakness, even though we ask this question we are not necessarily willing to do anything the person might ask of us, this means our question is conditioned. We don’t always ask this question totally willing to do whatever might be asked of us. We have limits on what we are willing to do. One day I was walking through the city of Rome and I came upon a family from Romania asking people for money. I waved to the mother, I patted her little girl on the head and said a few words of greeting in my broken Italian. Then the father of the child, Giovanni, approached me and asked for my help. Trying to be this virtuous, pious, and holy Christian, which we are all called to be I responded, “Si, come posso aiutarte.” (Yes, how can I help you?) He asked me if I would come walk with him to the nearest pharmacy to buy diapers for his child. Immediately my question, “How can I help you?” or to phrase it another way “What do you want me to do for you?”, became conditioned. I was willing maybe to give some money but I wasn’t willing to take time from my busy schedule to go to the pharmacy, nor did I want to spend that much money. We cannot, because of our weakness, ask the question “What do you want me to do for you?” freely, without it having limits, or conditions.
However, when we trust Jesus what we were once unable to do we can now do. Trusting Jesus fills us with his grace so that we can say yes even when it’s hard. Trusting his help will enable us to do what previously we were unwilling to do. Back to Rome. In that moment with Giovanni, when I was thinking of a hundred reasons to say no, I thought of one reason to say ‘yes’, Jesus Christ. And so by his grace I said yes, but not with out a lot of grumbling. Then while we were walking to the pharmacy Giovanni started telling me about his family and how thankful he was for seminarians because they so often help him. He said they give him hope. Then he started exclaiming multiple times “Dio benedica te Jacob!” God Bless you, Jacob). I felt pretty bad, I barely wanted to do this, I gave a weak, conditioned and limited response of love to help yet I was being praised, but I knew that the praise was really for Jesus for without Jesus I would have never been able to say yes and helped this man get something as simple as diapers for his child. When we trust Jesus, when we trust in his grace, things that were once not possible become possible.
But there’s more, when we trust Jesus not only is the immediate need met, but the deep desire to be with him is fulfilled. Trusting Jesus takes care of our immediate needs and at the same time reaches into and soothes the depths of our hearts. What Jesus wants to accomplish in our lives goes past the surface and digs down to fulfill our deepest longing. In the Gospel Bartimaeus responds to Jesus’ question by saying, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus responds, “Go your way, your faith has saved you.” Immediately Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus. Notice here that Bartimaues’ reaction to being healed from blindness is not to go use his newfound eyesight to see the beautiful things of the world or what have you. He simply follows Jesus. His immediate need was met, being able to see, and at the same time his desire to be with Jesus was fulfilled. When we trust in Jesus he seeks not only to help our surface needs, but also our deep longing to be with him.
Now that we are ‘being with’ Jesus we must bring him to others. Jesus doesn’t want his love to stop with us it must be carried on to all those we encounter. His love will always seek to reach others through us. Take a moment now and think of all the ways throughout this upcoming week, in which, you might ask someone “What do you want me to do for you?” Whether its while you’re at work, in the home, at school, any of the varied ways, you must not only respond to their immediate need, but by being ‘with Jesus’ fulfill their deepest need to encounter Jesus Christ.
How do we do that you might ask? We must respond to the call to follow Jesus’ example, we must strive to be ‘like’ him. This starts right here at Sunday Mass, in front of the altar of the Eucharist. When you receive Jesus Christ, body, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist into your very being you are, underneath, being transformed by his grace to become more like him. Thus, for the rest of this week when you go out to your jobs, your social engagements, your class rooms and even back to your homes you will be ‘carrying’ Jesus with you so that when ever you ask someone, “What do you want me to do for you?” you will be able to respond not only to the simple things they need. For when they encounter you, who are striving to live a good and holy life, who are striving to be more like Jesus, their encounter with you will be nothing short of an encounter with the one who satisfies their deepest desire, Jesus Christ.
