\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone likes to think they are special.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody likes to be singled out, and called upon.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I recall an incident last weekend that shows this.\u00c2\u00a0 There was an opening for one of the officers on the Deacon’s Council.\u00c2\u00a0 The President of the Council said nobody had stepped forward to be a candidate, and so he asked for people to volunteer as a candidate.\u00c2\u00a0 But nobody volunteered.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, after awkward moments of silence, someone was nominated and we elected that person.\u00c2\u00a0 Later, some of us were discussing the situation at dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Several folks indicated they would have been willing to serve.\u00c2\u00a0 But, to a person, they all wanted to be asked to serve.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t want to volunteer to serve.\u00c2\u00a0 They wanted to be chosen, set apart by someone else recognizing them.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, everybody likes to be called.<\/p>\n
Today’s scriptures are all about being called.\u00c2\u00a0 First, we hear of the remnant of Israel, called back to the promised land after the exile.\u00c2\u00a0 Notice that among that number, the blind and the women with children were specially mentioned.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems to me that these are folks one would not normally call to a special role- pregnant women and blind people.\u00c2\u00a0 But the message was that everybody was being called by God, even the least capable of serving were being called.\u00c2\u00a0 This perception is reinforced by the words that talk about gathering folks from all over the world, not just those that were in the place of exile, Babylon.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Likewise, all of us are being called today.\u00c2\u00a0 We are all swept up in the call to be part of the promised land, the Kingdom of God.\u00c2\u00a0 But the call is a general call, it is not one that singles us out, one where someone comes up to you and says you have been specially chosen.\u00c2\u00a0 And so, many don’t hear that call.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the Gospel, we hear about a man being called as well.\u00c2\u00a0 Bartimaeus is a blind man who wants to see.\u00c2\u00a0 He has been stuck- a victim of his blindness, his entire life.\u00c2\u00a0 But, he heard about Jesus, and that gave him hope.\u00c2\u00a0 So, he pesters Jesus by calling aloud to him, only to be rebuked by those around Jesus.\u00c2\u00a0 What does Jesus do?\u00c2\u00a0 He calls him, and cures him, and Bartimaeus follows Jesus thereafter.\u00c2\u00a0 In this case, Bartimaeus stepped forward, stepped out of his blindness because he had a desire- a desire to see.\u00c2\u00a0 He wasn’t chosen as special to begin with.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, he was chosen for the special gift of sight only after he made the first step.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Symbolically, all of us who are called, but don’t respond, are just like Bartimaeus.\u00c2\u00a0 We are just as stuck, parked on the sidelines of life, and blind to the call we have all received from God.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t recognize the general call talked about in the first reading- that all of us, whatever our situation, whether healthy or sick, rich or poor, busy or not, pregnant or not; we are called by God to come and join his march to the Kingdom.\u00c2\u00a0 But we don’t go, and so we remain as we are, stuck.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bartimaeus recognized his blindness, and so he called out to the Lord.\u00c2\u00a0 It was then that he was able to hear the voice of Jesus who told him to come, and enjoy a special gift from the Lord- the gift of sight.\u00c2\u00a0 And In exchange for opening his eyes, Jesus asks the man to follow him.\u00c2\u00a0 He will do the same for you and I if we respond.\u00c2\u00a0 The key to our admission into the Kingdom is to have our eyes opened into what is really important, to what we have been called to do in our lives and to follow the example of Jesus Christ by living it.\u00c2\u00a0 For most, it is probably right in front of us, but we are blind to it.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, we are looking for something that isn’t for us- fancy things, fantasy relationships, special accomplishments- whatever it is that we do see, rather than the simple things that are right in front of us that we just don’t see calling to us- our children, someone who needs our help, or some thankless job that needs to be done, something that we just pass right over without seeing- like someone stuck on the side of the road as we drive by.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, my challenge to you is to pray that your eyes may be opened to the reality that God wants for you, the one right in front of you that you cannot see.\u00c2\u00a0 Open your eyes, and take it in and follow Jesus along the way.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 31: 7-9; Heb 5: 1-6; Mk 10: 46-52 Dc. Larry Brockman Everyone likes to think they are special.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody likes to be singled out, and called upon.\u00c2\u00a0 I recall an incident last weekend that shows this.\u00c2\u00a0 There was an opening for one of the officers on the Deacon’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}