Mark’s Gospel is the tightest of the four that we have. Because of its brevity, Mark does not waste words, and he presents Jesus who is always “on the go.” Throughout the gospel, the phrase “on the road,” or “on the way,” or “as Jesus was going…” appears many times. In Greek it appears as en to hodo, or “on the way.” And that is not just some grammatical convention. That “way” that Mark mentions is significant for us, because it is Jesus’ way. It is the journey of discipleship that takes Jesus where He is going and by extension takes us where we are meant to go as well.
We find Jesus and his crowd on that “way” today. On the side of the way, we encounter Bartimaeus – a blind man who is not exactly on the way but “along the roadside.” However, hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was coming, the blind man cries out – not for just “some guy” called Jesus, but for “Jesus, Son of David.” This is significant because calling Him “Son of David” means that this blind man sees Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ. This confession of faith gets Jesus’ attention. And then we see this miraculous encounter.
I think that it is meaningful that we experience this particular Gospel right as Pope Francis shared his latest encyclical document, Dilexit Nos, on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In it, the pope explores the meaning of the human and divine love of Christ for the world, and how that love is needed now more than ever.
Jesus shows us what this love is, and that it is not a matter of mere words and “positive thoughts.” When he encounters Bartimaeus on the side of the road, the other disciples following Christ show their indifference to his plight, even annoyance at his presence there. But his faith calls out to Jesus, and “Jesus stopped,” asking the man to be called to Him. “What do you want me to do for you?” He asks (as He asked James and John last week). “Christ shows that God is closeness, compassion and tender love” (DN 35). For Bartimaeus, his request is not about power or position or even nice words. He is practical and speaks from his own heart: “I want to see.” And Jesus heals him immediately. “In his compassion, God does not love us with words; he comes forth to meet us and, by his closeness, he shows us the depth of his tender love” (DN 36).
The crowd that followed Jesus at that time recognized His celebrity, certainly. However, as is shown over and over, very few – not even His disciples – saw the deeper meaning of His mission. They were happy to remain at a superficial level of faith and following, enjoying the attention and seeing the prestige (like James and John last week). In other words, Jesus’ message had not yet penetrated to their hearts. So, when someone in need calls out to Jesus, their first response is one of annoyance (“You’re bringing us down, man!”). Faith would not be deterred, though, and Bartimaeus continues to reach out for the Christ. This is the call of the heart, and then we see the response of the Sacred Heart.
Pope Francis writes:
For this reason, when we witness the outbreak of new wars, with the complicity, tolerance or indifference of other countries, or petty power struggles over partisan interests, we may be tempted to conclude that our world is losing its heart. We need only to see and listen to the elderly women – from both sides – who are at the mercy of these devastating conflicts. It is heart-breaking to see them mourning for their murdered grandchildren, or longing to die themselves after losing the homes where they spent their entire lives. Those women, who were often pillars of strength and resilience amid life’s difficulties and hardships, now, at the end of their days, are experiencing, in place of a well-earned rest, only anguish, fear and outrage. Casting the blame on others does not resolve these shameful and tragic situations. To see these elderly women weep, and not feel that this is something intolerable, is a sign of a world that has grown heartless (DN 22).
This is why a renewed appreciation for the Sacred Heart and the present love of Jesus is so needed. We are losing who we are because we are losing an understanding of who Jesus is. We become desensitized to others’ plights, and we become more and more isolated in ourselves. The Heart of Jesus can heal this division. The pope again:
At the same time, the heart makes all authentic bonding possible, since a relationship not shaped by the heart is incapable of overcoming the fragmentation caused by individualism. Two monads may approach one another, but they will never truly connect. A society dominated by narcissism and self-centeredness will increasingly become “heartless”. This will lead in turn to the “loss of desire”, since as other persons disappear from the horizon, we find ourselves trapped within walls of our own making, no longer capable of healthy relationships. As a result, we also become incapable of openness to God. … We see, then, that in the heart of each person there is a mysterious connection between self-knowledge and openness to others, between the encounter with one’s personal uniqueness and the willingness to give oneself to others. We become ourselves only to the extent that we acquire the ability to acknowledge others, while only those who can acknowledge and accept themselves are then able to encounter others (DN 17,18).
It is in the Eucharist that we encounter the living heart of Jesus, His Sacred Heart. Discipleship, then, is not a matter of superficial association or intellectual connection; instead, it is about being loved by Christ and returning that love to Him and to the world. We are a people who have received love and are called to give love away. “Only the heart is capable of setting our other powers and passions, our entire person, in a stance of reverence and loving obedience before the Lord” (DN, 27).
This is what touched the heart of Bartimaeus. In his encounter with Jesus, the Lord invited him to “Go your way.” However, this is no longer possible for the man who had encountered the living heart of Jesus. Mark tells us that, rather than going his own way, Bartimaeus followed Jesus on the way. This is the dynamic of discipleship; it is the way that is set out for us. In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are given the gift of being invited into Christ’s intimate life. We are called to way His way, and to encounter one another along that way.
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