What do you know about Jericho? If you’re anything like me up until recently, you know nothing about Jericho and you don’t see how this geographical information has any relevance to your life or how God relates to you, but I came to find out that what you know about Jericho makes all the difference in the world.
What this story about the blind man being healed in Jericho has taught me is that the location where Jesus does his work matters. You see, I mistakenly thought I understood this story, but I went back and looked over it, and realized I didn’t understand it at all. Everything I thought I knew about this story, proved to be wrong.
You see, understanding this story of blind Bartimaeus all hinges on this question: What was Jesus doing in Jericho? Let’s explore this together. Jesus is on his way from Capernaum north of the Sea of Galilee down south to Jerusalem. The route Jesus took to get there is puzzling. Usually, we usually take a route for one of four reasons. Either because it is the quickest route, the easiest route, we’ve got time to kill, or we take a detour for some other reason.
The Quickest Route: Could it be that going from Capernaum through Jericho to Jerusalem was the quickest way to get there? Hardly. There is a much straighter shot from Capernaum to Jerusalem. If where Jesus starts in Capernaum is where I am standing here (in front of the ambo) and Jerusalem is way over here (walking from the ambo to the front right of the altar), the path I just walked is the quickest way. But that’s not the way Jesus went.
Jesus started here (standing in front of ambo) and went way out of his way (walking to the left of the altar) to go through Jericho (standing in front center of the altar) in order to get to Jerusalem (standing in the front right of the altar). So, we know Jesus didn’t go to Jericho because it was the quickest way.
The Easy Route: Okay, then maybe Jesus went out of his way to go through Jericho because it was the easiest way in that it avoided having to go through Samaria. Certainly, there is a case to be made for this interpretation of the story. For ethnic and religious reasons, the Samaritans and the Jews were bitterly opposed to one another. Jews often bypassed Samaria by taking a route through the desert through Jericho to Jerusalem. In fact, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.” But this was early on in Jesus’ ministry when Jesus was primarily focused on communicating his message to the Jews, instead of the Samaritans. But the story we heard about the blind man from Mark’s Gospel today is toward the end of Jesus’ public ministry, with this being the last miracle Mark tells us about before the cross. By this point of his ministry, Jesus was more focused on spreading his message to all nations, including Samaritans.
In fact in Luke’s Gospel, we have Jesus holding out the Good Samaritan and the grateful Samaritan leper who was healed as good examples for the Jews. In John’s Gospel, we have the Samaritan woman at the well-described favorably as a missionary of Jesus’. So, the explanation that Jesus took a detour through Jericho to avoid the Samaritans because he was anti-Samaritans doesn’t make much sense.
The Jesus was Killing Time Route: My 13-year-old daughter, Journey heard the homily earlier and said, “Dad, maybe Jesus went the long way because he was procrastinating not wanting to go to Jerusalem right away because he knew that would be where is suffering and death was to take place.” I thought to myself, “Dang, I didn’t know we had a budding theologian in the family.” Now, that she’s a teenager, I figure it’s pretty much my daughter’s job to challenge her Dad. I thought and prayed about this procrastination explanation this morning and I don’t buy it for two reasons. First, remember that Mark’s Gospel was originally written in the Greek language. Mark uses the Greek word “euthos” which is often translated as “immediately” or “right away” a lot. In fact, he uses it over 40 times, which is on average more than two times a chapter. Mark’s Gospel is all about action and doing things right now, so Jesus just killing time doesn’t make much sense for Mark’s Gospel.
The second thing is people were depending on Jesus dying on the cross for their salvation. Jesus denying or delaying others salvation un-necessarily seems like it would be selfish thing for Jesus to do and selfishness is not part of Jesus’ nature.
Jesus Went Out of His Way for Some Other Reason: There had to be some other reason why Jesus went out of his way to go through Jericho.
I’ll tell you why Jesus went way out of his way traveling through the desert to go to Jericho … for one person. The blind man needs Jesus. Jesus took the detour through Jericho precisely because he knew he had to finish the work he came here to do. Jesus knew that Bartimaeus the beggar was there in Jericho waiting for Jesus, begging not for money, but for healing. This is precisely the person Jesus went out of his way to save with the last miracle Mark tells us he performed before the cross.
Bartimaeus asks to be able to see again and the physical healing is immediate and complete, but Jesus gives him more than what he asks for when Jesus responds saying “your faith has saved you.” Even though he could not see Jesus, Bartimaeus believes in Jesus and persistently calls out to Jesus asking for help even when others try to tell him to be quiet. Even though we can’t see Jesus today in the Eucharist, we are called to be like Bartimaeus and believe in Jesus and his presence here with us today.
What do you know about Jericho? I am reminded of the map in the shopping mall with a dot on it that says, “you are here”? (standing in Jericho) Brothers and sisters, you are here. You are here with our friend Bartimaeus when you feel like a burden to others. You are here when you feel no one listens to you. You are here when you are in need of physical healing. You are here when you are in need of mercy. You are here when you need saved. What you need to know about Jericho is this: your body and soul are the present-day Jericho where Jesus goes out of his way to show his mercy, to heal, and to save.
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle B – October 24, 2021
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: Jer 31:7-9
Psalm: Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Reading 2: Heb 5:1-6
Gospel: Mk 10:46-52