Thirtieth Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: The Meaning Of Hope 希望的意義
We are approaching the end of the liturgical year. Thus, the message conveyed in the readings is pregnant with end time themes. One of the existential puzzles humanity confront is the problem of suffering. How can a benevolent God allow men to suffer for no meaningful purposes? Turn the perspective around and we will ask with what can we sustain long periods of sufferings? In the readings today, I find some enlightenments with which you don’t have to agree.
The first reading from Jeremiah is very encouraging and gives some of us a lot of hope. I said “some of us” because Jeremiah seems to refer to a minority. God speaks through Jeremiah in these words, “Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has saved His people, the remnant of Israel” (Jeremiah 31:7b). Didn’t St. Paul write that God our Saviour “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4)? Then why does the LORD only save the remnant of Israel, but not all? Let’s face it! The idea of “hell” has always been in God’s mind probably even before Creation. Thus, the hell is NOT nothing. It won’t be empty. At the end of the world, Satan and the rebellious angels will be exiled there and they will not be lonely. People who have abused in their earthly life the freedom of will that God gave them will join Satan in hell. The hell is NOT a joke. Satan and the fallen angels would definitely find pleasure in torturing the pitiful humanity in hell! When the prophets announce that the LORD would save the remnant of Israel, they have already hinted at this eventuality: that a portion of humanity, a portion of God’s images, would be lost and end up in hell!
Has God not been fair, telling us His likes and dislikes, so that we will not be condemned in hell? No! He has worked for more than three millennia to save as many of us as possible. He made friends with Abraham and raised his offspring into a Chosen People. He established a covenant, the Sinai Covenant with them and gave them the Torah to guide them. To honour His pledge to Abraham, the Chosen People would be a blessing to the nations, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you” (Genesis 12:3). You may complain that the Torah is too harsh and God does not hesitate to establish a new covenant with the Chosen People as He has promised in the second half of Jeremiah’s prophecy in this chapter. God says, “See, days are coming --- oracle of the LORD --- when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). In short, God does not hesitate to give humanity a second chance. How do we know that the new covenant is not as harsh as the old one? The Bible is an open book which everyone may inspect. Let’s read on! “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people … Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me --- oracle of the LORD --- for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin” (31:33-34). Judge for yourself! Which court on earth would forgive your debts and no longer remember your crimes? What else can we demand from such a merciful God? Tell God what else God has NOT done to guarantee us a room in heaven!
Jeremiah’s prophecy is saturated with images of hope. God says, “Look! I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the earth, the blind and the lame in their midst. Pregnant women, together with those in labour --- an immense throng --- they shall return” (31:8). What’s “the land of the north”? Jeremiah was referring to the Babylonian Empire in the north which would conquer Judah. Why “gather them from the ends of the earth”? Since the Babylonian Captivity, Jews have been scattered around the globe. This scattering became worse after their second revolt against the Roman Empire which resulted in the Jews being banished from Palestine since the second century. The Jewish diaspora has a long history and is very different in essence from the overseas Chinese communities. Still, God’s promise is full of hope because among the remnant are pregnant women together with those in labour! Hong Kong suffers from an extremely low birth rate, worse than those highly prosperous developed regions in this planet. Therefore, it is not an economic indicator but a political indicator! It is a vote of no confidence to the political system. With the approach of the 1997 handover, many people voted with their feet. Those who remained voted with their wombs. The 2019 social movements resulted in another wave of migration and another drop of fertility rate as well as house prices! God’s pledges in Jeremiah 31 are truly encouraging! In contrast to the policy of importing economic talents from the land of the north to fill up the economical capability void created by the brain drain as well as the fertility drop, God includes the blind and the lame as well as the pregnant and those in labour! Who is wiser, the LORD God or the mandarins working in air-conditioned offices? I will suspend my judgment and I advise you to follow me because only time could prove! I confess that I have been guilty of being imprudent in raising the comparison although I am painfully aware of the speculation of other political commentators.
We do not know whether Bartimaeus was born blind or not. Let us assume that he was, then we have another incident of healing a man born blind recorded in John 9. In John 9, Jesus’ key message is, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind” (John 9:39). Jesus was referring to the religious authority who treated Him as an enemy. In the story of Bartimaeus, he called Jesus “Son of David” which means the Messiah. At that time, most Jews anticipated the Messiah, an offspring of King David, to liberate them from the Roman colonial rule. Thus, when Jesus foretold His passion and resurrection, the Apostles failed to accept Him. They were expecting a military leader instead of a suffering servant whom God has in mind (Mark 8:33). We do not know whether Bartimaeus shared the same anticipation with the other Jews or not. From how the other people treated him, “And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent” (10:48), we may concluded that the blind were excluded from the mainstream ideology of the time. In fact, from Bartimaeus’ point of view, how could a military leader restore his sight? Moreover, Jews usually thought that illness might be a punishment from God. Thus, when Bartimaeus replied, “Master, I want to see” (10:51), most likely, he was begging Jesus to forgive his sins. Thus, while most people, including the Apostles were blind to Jesus’ true mission, blind Bartimaeus saw clearly that Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sin on earth (2:10), to reconcile God and sinners! We do not know how long had Bartimaeus been blind. But I am sure the news about Jesus of Nazareth must have given him a hope of seeing and the patience to suffer prejudices and ill-treatments against the blind in the society.
Beloved brethren! Do you place your hope in Jesus, or entrust your security in power and wealth? Make sure you do not embrace a false hope. Otherwise, you will be extremely disappointed on the Last Day. Amen.
God bless!
Picture Credit: creator.nightcafe.studio
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