Mark 10:52 Bartimaeus followed Jesus along the road. JB

 

----- Forwarded Message ----  From: Nivard McGlynn …

Subject: Bartimaeus

In today’s Gospel St Mark, (8:46-52), “Bartimaeus shouted all the louder”.

When we recognize the darkness of our own blindness, let us cry out with all our heart. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” The people ahead told Bartimaeus to ‘shut up’. The people ahead of Jesus are the crowds of bodily desires and the uproar caused by our temptations. Before Jesus comes into our hearts these disturb our thoughts by tempting us. They thoroughly muddle the words in our hearts as we pray.

    We often wish to be converted to the Lord when we have committed some wrong. When we try to pray earnestly against the wrongs we have committed, images of our sins come into our hearts. They obscure our inner vision. They disturb our minds and overwhelm the sound of our voice. The more our heart's voice is attacked, the more firmly we must persist to overcome the uproar of forbidden thoughts. We must break in on our Lord's ears by our perseverance.

   When we persist in our prayer, we fix Jesus to our hearts as he passes by. He stops and calls us into his presence to be healed of our blindness.

  

NJB 52 Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has saved you.' And at once his sight returned and he followed him along the road.

Vulgate 52  Iesus autem ait illi vade fides tua te salvum fecit et confestim vidit et sequebatur eum in via

KJV 52  And1161 Jesus2424 said2036 [5627] unto him846, Go thy way5217 [5720]; thy4675 faith4102 hath made4982 thee4571 whole4982 [5758]. And2532 immediately2112 he received his sight308 [5656], and2532 followed190 [5707] Jesus2424 in1722 the way3598.

DRB 52  And Jesus saith to him: Go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw and followed him in the way.

(GILL) and followed Jesus in the way: that is, to Jerusalem. The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read "him", instead of "Jesus"; but the Syriac and Persic versions read neither. This man was an emblem of the people of God, before, at, and after conversion: before conversion; for, as he was blind, so are they; they are without any spiritual sight and discerning of God, as in Christ, as the God of all grace, as their Covenant God and Father; …

(Clarke) Mar 10:52 -

Followed Jesus in the way - Instead of τῳ Ιησου, Jesus, several eminent critics read αυτω, him. This is the reading of ABCDL, fourteen others, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, later Syriac in the margin, two Persic, Vulgate, all the Itala, and Origen once. Jesus is the common reading; but this sacred name having occurred so immediately before, there could be no necessity for repeating it here, nor would the repetition have been elegant.

Verse 52 followed him along the road. Jerusalem Translation re-echoes along the road –the disciples, followers, Mk.9:34, 10:17,32,52.

  

Jericho Tell es Sultan from south

(Navarre Bible) And immediately he received his sight and followed Him on His way." Following Jesus on His way. You have understood what our Lord was asking to from you and you have decided to accompany Him on His way. You are trying to walk in His footsteps, to clothe yourself in Christ's clothing, to be Christ Himself: well, your faith, your faith in the light our Lord is giving you, must be both operative and full of sacrifice. Don't fool yourself. Don't think you are going to find new ways. The faith He demands of us is as I have said. We must keep in step with Him, working generously and at the same time uprooting and getting rid of everything that gets in the way" ([Blessed] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 195-198).

The Three Passion Predictions

in the Synoptic Gospels

Prediction Mark Matthew Luke Following

First 8:31 16:13-33 9:18-22 Peter’s Confession

Second 9:31 17:22-23 9:44 Transfiguration and Healing of Demon Possessed Boy

Third 10:32-34 20:17-19 18:31-33 Rich Young Ruler Dialogue

+ + +

Sacra Pagina The Gospel of MARK
inter pp 316-320

The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus (10:46-52)

Verse 52: And Jesus said to him: “Go. Your faith has saved you.” And immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Notes

52.Go. Your faith has saved you: There is no healing word or touch here (compare 8:22-26). There is simply Jesus' declaration that Bartimaeus' faith has "saved" him-a verb (sozein) that can refer to both physical and spiritual healing (even "salvation"). See the same declaration by Jesus in the story of the woman with the flow of blood in Mark 5:34.

immediately he regained his sight: The healing is instantaneous and complete, in contrast to the gradual healing in Mark 8:22-26.

followed him on the way: The combination of the words "follow" and "way" suggests that Bartimaeus became a follower of Jesus and went up to Jerusalem with him (though he is never heard from again).

INTERPRETATION   

The healing of blind Bartimaeus is on the surface a miracle story, but it is also, and more profoundly, a dialogue about faith. After setting the scene in 10:46 Mark narrates Bartimaeus' repeated cry in vv. 47-48: "Son of David, have mercy on me!" When Jesus summons him in v. 49, Bartimaeus rushes to Jesus in v. 50. Jesus elicits his request ("that I may see again") in v. 51, and in v. 52 declares him healed from his blindness ("your faith has saved you"), and Bartimaeus follows Jesus on the way up to Jerusalem. 

The blind Bartimaeus displays prophetic insight. His choice of the epithet "Son of David" evokes Jesus' royal lineage as well as contemporary Jewish traditions about Solomon as a magician and healer. The beggar Bartimaeus here asks for more than money ("that I may see again"), and he gets even more than he asks for ("your faith has saved you"). Bartimaeus emerges as an exemplar of faith in Jesus and seems to accept Jesus' invitation to become his disciple.

As the conclusion of Mark's journey narrative the Bartimaeus episode in 10:46-52 is linked to the earlier healing of a blind man in 8:22-26 (which constitutes the beginning of the journey). Besides bearing witness to Jesus' power as a healer, the two accounts by their very position in Mark's outline have obvious symbolic significance.

Both texts are stories about blind men who receive the gift of sight from Jesus, and both feature a large amount of dialogue. In 8:22-26 there are ritualistic or even magical elements (use of spittle, laying on of hands), whereas in 10:46-52 there are no healing actions or words, and what stands out is the faith of Bartimaeus ("your faith has saved you"). In 8:22- 26 the healing is complicated and gradual, whereas in 10:46-52 it is immediate and complete. In 8:22-26 the man is sent home and told not to enter the village, while in 10:46-52 Bartimaeus follows Jesus on the way.

The Markan journey narrative has been primarily concerned with com­ing to see who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. At the outset Mark 8:22-26 reminds the reader how difficult it can be to see these things clearly, while at the end Mark 10:46-52 illustrates a clear-sighted faith in Jesus the Son of David as the agent of God's healing power and the en­thusiastic and wholehearted response that he evokes from people of faith. More important than the restoration of Bartimaeus' physical sight is his spiritual insight into the person of Jesus.

The Bartimaeus story also serves as a bridge to the next phases in Mark's story of Jesus' public ministry: his teaching in deed and word in Jerusalem (chs. 11-12); his apocalyptic discourse (ch. 13); and his Passion, death, and resurrection (chs. 14--16). In Markan geography Jerusalem is the place where Jesus is rejected and put to death.

The way of Jesus turns out to be the way of the cross: the way of rojcc tion by his Jewish contemporaries, the way of betrayal by his own dis ciples, and the way of suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish and Roman authorities. Along the journey described in 8:22-10:52 Jesus has taught his disciples who he is, what awaits him (see 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34), and what it means to follow him. Bartimaeus has received the gift of sight and sets out on the way of Jesus: the way that leads to Jerusalem.

Benedict XVI's new book "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week"

SPECIAL REPORT

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Benedict XVI's Book Coming Next Week

Volume 2 of Jesus of Nazareth to Be Released March 10

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 2, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's new book, "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week -- From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection," will be presented in the Vatican on March 10.

The Pope's book is being released in Italian by the Vatican Publishing House, and in English by Ignatius Press. It will also be published in German, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Polish.

A press conference will be held for the presentation of the book, with the participation of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Claudio Magris, a writer and German scholar.

• The book has nine chapters and an epilogue. Chapter One is titled "The Entrance into Jerusalem and the Cleansing of the Temple."
• Chapter Two, which focuses on "Jesus' Eschatological Discourse," is subdivided into three sections: "The End of the Temple," "The Times of the Gentiles," and "Prophecy and Apocalyptics in the Eschatological Discourse."
• Chapter Three has as its subject "The Washing of the Feet" and contains the following six subheadings: "The Hour of Jesus," "You Are Clean," "Sacramentum and Exemplum -- Gift and Task: The 'New Commandment,'" "The Mystery of the Betrayer," "Two Conversations with Peter" and "Washing of Feet and Confession of Sin."
• The title of Chapter Four is "Jesus' High-Priestly Prayer," and the subdivisions are: "The Jewish Feast of Atonement as Biblical Background to the High-Priestly Prayer," and "Four Major Themes of the Prayer."
• Chapter Five is entirely dedicated to "The Last Supper," which is analyzed under the headings: "The Dating of the Last Supper," "The Institution of the Eucharist," "The Theology of the Words of Institution," and "From the Last Supper to the Sunday Morning Eucharist."
• "Gethsemane," the subject of Chapter Six, includes sections titled: "On the Way to the Mount of Olives," "The Prayer of Jesus," "Jesus' Will and the Will of the Father," and "Jesus' Prayer on the Mount of Olives in the Letter to the Hebrews."
• Chapter Seven, "The Trial of Jesus," includes sections on "Preliminary Discussion in the Sanhedrin," "Jesus Before the Sanhedrin" and "Jesus before Pilate."
• Chapter Eight, on the "Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus," begins with a reflection on "Word and Event in the Passion Narrative," and continues with "Jesus on the Cross," concluding with "Jesus' Death as Reconciliation (Atonement) and Salvation."
• The ninth and final chapter is titled "Jesus' Resurrection from the Dead" and is subdivided as follows: "What Is the Resurrection of Jesus?" "The Two Different Types of Resurrection Testimony," "The Confessional Tradition," "The Narrative Tradition," and "Summary: The Nature of Jesus' Resurrection and Its Historical Significance."
• The Holy Father's book concludes with an epilogue titled: "He Ascended into Heaven -- He Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father, and He Will Come Again in Glory."   

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Excerpt of 'Jesus of Nazareth': What Is Truth?

"The Kingship Proclaimed by Jesus … Is None Other Than the Kingship of Truth"

ROME, MARCH 2, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is an excerpt from Benedict XVI's book "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week," which is scheduled to be released worldwide March 10. The excerpt comes from Chapter 7, Section 3, titled "Jesus Before Pilate." Ignatius Press is the publisher of the volume in English.

* * *

In addition to the clear delimitation of his concept of kingdom (no fighting, earthly powerlessness), Jesus had introduced a positive idea, in order to explain the nature and particular character of the power of this kingship: namely, truth. Pilate brought another idea into play as the dialogue proceeded, one that came from his own world and was normally connected with "kingdom": namely, power—authority (exousia). Dominion demands power; it even defines it. Jesus, however, defines as the essence of his kingship witness to the truth. Is truth a political category? Or has Jesus’ "kingdom" nothing to do with politics? To which order does it belong? If Jesus bases his concept of kingship and kingdom on truth as the fundamental category, then it is entirely understandable that the pragmatic Pilate asks him: "What is truth?" (18:38).
    

Mark 10:32 Were in a daze (JB)

Wednesday, 02 March 2011
Wednesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time
Book of Sirach 36:1.4-5.10-17.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:32-45.

Just before the Mass I checked the Jerusalem Bible translation of the Gospel. The JB says the disciples were in a daze and apprehensive on the road to Jerusalem. The other translations use the words amazed and feared. The Greek words are more resounding, kai ethambounto and ephobounto ….   (NJB) “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on ahead of them; they were in a daze, and those who followed were apprehensive”.

The today Gospel is named ‘the Prophecy of the Passion’, Mk. 10:32-45.

Earlier, ‘the Prediction of the Passion’ is encountered by Peter at Caesarea Philippi. Mk.18-27

On the road to Jerusalem for Jesus Passion, the disciples reacted so differently. Peter and James and John are dazed, amazed, astonished. In our Mass the dithering disciples prompt us to steadier followers of Jesus. The action of the saving of the Passion bring the singleness of heart and purposefulness in union with Christ.

(GNT-TR+)  ησαν²²⁵⁸  δε¹¹⁶¹  εν¹⁷²²  τη³⁵⁸⁸  οδω³⁵⁹⁸  αναβαινοντες³⁰⁵  εις¹⁵¹⁹  ιεροσολυμα²⁴¹⁴  και²⁵³²  ην²²⁵⁸  προαγων⁴²⁵⁴  αυτους⁸⁴⁶  ο³⁵⁸⁸  ιησους²⁴²⁴  και²⁵³²  εθαμβουντο²²⁸⁴  και²⁵³²  ακολουθουντες¹⁹⁰  εφοβουντο⁵³⁹⁹  και²⁵³²  παραλαβων³⁸⁸⁰  παλιν³⁸²⁵  τους³⁵⁸⁸  δωδεκα¹⁴²⁷  ηρξατο⁷⁵⁶  αυτοις⁸⁴⁶  λεγειν³⁰⁰⁴  τα³⁵⁸⁸  μελλοντα³¹⁹⁵  αυτω⁸⁴⁶  συμβαινειν⁴⁸¹⁹  

(Vulgate)  erant autem in via ascendentes in Hierosolyma et praecedebat illos Iesus et stupebant et sequentes timebant et adsumens iterum duodecim coepit illis dicere quae essent ei ventura

Mar 10:32 -

And they were amazed (kai ethambounto). Imperfect tense describing the feelings of the disciples as Jesus was walking on in front of them (ēn proagōn autous, periphrastic imperfect active), an unusual circumstance in itself that seemed to bode no good as they went on through Perea towards Jerusalem. In fact, they that followed were afraid (hoi de akolouthountes ephobounto) as they looked at Jesus walking ahead in solitude. The idiom (hoi de) may not mean that all the disciples were afraid, but only some of them. “The Lord walked in advance of the Twelve with a solemnity and a determination which foreboded danger” (Swete). Cf. Luk_9:5. They began to fear coming disaster as they neared Jerusalem. They read correctly the face of Jesus.." (RWP)

(NJB) They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on ahead of them; they were in a daze, and those who followed were apprehensive.

(NRSV) Mark 10:32 They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. 

Biblos << Mark 10:32 >>

NASB © Greek Transliteration Strong's Definition Origin They were on the road ὁδῷ odō 3598 a way, road a prim. word going ἀναβαίνοντες anabainontes 305 to go up, ascend from ana and the same as basis up to Jerusalem, Ἱεροσόλυμα ierosoluma 2414 Jerusalem, the capital of united Isr. and Judah of Hebrew originYerushalaim and Jesus Ἰησοῦς iēsous 2424 Jesus or Joshua, the name of the Messiah, also three other Isr. of Hebrew originYehoshua was walking on ahead προάγων proagōn 4254 to lead forth, to go before from pro and agó of them; and they were amazed, ἐθαμβοῦντο ethambounto 2284 to astonish from thambos and those τῇ tē 3588 the the def. art. who followed ἀκολουθοῦντες akolouthountes 190 to follow from alpha (as a cop. prefix) and keleuthos (a road, way) were fearful. ἐφοβοῦντο ephobounto 5399 to put to flight, to terrify, frighten from phobos

Annual Retreat - Rule of St Benedict, Cistercian Community Contemplative Life

The concluding Retreat Conference of our Annual Retreat was directed to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

A opening quotation from St. Benedict lead directly through Lectio Divina into the depths of Mary.
 RB. Prologue

L I S T E N  carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him 

The powerful  reflection is summed up beautifully in some words from Caryll Houseland. Added pages ....

Annual Retreat - Final Conference on
Blessed Virgin Mary

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COMMENT - Responses below, at end.

Caryll Houselander ‘The Reed of God’ Part Two pp.40-45. 1948 ET HOMO FACTUS EST HUMANLY speaking, the time of Advent must have been the happiest time in Our Lady's life. The world about her must have been informed with more than its habitual loveliness, for she was gathering it all to the making of her son. But sometimes a pang of grief must have shot through her; for example, when the young wheat grew and she saw it pierce the earth with little swords. Perhaps the first sword to pierce her heart was a blade of green wheat. For was not her precious burden a grain of wheat sown in a field? Was He not bread? The world's bread that must be broken? Everything must have spoken to her of Him, as if the beauty of the world was one more prophecy. To children it seems perfectly natural that God's thoughts should become snow and water and stars; and creation itself is simply His meditation on Christ. The seed in the earth is the unborn child. The snow on the field is the Virgin Mother's purity. The bloom on the black thorn, flowering through the land, His birth. The falling of the red rose leaves foretells His passion, the wheat is bound in sheaves because He ,was bound, it is threshed because He was scourged. The fruit is red on the bough because He was crucified; because He rose from the dead, spring returns to us again. If such is the beauty of the world to ordinary children, what must it have been to the Mother of God, when her whole being was folded upon the unborn Christ within her? He was completely her own, utterly dependent upon her: she was His food and warmth and rest, His shelter from the world, His shade in the Sun. She was the shrine of the Sacrament, the four walls and the roof of His home. Yet she must have longed to hold Him between her hands and to look into His human face and to see in it, in the face of God, a family likeness to herself! Think of that! But perhaps you cannot, unless you happen to be a young priest newly ordained, waiting for the moment when you will hold in your hands the first Host that you have consecrated at your first Mass. It must have been a season of joy, and she must have longed for His birth, but at the same time she knew that every step that she took, took her little son nearer to the grave. Each work of her hands prepared His hands a little more for the nails; each breath that she drew counted one more to His last. In giving life to Him she was giving Him death. All other children born must inevitably die; death belongs to fallen nature; the mother's gift to the child is life. But Christ is life; death did not belong to Him. In fact, unless Mary would give Him death, He could not die. Unless she would give Him the capacity for suffering, He could not suffer. He could only feel cold and hunger and thirst if she gave Him her vulnerability to cold and hunger and thirst. He could not know the indifference of friends or treachery or the bitterness of being betrayed unless she gave Him a human mind and a human heart. That is what it meant to Mary to give human nature to God. He was invulnerable; He asked her for a body to be wounded. He was joy itself; He asked her to give Him tears. He was God; He asked her to make Him man. He asked for hands and feet to be nailed. He asked for flesh to be scourged. He asked for blood to be shed. He asked for a heart to be broken. The stable at Bethlehem was the first Calvary. The wooden manger was the first Cross. The swaddling bands were the first burial bands. The Passion had begun. Christ was man. This, too, was the first separation. This was her son, but now He was outside of Her: He had a separate heart: He looked at the world with the blind blue eyes of a baby, but they were His own eyes. The description of His birth in the Gospel does not say that she held Him in her arms but that she "wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger." As if her first act was to lay Him on the Cross. She knew that this little son of hers was God's Son and that God had not given Him to her for herself alone but for the whole world. This is one of the greatest of all the things that we must learn from our contemplation of Our Lady. Few mothers realize that their children are part of a whole and that the whole is the family of God, to whom every child born owes all the love and service of a brother or sister. Many mothers try to shield their children from the common life, to give them a sheltered upbringing, so to shield them from all risk of sickness or pain or poverty that they are shielded from vitality and the vast experience of living.   (Read) . . .