30 May 2024 – Thursday of Week 8

30 May 2024 – Thursday of Week 8

1st Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-5; 9-12

Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation — if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, so that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honourably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honourable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

Responsorial: Psalm 99:2-5

R./: Come with joy into the presence of the Lord

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy. (R./)

Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock. (R./)

Go within his gates, giving thanks.
Enter his courts with songs of praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name. (R./)

Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age. (R./)

Gospel: Mark 10:46-52

Jesus heals Bartimaeus of blindness because of his faith

They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Like living stones

Peter wrote to encourage people who were emotionally drained by recent  events. They were reeling from the loss of the Jerusalem temple, which they thought of as God’s dwelling place on earth, and they were being treated as outsiders by the social world around them. Peter invited them to trust in  Jesus and let him build them into a spiritual temple or household of God, with Christ as the foundation-stone. This was good news for people who felt like aliens in a hostile world and wondered where God was in all of this. The writer wants the readers to choose. They do not need to search for a new homeland or build a new shrine to God’s presence; they can choose to actually be the place of God’s presence as well as home and family for the homeless.

What an inspirational way to describe our shared Christian vocation: “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are urged to see ourselves as “living stones” (lithoi zōntes) aligned with the “living stone” (lithon zōnta), and let ourselves be built into “a spiritual house” (2:5). It is the Petrine equivalent of St. Paul’s famous saying, “you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:27)

Peter’s letter encourages us not to be passive or powerless victims, demeaned by other people’s opinions. Rather, it invites us to choose. We do not need to search for home; we are already home where God wants us to be. We can choose to be the place of God’s presence in the world here and now. In this way, we are the living people of God.

Blind but seeking

A lovely stained-glass window that I admire depicts the healing of the man born blind. Below it are the words of Jesus to the man, “What do you want me to do for you?” and his heartfelt prayer, “Lord, let me see again.” At first, the blind man was too far from Jesus to really talk with him. When he shouted out, “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me,” the followers of Jesus scolded the man and told him to keep quiet.

By contrast, Jesus scolded those who prevented others from coming to believe in him. He blamed them for preventing children being brought for his blessing. He ignored those who tried to prevent blind Bartimaeus from getting near him. Rather than shutting doors in people’s faces, he needs us to open up the kingdom of heaven to others. We are to lead each other to the Lord, reveal the Lord to each other, and, in so doing, to support each other on our journey towards God.

Well-meaning people were blocking this man’s way to Jesus. Our vocation is to do the opposite, to help others meet him, and to support them in following the Lord along the road.