Expect the Unexpected
May 30: Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
God surprises us all the time, because His plans are so much beyond our understanding. That’s why we should accept His divine provenance whenever we experience, even when it conflicts with our own limited desires.
Reading 1
1 Pt 2:2-5, 9-12
Beloved: Like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, 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.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul. Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that if they speak of you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Everything about Jesus is unexpected, from his birth in a manger to his execution on a cross. He was rejected by nearly everyone everywhere, and yet he came to save the entire world, Jew and Gentile alike.
And so St. Peter reminds us that we don’t know what the future may hold. If we do good works, regardless of what anyone says about us, those same accusers my turn around and glorify God when the time comes for them to be called. Your persecutor today may be your faithful friend tomorrow.1
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 100:2, 3, 4, 5
R. (2c) Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him;
bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
A lot of psalms praise God for His faithfulness to Israel, as they should. But Peter’s letter reminds his readers (who were Jews in the diaspora) that Jesus has expanded the meaning of “God’s Chosen” to everyone that believes in Him. That’s obviously not what the early Israelites expected, but we can be thankful that it’s true.
Alleluia
Jn 8:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You can’t see without light!
Gospel
Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Bartimaeus’s blindness could be seen as a metaphor for spiritual blindness. We don’t always see God’s plans, but Jesus opens them to us. That’s a lesson for us today to heed.
On the other hand, the guy was blind. Bartimaeus knew that he couldn’t cure himself just by wishing it so. His sight could only be restored if by the Word of God.
And Jesus gave that word. He just had to say so, and it was so.
The only thing we can do with our words is ask. Ask God for help, with faith. It’s His Will that will be done.
St. Paul is the perfect example of this.