Jer 31:7-9; Ps 125 (126); Heb 5:1-6; Mk 10:46-52

«You are my son, today I have begotten you»: The letter to the Jews applies to Jesus Psalm 2, as the synoptics do in baptism. Mark also narrates the encounter between two sons: Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, and Jesus, the son of David. All the characters that Jesus heals remain anonymous. Of this blind man, however, Mark tells us the name, explaining the meaning. For him it is perhaps to announce that to meet Jesus means to live a baptismal experience, which regenerates us children of God. The son of Timaeus now perceives the word of his father to himself: “You are my son,” Here I create you in baptismal grace. This is indeed a baptismal tale. Baptism is ‘ Enlightenment ‘: We receive a different look, in the light of the spirit. Bartimaeus, he receives the sight and the first face he contemplates is that of Jesus. Here is the true healing: to meet the face of Jesus to leave us to transform. Even if dismissed – Jesus tells him «Go» – Bartimaeus begins to follow Jesus Along the way. What he has received is not the view only, but the relationship with him, which he no longer wants to lose, even if it means following Jesus along the narrow path that rises towards Easter.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey