30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (2024)

Face it, we’re all control freaks to some degree. We might only have a mild case. We believe we are the only ones who can properly stack the dishes in the dishwasher or fold the laundry. We might have a more severe case where we exercise complete control of family finances or try to helicopter parent even our adult children. We all have aspects of our lives we clutch onto and resist surrendering. We have issues of trust that get in the way of our relationships with others and often get in the way of a close relationship with God. 

We are in the third week of a homily series called “Confessions of a Control Freak.” We have been looking at some of those issues. We started by looking at our reluctance to surrender to God completely. In the story of the rich young man from the Gospel of Mark, we heard how Jesus was approached by a man and asked what he needed to do to gain salvation. The man claimed he was faithful to all the commandments. Jesus praised him but then asked him to surrender to God entirely and take the risk to sell his goods and follow Jesus. The man just couldn’t do it! He wanted to hold something back from God.

Last week, the apostles James and John approached Jesus and asked to have the places at his right and left assigned to them when Jesus’ Kingdom was established. They wanted to be the ones to exercise power when Jesus began to rule. Jesus tells them that honor and glory in his kingdom won’t go to those who exercise authority but those who serve others.

Next weekend, we’ll give you the opportunity to serve others right here in Holy Redeemer Parish. After all the masses, we’ll conduct our annual Ministry Fair in the parish center. Representatives from parish organizations and ministries will be available to explain their work and sign up new volunteers. We are looking for new Eucharistic ministers and lectors, as well as volunteers for other ministries. We are offering a couple of new ones. One is a garden club. Several parish horticulturalists have begun organizing to care for the church landscaping and flowers. We are also starting a building group to help make minor repairs and advise on building maintenance. We’re willing to listen if you have your own ideas about how you would like to serve the parish. 

Today, we’ll look at another aspect of life that is important to us and over which we like to exercise control. It is our self-image. All of us go to considerable lengths to achieve and maintain our self-image. We all want others to think well of us. 

We can become a control freak about our image. You might be a control freak regarding your image if you lie about your golf handicap. You might strive to control your self-image if you dress up to go to the gym or pilates. You might be exercising a little too much control if you embellish the accomplishments of your children and grandchildren. 

With regard to our material possessions, we might be control freaks about our self-image if we organize our kitchen for show rather than function. Maybe we relegate people to sitting in our den rather than our living room because it is really only there for show and to promote our self-image. We are focused on impressing others. 

When it comes to our family, our self-image causes us to want to appear perfect in every way. Above our mantle is one of those family portraits taken at the beach. The sun is shining bright in a blue sky. Everyone is smiling as they are all dressed to match in white shorts and Oxford shirts with deep tans. 

Everyone is sensitive about their image. Social media can especially cause teens and young adults to be obsessed about their self-image and the need to conform. Sometimes, people will use our desire for a good self-image as a weapon against us. That happens to me as a priest on occasion. If I have to turn down someone’s request or confront their wrongdoing, they will accuse me of not being Christ-like. They try to hurt me with that accusation because they know I’m supposed to strive to imitate the love of our Savior, and so they use that image as a weapon against me.

All of us are sensitive about how others perceive us. That is why the Bible’s Book of Proverbs says: “The fear of what others think of you is a trap.” 

How do we resist this trap? How do we let go of our tendency to worry about our image? Today’s gospel gives us a good plan. It tells us that Jesus and the disciples came to Jerico. Jerico is a very historical city and is significant in scripture. Archeologists believe it to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Its history goes back 8000 years. According to the Book of Joshua, it was the first city conquered by the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land. 

Jerico is located only fifteen miles from Jerusalem. It was a very wealthy and bustling place in Jesus’ day because it was a crossroads for people going to Jerusalem. Jesus and his disciples are joining thousands of other pilgrims in Jericho on the way to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. It was a hopping place the day Jesus passed through. Something like Chatham, on the Fourth of July.

Jesus doesn’t plan to stop in Jerico. He is focused on getting to Jerusalem and the cross so he intends to pass through quickly. In Jesus’ day, city gates were hectic places as traffic slowed to pass through them. It was a good place for beggars to congregate and plead for alms. Lounging gossips also lingered about watching and talking to travelers exchanging the news from faraway places. 

Mark tells us:

"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.'"

Bartimaeus must have heard about Jesus of Nazareth from passing travelers as he sat begging. He must have heard that Jesus was a healer and miracle worker. To Bartimaeus, Jesus seemed to fit his expectations for the Messiah, so he called out:

"Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.”

Bartimaeus recognizes Jesus, but he uses the wrong type of title. He uses a Messianic title expressing expectations of a politically powerful King, not a servant Messiah. 

Jesus doesn’t immediately respond. He may have been focused on his discussion with the disciples, or the noise around him drowned out Bartimaeus’s voice. Bartimaeus will not let his opportunity slip by. He won’t let himself miss this chance to gain sight, so he calls to Jesus at the top of his lungs. 

As happens so often with the calls of the poor, the crowds react. 

“And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.”

People just wanted Bartimaeus to shut up and go away. That is the attitude we can so often have towards the poor. We say, “Round them up and send them back where they came from!” If we don’t see or hear from the poor, we can believe there is no poverty around us. 

Bartimaeus won’t cooperate. He doesn’t care what others think about him or feel about him. He won’t let this chance for a healing and a life-changing encounter with Jesus pass him by. He keeps calling to Jesus to get his attention.

Bartimaeus’ persistence pays off. He probably wasn’t the only beggar at the city gate, but he was the only one with enough perseverance and determination to get Jesus’ attention. This reminds us of the need to be persistent and specific in prayer. Bartimaeus believes Jesus can and will give him the sight he needs. When Jesus turns and tells the fickle crowd to guide Bartimaeus to him, their attitude changes. Those dismissive of the beggar now entreated him to come to Jesus without fear.  

Bartimaeus springs to his feet and symbolically casts aside his cloak or former life. Bartimaeus was probably sitting with his cloak under him. He would have laid it out so passersby could drop alms on it. When he flung his cloak aside, any coins on it would have flown through the air and fallen in the dirt, where it would have been impossible for him as a blind man to find them. Bartimaeus is so confident of a healing from Jesus that he has no attachment to his past image as a beggar. He is about to become a new person. 

When Bartimaeus comes before Jesus, Jesus asks him:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The bystanders must have wanted to say, “Well, dah,” but it is an important spiritual question. We might recall that it was the same question Jesus asked the apostles James and John in last week’s gospel. While they asked for power and glory, Bartimaeus asked for sight. While he suffered from a loss of physical sight, he showed great spiritual insight. He shows he sees who Jesus is. He recognizes that Jesus is a healer filled with compassion and the one he wants to follow on to Jerusalem. Bartimaeus could see Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Something so many will not see as Jesus enters into his Passion in the coming days. 

Bartimaeus is an example for us. He shows that when we are control freaks about our image, we follow the crowd, not Jesus, our Master. The crowd is fickle and doesn’t have any concern for us. Trying to establish an image acceptable to the masses is a waste of our time. They will turn on us if it suits them. They will abandon us in a flash.

So, how do we wean ourselves away from the desire to keep our self-image sparkly? How can we overcome the need to appear perfect? We do it by fasting. Fasting from food might be effective, but I’m thinking more of fasting from the things that feed our desire to control our image to impress others. 

We need to fast from advertising, social media, and whatever feeds into our insecurities about how we dress, furnish our home, the car we drive, or act in any way. Anything destructive to our self-image has to go. That might mean fasting from contact with a particular crowd of friends, family, acquaintances, or a crowd at our favorite restaurant. 

Now, with that extra time, devote it to a few more minutes of prayer or spiritual reading. Use it to imitate Bartimaeus and see the presence of Christ in your world with a new sight. Like Bartimaeus, acknowledge Jesus’ presence near you. Rely on persistent prayer and express your needs to Jesus in them. Like Bartimaeus, focus your work on your self-image, cultivating it so it matters to only one: God, Our Heavenly Father.