SPEAKER_00: There's a line in today's gospel that if you miss it, it's key to the whole story today.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is calling him, and the gospel says he threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Saint Mark include that detail?
SPEAKER_00: Because for a blind beggar, the cloak was everything.
SPEAKER_00: It was his security, it was his blanket, it was his protection.
SPEAKER_00: Probably the place where people threw coins while he begged.
SPEAKER_00: It was the one thing he owned.
SPEAKER_00: And the moment Jesus calls him, Bartimaeus throws it aside.
SPEAKER_00: That's conversion.
SPEAKER_00: Conversion is not just believing Jesus existed.
SPEAKER_00: The crowds believe Jesus existed.
SPEAKER_00: Conversion is when a person is finally willing to let go of the one thing that they've been clinging on to instead of God.
SPEAKER_00: And every one of us has a cloak.
SPEAKER_00: For some people it's pride.
SPEAKER_00: For some people it's always needing to have control.
SPEAKER_00: For some people it's money and things.
SPEAKER_00: For others it's resentment.
SPEAKER_00: And for some it's a secret sin or an addiction.
SPEAKER_00: And for some it's the image that they want the world to see.
SPEAKER_00: We all have something we wrap around ourselves to feel secure apart from God.
SPEAKER_00: And many people many people want healing without surrender.
SPEAKER_00: They want Jesus close enough to comfort them, but not close enough to change them.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus is different.
SPEAKER_00: He's desperate enough to cry out, humble enough to admit his blindness, persistent enough to ignore the crowd, and courageous enough to leave the cloak behind.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the crowd in today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: At first they tell him to be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, stop bothering Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Be silent.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that's what the world still does today.
SPEAKER_00: The moment somebody starts to take their faith seriously, people get uncomfortable with that.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, hey, don't take religion so seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Don't bring that Jesus stuff here.
SPEAKER_00: You've changed.
SPEAKER_00: You're becoming too extreme.
SPEAKER_00: Barthemaus teaches us something important.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let the crowd determine the volume of your faith.
SPEAKER_00: The closer Jesus gets, the louder Barthemaus cries.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.
SPEAKER_00: And then comes one of the most beautiful lines in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stopped.
SPEAKER_00: Out of the entire crowd, Jesus stops for the one man everyone ignored.
SPEAKER_00: That's the heart of Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus notices the people the world overlooks.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you come to mass today carrying wounds nobody else sees.
SPEAKER_00: Anxiety, grief, fear, loneliness, shame, exhaustion.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe outwardly you look fine, but spiritually you feel like Bartimaeus sitting on the side of the road while life keeps moving past you.
SPEAKER_00: Today's gospel reminds us Jesus still stops for people who cry out to him.
SPEAKER_00: Not perfect people, not polished people, not people who have it all put together.
SPEAKER_00: No, people who know they need mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus asks Bartimaeus a strange question.
SPEAKER_00: What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it seems obvious a man is blind.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus wants Bartimaeus to say it out loud.
SPEAKER_00: Master, I want to see.
SPEAKER_00: That's an incredible prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Because once Christ opens your eyes, you cannot keep living the same way.
SPEAKER_00: And notice how the gospel ends.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus does not just receive a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: He goes back and go back to his own life.
SPEAKER_00: He no no, he becomes a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: He puts away that old life.
SPEAKER_00: That's the difference between using God and following God.
SPEAKER_00: Some people only want Jesus when they need something.
SPEAKER_00: But a disciple follows him wherever he leads, even when the road becomes difficult, even when the cross appears.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe the question today is simple.
SPEAKER_00: What is your cloak?
SPEAKER_00: What are you clinging to instead of God?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you spiritually blind?
SPEAKER_00: And do you really want Jesus to change you?
SPEAKER_00: Because Christ is still passing by, he's still stopping, he's still calling.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the most beautiful line of the gospel is when they finally say to Bartimaeus, hey, hey, take courage, get up, Jesus is calling you.
SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel in one sentence.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say it to you today.
SPEAKER_00: Take courage.
SPEAKER_00: Get up.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is calling you.