Tuesday in the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, June 2, 2026

Mark 12, 13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.

“Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.”  The Pharisees and Herodians are the spiritual ancestors of those today who twist the words of the Gospels or even invent sayings they falsely attribute to the Gospels, distorting the Lord Jesus and his teachings.  For instance, people who publicly indulge in sin and encourage others to do so sometimes try to justify themselves by claiming that Jesus is “inclusive”.  The fact is that Jesus is very exclusive: “Many are called, few are chosen” (Matthew 22, 14) and “How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7, 14).  It is true that he ate with tax collectors and prostitutes, but he did so with an eye to converting them, not to validate their behavior.  Now, the Pharisees and the Herodians make an odd pairing.  Generally, these two groups hated each other. They came together, though in the matter of Jesus.  The Pharisees saw him as a threat to their moral authority; the Herodians, to political stability.  They sought independence from Rome, but under Herod Antipas, not under a Messiah.

“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.”  The Pharisees and Herodians think they can flatter Jesus and so cause him to let down his guard.  In fact, they thought him an imposter and a fraud who only stirred up the people.  “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”  The question they ask is, “Is it lawful?”  That is, according to the Mosaic Law.  The Law did not prohibit the paying of taxes or tribute to an outside power.  It did not address this question at all.  The legal problem regarding the paying of tax to Rome had to do with the coin used to pay it.  Jesus asks: “Whose image and inscription is this?”  The image of Caesar Tiberius was stamped on the Roman coin, the denarius.  The Jews were forbidden to make images of other people or even of animals, lest these become the occasion of of idolatry.  So did the prohibition against making images include the use of coins that featured images?  The Pharisees and Herodians hoped that by Jesus saying Yes, that the Romans would arrest him for interfering with their tax collection.  Or, that by his saying No, that he would discredit himself as the Messiah who would deliver the Jews from Roman rule.  

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”  By telling the Jews to give back to Caesar that which belongs to him, the Lord is treating the Roman coins as rubbish.  Take it away, he is saying.  By extension, he is showing his disdain for the treasure on earth that so many people scramble and fight for, only to lose it all when they least expect it: “You fool, this night your soul will be required of you. And whose shall those things be which you have stored up?“ (Luke 12, 20).  But if coins belong to Caesar, that is, material wealth to the world, what belongs to God?  Our hearts, souls, and minds: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind” (Matthew 22, 37).

“They were utterly amazed at him.”  They were astounded at how he had slipped through their fingers with a wisdom completely unearthly, but we may hope that they were brought to think about the transience of the wealth we misuse our lives to gain while neglecting the wealth that lasts forever.

Monday in the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, June 1, 2026

Mark 12, 1-12

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture passage: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?”  They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

“Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables.”  This Reading should be understood within the context of St. Mark’s account of the cursing of the fig tree: the Lord found no figs on the tree when he looked for them and he cursed it so that it would never bear fruit again.  This was a public sign of the Lord putting an end to the teaching of the Pharisees and an end to the priesthood, which he also signified by driving out of the Temple courtyard the animals being sold for the sacrifices.  The parables he now tells rebuke the Jewish authorities for their corruption and indicate their fate should they not repent.  

“A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower.”  The man puts a great amount of work and expense into making his vineyard a success.  He does everything right.  He planted the vines and helped them grow.  If he raised the vine from seeds it would take years for it to reach the point where it would begin to produce grapes.  The hedge would also have to be planted and taken care of.  Its purpose was to protect the vines from harsh weather and also from predators.  The tower housed the workers who would pick the grapes at harvest time.  From the fact of the vineyard having a tower we can know that this was a sizable vineyard.  The wine press was used, of course, for pressing the grapes.  Grapes in the Ancient Middle East were primarily used for wine as they did not possess much size or sweetness.  The vineyard represents God’s people; the hedge is the Law; the wine press is the altar in the Temple; and the tower is the Temple. “Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.” The tenants signify the priests of the Temple, and also the Pharisees and the elders.  The man who owns the vineyard and leases it is God.  God is said to “go on a journey” in the sense that he allows the “tenants” to exercise their free will in their care of the vineyard.  God involves us in his work of the salvation of the world as a sign of his power and also so that through it we might be saved.

“At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.”  The servant represents the owner in an official capacity.  The tenants were to treat him as though he were the owner himself.  The servants the owner sends are the Prophets, and the “produce” they were to bring back to the owner was the obedience of his people.  “But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.”  The tenants do not stop at refusing to deliver the produce, but beat the servant sent to receive it.  The tenants — the Jewish leaders — treated all the Prophets this way: “You are the sons of them that killed the Prophets” (Matthew 23, 31).  The Lord does not ascribe a motive for this behavior.  He simply lets the horror of it sink in.  The beatings, the murders are unprovoked and apparently acts of sadism.  

“They will respect my son.”  This strikes us as all the more horrific because we know what will happen even when the Father naively believes his son will fare better than the servants.  His son goes obediently, knowing he will be killed.  “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.”  Here the Lord provides the motivation for the tenants to kill the son: they think they will gain the vineyard.  But they prove themselves more naive than even the father.  They mistake the father’s patience and forbearance for weakness, and they also seem ignorant of the laws of inheritance.  “They seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard”, but that is not the end, for the father “will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others.”  The son is the Son of God the Father.  He is “beloved” and completely obedient to the Father.  The Father is not naive or weak but indeed he is merciful and patient.  So much so that he seems to hold the wicked tenants dearer than his servants the Prophets and his own Son.  This shows us how dearly the Lord holds us. And how many chances he gives us.  It also shows how the Jewish leaders behaved with the Prophets and how they would act with the Son: in a way which borders on madness.  The tenants in the parable do not gain much by killing the servants and only bring down predictable disaster on themselves by killing the son of the owner.  In the same way, the Jewish leaders would have lost nothing by heeding the Prophets and repenting, and taking stock of what Jesus said and did and coming to a rational conclusion: that he was who he claimed to be, the Son of God.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.”  Jesus told the parable and quotes the Psalm knowing that the Jewish leaders know that he is speaking of them as the wicked tenants and as the rejecting builders.  Jesus makes it plain to them that from that they have lost their relevance by rejecting the cornerstone and that they face eternal death at their judgment.  But they do not repent.  The miracles that underscore his authority and his claims mean nothing to them.  

“They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.”  Just as they feared the crowd when the Lord asked them whether John the Baptist’s vocation had its origin in heaven or from men, so here the Jewish leaders think only of their safety.  They do not think of their salvation.  “So they left him and went away.”  They left the one who would have saved them.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Sunday, May 31, 2026

Exodus 34, 4-6; 8–9

Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, “Lord.” Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, “If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own.”

(Today’s reflection is on the First Reading for this Solemnity).

The worship of God, the Most Holy Trinity is the foremost duty of the Catholic Church.  God as a Trinity of three Persons equal in power and majesty was hinted at throughout the Old Testament but directly revealed by God himself.  Indeed, even before the Son was born of the Virgin Mary, the Angel Gabriel reveals to her that the Son of the Most High would be conceived in her by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.  Before this Son ever began to preach, the Father spoke to him as he came out of the Jordan River following his baptism by John: “You are my Beloved Son.”  This proclamation was accompanied by the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.  Particularly in Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus taught about his equality with the Father, as his Son: “I and the Father are one” (John 10, 30).  He also spoke of the Holy Spirit as his equal, whom he and the Father would send upon the Apostles: “The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name” (John 14, 26).

Although the Church worships the Holy Trinity at each Mass, she worships him with heightened joy on this day, the Sunday after Pentecost, for at Pentecost the Apostles began to reveal to the mystery of the Holy Trinity to the world.  Pope John XXII established this feast in the early 1300’s.  

In the verses just before those used for today’s First Reading, Moses asked God two times to show him his face: “If therefore I have found favor in your sight, show me your face, that I may know you, and may find grace before your eyes” (Exodus 33, 13); and, “Show me your glory” (Exodus 33, 18).  Moses asks for this great favor not out of curiosity but in order to be assured that he has found sufficient favor with God to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land.   The Lord tells him that he may not see his face but that he may see something of his glory.  He will set Moses on a rock, “And when my glory shall pass, I will set you in a hole of the rock, and protect you with my right hand till I pass: And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back parts: but my face you cannot see” (Exodus 33, 22–23).  The Lord speaks of his transcendence, for he is far greater than our eyes can behold or our minds take in. It is as if a bacterium wanted to see a human being: it is in no way equipped to do so.

“The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.”  He calls out his name twice in order to emphasize it.   Here we must recall that Hebrew names revealed something of the person, possibly the circumstances of his or her conception or birth, or particular characteristics.  The name was not a label, as in the western world, but that person’s identity and meaning.  God’s “name” in Hebrew has its root in the verb to-be and thereby reveals that God is his own existence, his own being.  And yet it is not a name at all, for no one can pronounce it — both because it was forbidden to speak his name, and because it was not written down in such a way that it could be pronounced (that is, without vowels).  We cannot, then, fully comprehend him.

Yet the Son of the Father revealed God as the Father of the Son, the Son as the Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father and the Son.  He reveals God as the Holy Trinity in his love for us and his desire for us to know him to the extent that we can here on earth.  The one who loves desires to be known by the one whom he loves.  This knowing is the meaning of intimacy.  One day, in heaven, our eyes will be fully opened to God’s glory.  As St. Paul writes, “We see now through a glass in a dark manner: but then face to face. Now I know in part: but then I shall know even as I am known” (1 Corinthians 13, 12).

Saturday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, May 30, 2026

Mark 11, 27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”– they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

“The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him.”  This procession of notables crossing the Temple courtyard, must have aroused the attention of everyone around, as it was meant to do.  Furthermore, a gathering of this kind did not come together spontaneously.  It had been previously discussed and planned.  The Jewish authorities meant to confront Jesus publicly in order to make him answer their questions and to challenge him.  If they had managed to discredit him here, Good Friday would not have happened.  “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?”  They are demanding an explanation for the Lord’s throwing out the animal sellers and the money changers on the previous day, following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  To them, Jesus is merely the carpenter from Nazareth in Galilee, a second-class Jew, with no training from the rabbis and the Pharisees.  Indeed, he has contradicted these and asserted his own teachings. In their eyes, he has no standing whatsoever to run out the animal seller and money changers — so necessary for the sanctioning of the Temple.

“I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.”  We should note the patience and humility of the Lord.  He seizes the initiative from the Jewish leaders but he does so in a natural way, as anyone might do.  He does not call down thunder and lightning to sow them, as he might have done.  He does not humiliate them.  The Jewish leaders, curious as to his question and certain of their ability to answer it, silently agree to his terms.  They think themselves able to completely discredit him simply by answering his question.  “Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”  There was probably a long pause between the Lord’s question and his demand for them to reply to him, as he waited for them to finish debating among themselves.  His question certainly caught them off guard.  They may have anticipated a question regarding the source of their own authority, to which they would have responded with the Scriptures.  Interestingly, the Lord does not ask them where they thought the authority for his miracles came from.  At other times when the Jewish leaders challenge him, he points to them emphatically.

“They feared the crowd.”  Their debate centers on their safety.  Their handing over Jesus to Pilate also reflected their concern for their personal safety for they feared Jesus would start a riot or uprising which would bring the Romans down hard on them: “The Romans will come, and take away our place and nation” (John 11, 48).  “We do not know.”  We can speculate on how the Lord would have responded if they had answered according to their true opinion: “of human origin”.  They did not dare, though, for the crowd that they had schemed to gather with their procession would have turned violently on them, possibly with Jesus egging them on.  But their “We do not know” affectively ended this attempt to discredit Jesus: they themselves, the leaders of Israel, appeared discredited for not knowing — as they should have, given their position and supposed wisdom — whether John’s origin was human or divine (and by “origin”, Jesus meant the origin of his vocation).  

“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  Their collective display of ignorance reveals the Jewish leaders to be incapable of understanding the Lord’s answer — even unworthy of it.  They slunk away, defeated but further embittered.  Still, the Lord does not punish them at this time for their impertinence and pride.  He gives them more time to think and perhaps to repent, for his desire is for their salvation.  

Friday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, May 29, 2026

Mark 11, 11-26

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything and, since it was already late, went out to Bethany with the Twelve. The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!” And his disciples heard it. They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples? But you have made it a den of thieves.” The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it and were seeking a way to put him to death, yet they feared him because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. Early in the morning, as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots. Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions.”

The events recorded in this Gospel Reading follow the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  St. Mark and the other Evangelists see Jesus as the true Messiah who has come to save his people from an enemy far more dangerous than the Romans — their sins.  Mark, especially, presents the Lord Jesus as one who possesses complete authority, entering Jerusalem to acclaim and taking a tour of the city, looking around at everything as though to ensure that it was as he would have it.  But rather than stay in Jerusalem overnight, he returns to Bethany, more than likely to the house of his friends Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.  He acts as a prince before his coronation in this way.

“When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs.”  The fig tree represents Israel in the same way that a cedar tree represents Lebanon and the eagle represents the U.S.  The Lord looks at the fig tree and from his actions and words we can know what he thought of Israel at that time.  “He found nothing but leaves.”  That is, at first glance the tree might be thought to have figs.  It seemed fruitful from the outside.  But a close look revealed that it was not.  This was Israel: despite God bringing the people out of Egypt with great signs and miracles, after giving them the Law and their land, after protecting them with the judges and correcting them with the prophets, after bringing them back from Babylon where they had been exiled for their faithlessness, the nation is without fruit.  That is, it is a nation which simulated worship to God in its Temple, but the priesthood and its leaders were thoroughly corrupt and the people led astray.  “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!”  The Lord does not cause Israel to remain fruitless — faithless — but will do nothing further to make it fruitful.  It has run out of time.  The Lord will make a new people for himself who will bear fruit.  “It was not the time for figs.”  Mark ties the miracle of the cursed fig tree to the Lord’s teaching on the power of prayer and leaves us to see what we can make of this miracle and what meaning it has for us.  Now, the Lord cursed the fig tree when it was not the time for figs: how much more will he curse a fig tree which has no figs when it is time for them!  The Jews should have received the Lord with joy.  The Prophets all spoke of him and John the Baptist pointed him out.  His miracles and his teaching were authoritative and powerful.  But for the most part, they — particularly their leaders and teachers — were not ready.  Now, we are even more prepared for the Lord’s second coming than the Jews were nor his first.  We have the Holy Church which he established, the Gospels, a long line of holy men and women who gave their lives to God.  But will we be ready — fruitful with faith — when he comes?  Or will we receive the terrible curse recorded in Matthew 25, 41: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.”  We must apply for his grace in the Sacrament of Penance to drive out the beasts that inhabit us: lust, pride, envy, and the like.  And we must pray for what we need for salvation.  This is the true meaning of his words “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’  . . . it shall be done for him.”  It is a greater miracle for a person to convert and become a saint than for a mountain to he thrown into the sea.

Thursday in the .eighth Week of Ordinary Time, My 28, 2026

Mark 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.

Today’s Gospel Reading is taken from the middle section of St. Mark’s Gospel, which details the Lord’s last journey to Jerusalem.  As Mark tells it, Jesus has just spoken to his Apostles James and John about who would sit at his right and left in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Just after this, Mark abruptly declares, “And they came to Jericho” (Mark 10, 46).  Mark does not tell us what they did at Jericho but, in the very same verse when Mark says they came to Jericho he says, “As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd.”  So much we would like to know about what the Lord said and did in places like Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, the first city in the Promised Land to fall to the  Israelites under Joshua after their forty years in the wilderness!  We have to treasure all the more what we do have of the records of the Lord’s life and teaching!

But for St. Mark, the main event at Jericho was what the Lord did outside the city, and to highlight it he does not tell us what he did inside of it.  He begins very directly: “Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.”  Since Luke, who also tells the story, does not name the beggar whereas Mark does, we can conclude that Peter, from whose lips Mark drew his Gospel, must have known him.  He probably came to know him after the Resurrection as he began to preach the Gospel in Galilee and that the former beggar was now a prominent Christian.  Mark clarifies the beggar’s identity by adding “the son of Timaeus” for his Greek speaking audience who would not have known that “Bartimaeus” meant exactly that.  “On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.’ ”  The beggar addresses Jesus as the Messiah, “the son of David” who was going to restore the kingdom.  At the same time, he believes that Jesus can heal him — the Messiah promised by the Pharisees was not a healer.  We should notice that Mark uses the phrase “he began to cry out and say”.  This is a Hebrew construction not normally found in Greek literature.  Mark is thinking in Hebrew and writing in Greek.  He makes no attempt at a smooth Greek style.  That may be because he does not have the skill to accomplish that.  But his rough Greek is a sign of his ancient witness and to the freshness of his testimony to us.

“And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more.”  The crowd may have rebuked him because they deemed it unfitting for the Son of David to mix with a common beggar.  We might wonder why the crowd did not simply ignore him.  But it is customary for those who have a certain opinion of their worth to push down other who do not measure up to their standards.  As the Lord had said before entering Jericho, “You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them” (Mark 10, 42).  Mark, who sees irony throughout the Lord’s life among us, probably saw it here too.  The members of the crowd who thought themselves such perfect believers are actually acting like the Gentiles.  But we see the beggar’s persistence, his perseverance, which is one of the most notable signs of the Christian: “He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 24, 13).  

“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”  We see how fickle the crowd is, a trait common to crowds everywhere.  Or, not all in the crowd told the man to be quiet and these now encourage him.  It is like the devils who tell us to be quiet and not to pray, and the angels who urge us to do so and assist us.  “He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.”  Bartimaeus shows his readiness to follow Jesus by disposing of his one possession.  This contrasts with the rich man who would not follow Jesus because “he had many possessions” (Mark 10, 22).  He “sprang up” which reminds us of how the rich man came running up to the Lord.  Of course, the rich man slunk away from him when the Lord told him to follow him, but the beggar goes with Jesus.  “What do you want me to do for you?”  The Lord knows what he wants just as he knows what we want before we ask it.  But he wants the beggar and he wants us to cooperate in our own salvation and so he admonishes us to pray.  “Master, I want to see.”  The word in the Greek text is rabbouni, a transliteration of the Hebrew, meaning, “my master”, “my teacher”.  Mark does not translate the Hebrew word which Bartimaeus said into Greek but takes it directly into the text, just using Greek letters. “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”  The Lord replied in a similar way to the woman with the hemorrhage who thought only to touch his garment to be healed.  By quoting Jesus in these instances and not abridging his account, Mark shows the necessity of faith for salvation, of which these cures were signs.

“Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.”  The beggar received his sight straightway with no time intervening between the words of the Lord and the reception of sight.  Mark does not tell us of the beggar exclaiming or of any reaction from the crowd, only that Bartimaeus  “followed him on the way”.  Just as Peter’s mother-in-law began to serve the Lord the moment he cured her from her fever, so now the beggar does not hesitate to follow the Lord.  He uses his health for the purpose for which it was given him.  When we use what we have for the purpose for which God has given it to us, then we too follow the Lord.

Wednesday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, May 27, 2026

Mark 10:32-45

The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, ‘What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, ‘We can.” Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

“Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”  The question the Lord asks James and John and the answer they give amounts to a vow.  The two young Apostles have asked the Lord for a share in the rule of the kingdom of Israel, which they believe he, as Messiah, will reinstitute.  They do not seem to present any arguments to further their request.  Perhaps they make it on the basis that the Lord has included them with Peter as witnesses to some of his more powerful miracles.  The Lord, for his part, tells them that they do not know what they are asking, for they do not yet understand that his kingdom is not of this world.  The Lord’s words do not dismay them and they persist.  The Lord then asks them this question, whether they can drink of his chalice or be baptized with his own baptism.  The two brothers say right away that they can, without asking first what this means.  Now, the Greek text has the Lord asking, “Are you capable of drinking, etc.”  This is a little different from simply “can you”.  The Lord is asking them if they have the ability, the strength, with which to carry out this action, implying that the action itself will be a demanding one.  And, indeed, it is, for the Greek tells us that the “drinking” and “being baptized” is not a one-time action that is quickly done, but a continuous one that extends into the future.  This “drinking” of the Lord’s chalice and this receiving of his own “baptism” will go on for the rest of their lives.  Performing or undergoing these actions will, in fact, become their lives.

The Apostles may have understood that “to drink” the Lord’s “chalice” meant to fight at his side against the Romans.  Their fight, though, would be against the world, the flesh and the devil, as they endeavored to do the Father’s will in spreading the Gospel, even if it cost them their lives.  We know how the Lord himself suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying to his Father, “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will but as you will” (Matthew 26, 39).  It may be that the Lord prayed with these words, and allowed James and John, as well as Peter, to witness him praying in this way so that they might understand what this “chalice” would cost them.  

“The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized.”  The Lord accepts their vow.  He will permit them to live his life.  This in itself is a great privilege, and in doing so, they shall reign with him in his kingdom.  Their particular role in this rule, however, is a matter of Divine Providence: it is “for those for whom it has been prepared.”  That is, each human person is free to choose to live the life of Christ, and the Lord will provide the graces needed for the person to do this.  At the same time, each person’s part in the work of salvation is foreseen from all eternity by Almighty God, who dispenses talents and abilities to each one accordingly, and places for them are prepared in heaven by God, who foresees how each one will fulfill his will.  The Lord Jesus is telling James and John that if they strive for sanctity they shall indeed become saints, but their places in heaven are not up to them.  He says that this is not his to give by way of emphasizing that their reward is given them by the Father.

“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  The life of unconditional service to God is the chalice which the Son drinks and which he promises to those who desire to belong to him.