Fact: we have a God who doesn’t forget any of His children. The first reading says that is a cause for great joy that should make us shout! In this gospel passage, we see that regardless of the opinions of most people around him, Jesus responded to blind Bartimaeus calling out to Him because His purpose is always to heal and strengthen and liberate and protect. That’s what He does and who He is.
This gospel feels at first like a lesson in good self-care, because the disciples are so flat out they’re not eating properly and Jesus, the wise leader that he is, steps in and takes them away for a break. But when Jesus sees the lost, hurting, confused, broken and tired crowd who beat him and the disciples to their getaway, he can’t help but look after them.
The mystery of the Trinity also makes it easier for us to access and relate to God in the way that suits each of us best. For those who relate best to God as a parent, God revealed himself as the one with life in control, doing wonderful deeds and protecting and providing for us his children. But as there are some of us who need a brother, a best friend, a close companion who knows our human experience, God the Son entered into our world as Jesus Christ.
Jesus died on the Feast of the Passover. This is no accident or coincidence. It’s one of the biggest events of the Jewish calendar for a reason. The Passover feast revisits the “Great Escape” of the Jewish people from Egypt, when the angel of death took the life of every first born in Egypt but “passed over” those whose homes had been smeared with the blood of a lamb.
