30 October 2024 -- 30th Sunday ‘B
Jer 31:7-9; Heb 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52
Homily
Today's first reading is made up of three verses from chapter 31 of Jeremiah which, together with chapter 30, make up what is known as the ‘ Book of the Consolation of Israel ’, in which the whole message of the prophet culminates. The people are called to shout for joy, not because of a liberation or anything else they have just obtained, but because the Lord will bring them back, gather them and guide them. In Jeremiah's text, all these verbs are in the future tense. And who will benefit from this fatherly care of God, who is ‘a father to Israel’? - It will be the blind, the lame, pregnant women and women who have just given birth, these last two categories representing the pain of exile and the joy of returning to the promised land. The scene where, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he tells John the Baptist's disciples to go and tell their master what they have seen: “the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear...” makes the link between this prophecy and the scene in today's Gospel, which takes place at the gates of Jericho.