We know from Revelation that Jericho plays a crucial role in the history of salvation.
Indeed, it was Jericho that the chosen people would first enter as they went into the promised land.
And its significance is particularly illustrated by its position in the Holy Land.
Jerusalem being the highest point, Jericho is not only the lowest point in the Holy Land,
but it is the lowest inhabited place in the whole of the world.
And so it is symbolic here of our descent into darkness and ultimately into hell.
For Jericho was a mean city of old, that is, a city in which many of the vices common in our modern society
were practiced and institutionalized.
Indeed, it suffered from all the major afflictions that many of our present-day cities suffer from.
It was affluent, but in the affluence, vice had reign and sin had reign.
And this blind man was no longer even within the safety of the walls of Jericho.
And that became...
That became significant because at the time when our Lord was in the Holy Land,
where this took place was on the Jordan Valley,
the same place where St. John the Baptist would exercise his ministry.
And at that time, it was a land in which was inhabited by very vicious and ferocious lions and tigers.
And so being outside the city, as bad as it was, was even worse.
And particularly,
worse for a blind man.
And so this Bartimaeus sums up all of us, caught in the blindness of our sin and ultimately
preyed to that which the lions and the tigers would symbolize, Satan and all his minions who go about seeking souls to devour.
But Bartimaeus had a faith, and so he had heard the stories of Jesus of Nazareth.
He did not expect, according to the doctors and fathers, that this Jesus would
humble himself and even come to visit the city of Jericho.
But our Lord did come to Jericho, and that day salvation came to the home of Bartimaeus
because, ultimately, his faith was rooted in the sorrow for his sins.
And so, Bartimaeus received his sight and the blindness departed from him.
And now he knew, as we all must know, that when we decide to repent for our sins, Jesus Christ truly becomes our protector.
and our defender. And so, in defending Bartimaeus and protecting him this day,
the Lord wishes to indicate to each and every one of us, if we repent of our sins, have faith in
the Messiah, then we too will receive his healing. Not necessarily the physical healing received by
Bartimaeus this day, but more importantly, those moral healings by which we overcome our sins,
our sinful inclinations, all our faults and failings, under the influence of God's grace,
and steadily progress on our rise from Jericho, heading back to Jerusalem, that is, the holy city,
which is ultimately in the scripture symbolic of our heavenly Jerusalem that is to come. And so,
the Lord clearly indicates in today's gospel that he came to lift up fallen humanity,
lift them up from their sin, in order that they may
be raised up, and the descent of the Lord ultimately would truly and really begin when
he is lifted up on his cross outside of the holy city, and from that cross he would rise again,
strengthen his apostles, who would then go out and visit the cities of Jericho until the end of time,
bringing always and everywhere the selfsame message that Jesus Christ has come, and he has
come to save us from our sins, and he has established his kingdom on this
earth, by which we are to drink from the waters of our salvation, the sacramental life of the
church, working out our salvation in fear and trembling in this life, and then departing from
this life, no longer victims of the cities of Jericho, and the lions and the tigers that roam
about, seeking souls that they may devour, but now, freed from all the trials and the tribulations
of this life, we enter that kingdom for which God has truly created us,
in order to praise him for all eternity, for the wonderful things he has done for us,
and for each and every generation, through the apostolic labors of his church, and so
let us rejoice this day, and let us rejoice every day, that the Lord has truly condescended to come
and to visit the city of Jericho, when he was on earth, and the cities of Jericho in our modern
world, and every nook and cranny where a soul creates.
God has ordained us, and he has ordained us, and he has ordained us, and he has ordained us,
to come to that soul, to give them the opportunity, in their blindness, to exercise the faith of
Bartimaeus, and then come to the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the one savior of all mankind,
the one teacher of all mankind, the one hope of all mankind, and so, if we put our hope in him,
then we will not be disappointed, for we truly will receive that for which he came,
and that which he promised to all those who serve him.
In this life, in order to be with him for all eternity, and the life to come.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.