Homily | May 28, 2026 | Healing Begins When You Let Go | (Episode 139)

There's a line in today's gospel that if you miss it, it's key to the whole story today.

Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is calling him, and the gospel says he threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Why does Saint Mark include that detail?

Because for a blind beggar, the cloak was everything.

It was his security, it was his blanket, it was his protection.

Probably the place where people threw coins while he begged.

It was the one thing he owned.

And the moment Jesus calls him, Bartimaeus throws it aside.

That's conversion.

Conversion is not just believing Jesus existed.

The crowds believe Jesus existed.

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.

And every one of us has a cloak.

For some people it's pride.

For some people it's always needing to have control.

For some people it's money and things.

For others it's resentment.

And for some it's a secret sin or an addiction.

And for some it's the image that they want the world to see.

We all have something we wrap around ourselves to feel secure apart from God.

And many people many people want healing without surrender.

They want Jesus close enough to comfort them, but not close enough to change them.

Bartimaeus is different.

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.

Notice the crowd in today's gospel.

At first they tell him to be quiet.

Hey, stop bothering Jesus.

Be silent.

And honestly, that's what the world still does today.

The moment somebody starts to take their faith seriously, people get uncomfortable with that.

Hey, hey, hey, don't take religion so seriously.

Don't bring that Jesus stuff here.

You've changed.

You're becoming too extreme.

Barthemaus teaches us something important.

Do not let the crowd determine the volume of your faith.

The closer Jesus gets, the louder Barthemaus cries.

Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.

And then comes one of the most beautiful lines in the gospel.

Jesus stopped.

Out of the entire crowd, Jesus stops for the one man everyone ignored.

That's the heart of Christianity.

Jesus notices the people the world overlooks.

Some of you come to mass today carrying wounds nobody else sees.

Anxiety, grief, fear, loneliness, shame, exhaustion.

Maybe outwardly you look fine, but spiritually you feel like Bartimaeus sitting on the side of the road while life keeps moving past you.

Today's gospel reminds us Jesus still stops for people who cry out to him.

Not perfect people, not polished people, not people who have it all put together.

No, people who know they need mercy.

Then Jesus asks Bartimaeus a strange question.

What do you want me to do for you?

Well, it seems obvious a man is blind.

But Jesus wants Bartimaeus to say it out loud.

Master, I want to see.

That's an incredible prayer.

Because once Christ opens your eyes, you cannot keep living the same way.

And notice how the gospel ends.

Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

Bartimaeus does not just receive a miracle.

He goes back and go back to his own life.

He no no, he becomes a disciple.

He puts away that old life.

That's the difference between using God and following God.

Some people only want Jesus when they need something.

But a disciple follows him wherever he leads, even when the road becomes difficult, even when the cross appears.

So maybe the question today is simple.

What is your cloak?

What are you clinging to instead of God?

Where are you spiritually blind?

And do you really want Jesus to change you?

Because Christ is still passing by, he's still stopping, he's still calling.

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.

That's the gospel in one sentence.

And I'll say it to you today.

Take courage.

Get up.

Jesus is calling you.