During these weeks of Ordinary Time our second reading on Sundays is from the Letter to the Hebrews. Jesus is described as the great high priest. The high priest in Old Testament times entered the innermost part of the temple, the Holy of Holies, once a year on the feast of Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, to intercede to God for the people. As the risen and ascended Lord, Jesus Christ is eternally interceding for us before God as our “representative before God.”
In the gospel today Bartimaeus is encouraged to draw near Jesus with the words, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” Bartimaeus benefits from the healing and salvation Jesus brings. As God’s representative, the Lord Jesus desires to draw all of us into experiences that are marked with mercy, healing, and saving love.
How do you experience Christ as the great high priest and intercessor? How do you hear the words spoken to you, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you”?