They Spread Word Of Him All Through The Land

We are in the first week of advent, the season of great hope.  We are in preparation mode – but for many unfortunately, it is not preparing from the second coming of .Jesus Christ.  We have a rather interesting gospel passage to contend with today.  One in which almost very line stands out.  It starts off with; “As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!”

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”1592763936″ locale=”us” height=”500″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Tl38yl2QL.jpg” width=”329″]I work very close to the “Blind Welfare Association’s office here in Port-of-Spain Trinidad and so I see the visually impaired quit often and I am always amazed by the heightened sense of sense of awareness of some of them.  I often wonder how long I can go with blindfolds on before I hurt myself.  I don’t think very long.  When you do not have sight, you are at a tremendous disadvantage.  Yet we hear that these two blind men were following Jesus.  Since they were blind, they must have heard about him and all the wonders he had done and wanted to – longed for a personal encounter with him.  That first line begs the question, “Do I tell others; do I speak about Jesus and what he has done for me? Am I a walking billboard for God, or do I instead advertise other things?

When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” The persistence, the determination of these two blind men is amazing.  But then Jesus throws a question at them; one that he asks all of us particularly in our time of need – “Do you believe I can do this?” “Do you believe that I am the Son of God?”  “Are you driven by hearsay or do you personally believe in me?”  It is somewhat similar to the Peter scenario when Jesus asked the question, “Who do the people say I am?”  Then he followed it up with an even more important question – “Who do you say I am?”  Sisters, brothers; what Jesus can do in our lives is directly related to our response to that question – “Do you believe that I can do this?”  “Do you believe in me?”  “No matter the outcome, even if things may not seemingly work in your favor, will you still believe in me?” “Do you believe in me – no matter what – because I AM GOD!?

Then came the profession of their faith.  You can almost feel the release of power as they responded, “Yes, Lord!”.  This kind of reminds me a bit of our responses at time during Mass, where Jesus asks us time and time again during that celebration, “Do you believe I can do this?” So very often we respond in a lack luster way.  At every celebration of the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is there, pouring out his life for us all that we may have life eternal, and so very often when he asks the question, “Do you believe I have done this for you?” “Do you believe that I have laid down my life just for you?” “Do you believe that I conquered death, hell and the grave just so that you might have life?” “Do you believe that I love you with an unimaginable love?” So often our response if muffled; unlink these two blind men whose response I am quite sure would have been quite zealous. 

Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”  And their eyes were opened.  The extent to which God works in our lives is directly related to our measure of faith.  Now does that mean that if my faith is very small now or if I have no faith at all, that it will always be that way? Absolutely not!  If we participate in faith building exercises such as regularly going to Holy Mass, regularly attending the confession, reading the bible and truly desiring a deep and intimate relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ, your faith will grow and so too will your relationship with God and your live for God and things that are of God.

Jesus teaches us to treat all human beings as equal, especially those whom we might think of as ‘different.’ Jesus did not just speak a word of healing but he touched their eyes. There is power in touch.  Touch affirms, and it says “you are welcome, you are accepted.”  Jesus touched the lepers and healed them.  He could have stayed from a distance and speak the word of healing, but rather he touched them; and the touch says, “I am one with you.  I accept you.” In our world today, we thank God for our Holy Father who is setting so many powerful examples for us by the very simple ‘Jesus-like’ life he lives, touching, embracing and kissing those deemed by society as rejects.

Now the end of this passage is a real mind teaser.  Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land. Are you kidding me?!  I can keep quiet if I won the lotto.  I can do that.  I can keep quiet if I got a job promotion. I can do that too.  But wait a minute!  I was blind.  I could not see the beauty of the sun’s rays falling upon the land.  I could not see the beauty of a sunrise nor a sunset.  I could not see the beauty in other people’s faces when they smiled.  I could not see the beauty of little children at play.  I could not see the beauty of the flowers in the field.  For us who live on beautiful islands like Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica and all the rest – I could not see the beauty of the ocean and the sea.  All of these things in life I was missing out on – ahh – until I met Jesus!  Now I can see them all.  My eyes are opened in ways they never have before!  With Jesus’ stern warning, maybe the two men must have intended initially to obey him but them just could not keep themselves from talking about Jesus and what he did for them.  It is extremely difficult if not downright impossible to keep silent about a personal encounter you have had with the Living God.  Maybe the demands of Jesus were a true test of the faith of these two (formally blind) men.

May God open our eyes to his truth and beauty that surrounds us and may our hearts be filled with zeal for God as we celebrate the Advent season, the season of great hope.