In the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus comes into contact with a blind beggar along the side of the road. The man hears that Jesus is coming to town and as he passes by the man yells out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those around him tried to get him to quiet down, but he yelled all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and asked that the man be brought to Him and asked the man, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the man replied, “Lord that I may receive my sight.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight, your faith has made you well.” We then see that the man followed Jesus giving glory to God.
What is this story teaching us?
The blind man sitting along the side of the road is us, those who call out to Jesus for mercy, those of us who are looking to follow Him, but like the rich young man in the chapter before this, something is holding us back. Perhaps we are blinded by the world and all that the world requires of us. Perhaps we are blinded by wealth or materialism. Perhaps we are spiritually blind, we want to follow, but we want to follow under our own rules. Perhaps we are so overwhelmed by sin that we have no way out. So we sit on the side of the road and call to Him as he passes by, “Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me!” These words make up part of the Jesus prayer that should be on the lips of every Orthodox Christian.
For us to be true and faithful followers of Jesus we need to be spiritually whole., Our spiritual eyes are blind, and we need them to be clear so we can follow Jesus. We need to study Scripture and the faith of the Church. We need to participate fully in the sacramental life of the Church to include frequent reception of the Eucharist and confession. The season of Advent is a excellent time to come back to confession!
Notice that Jesus does not just heal the man. Jesus knew what this man wanted before the man even knew. Jesus does not force his ways on anyone, He presents his life-giving message and lets the hearers decide for themselves. Jesus asks the man what he wants and gives the man time to answer. Jesus grants the man his sight because of His faith that if he simply asked it would be granted. He healed the man not for the sake of the man, but for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God!
But what of those who are trying to silence the man? The fathers write that these are the voices that throughout the generations, have been trying to silence the Church. There have always been those who have tried to silence the Church. The Church has always been under persecution as Jesus told us it would be. Recall when he told his followers to remember that the world hated Him before it hated them!
We need to resist the world when it tells us to be quiet. The world needs our voice, but we need that voice to be laced with love and compassion for those who are lost. We need to show the world the love of Christ and the compassion that He showed to people we need to show, even to those who hate us and are trying to destroy us.
We need to be like the blind man in the story, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and regardless of what the world wants of us, we need to shout the message at the top of our lungs. We need to continue to live lives that show the world it is possible to be a follower of Jesus in this crazy world we live in.
What do you want me to do for you? This is the question that Jesus asked the blind man, and he answered that he wanted to be whole. That should be our desire, to be made whole and be able to follow Jesus giving glory to God.
