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Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.
- Matthew 20:29-34
Yesterday, we read that, as Jesus began the journey toward Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again." Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom." But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able." So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." And when the ten heard it, they were great displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. Jericho was known as a place of sin. We could consider the blind man symbolic of human beings, who are afflicted by sin, a kind of blindness to the reality of our full citizenship as children of God. They greet Jesus as Lord -- the common title for God, and also as Son of David -- a title deeply associated with the Messiah. We notice a frequent response here by Jesus, "What do you want Me to do for you?" Christ asks us to articulate our desires, but surely He would know already what people want, says my study bible. The point is, He calls us to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy. There is also a patristic interpretation of this miracle, in which the blind men symbolize a future generation who will come to faith only by hearing, without the benefit of seeing Christ in person (see John 20:29). In this interpretation, those who try to silence the blind men are figurative tyrants and persecutors in every generation try to silence the Church. Nevertheless, under persecution the Church confesses Christ all the more.
Have you ever been silenced for your faith, or had the experience of those trying to stop you from confessing your faith? We know that around the world, the Church experiences persecution, and individual believers are targeted. These blind men, if we look closely at the story, are not necessarily expressing the completeness of faith, but even more astutely they exemplify our understanding that we need Christ. They are a picture of those who know that they need Christ for their very lives, for what they truly need in life. And that's a true picture of our need. The multitude welcomes Christ, and a great multitude follows Christ in today's reading. But who knows how many are there because of a deep sense of need? When we understand our own blindness, then we come to a very great revelation indeed. We know that we need someone to help us to see, and we know who that someone is. Ironically, as we come closer to God, we understand that need perhaps far more greatly than when we began the journey. A dependency on Christ is not a bad thing, nor a sign of weakness or frailty, but rather it is a sign that we understand what life is about, and the place where "light" comes from: that which enlightens our perspective, in the metaphor of the blind. These men approach Christ as Messiah, and also as Lord (God). But their real need is for healing and illumination, which amount to the same thing in the fullness of our relationship to God, to Christ. Let us remember that there is one dependency that truly gives us strength, one very basic deep need that acknowledges the condition of a human being as "rational sheep." That is, one capable of autonomous, independent choice, but needing illumination and light to make good choices. This is where we are, where we acknowledge the ways in which we are asked to acknowledge what we need to be healed, and to follow. Are we as clear as these blind men on just where we stand?
