Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!

 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.  They will scourge Him and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.  And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.  So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.  And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.  And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

- Luke 18:31-43

On Saturday we read that infants to Jesus that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."  Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  You know the commandments:  'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"  And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth."  So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing.  Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."  But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.  And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  And those who heard it said, "Who then can be saved?"  But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."  Then Peter said, "See, we have left all and followed You."  So He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life."

 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.  They will scourge Him and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.  My study bible says here that the saying was hidden not by God, but because the disciples could not comprehend its meaning until the events of the Passion had taken place.

Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.  And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.  So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.  And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.  And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.   Son of David is a title associated with the Messiah.  Although this man is blind, he "sees" something about Jesus.  We note that Jesus asks us to articulate freely what it is we want, asking the man (as He does also elsewhere), "What do you want Me to do for you?"  My study bible tells us that He calls us to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy.  Note also that this question calls us to truly engage in dialogue with Christ, even when, as in the case of James and John Zebedee, His answer is not precisely what they wanted.  There's also by tradition a spiritual interpretation to this miracle, in which the blind men symbolize future generations who would come to faith only by hearing -- without the benefit of seeing  Christ in person (see John 20:19).  Those who try to silence the blind men are persecutors and tyrants, in every generation, who attempt to silence the faithful and the Church.  Despite this, under persecution, the Church all the more confesses Christ.

In the tradition of interpretation of Scripture, blindness is often seen as a metaphor for sin.  In this understanding, salvation is all about the removal of our own blindness.  That means that, for all of us, salvation may be a lifelong learning curve, a journey toward something that beckons us continually forward.  And today's reading gives us a good clue of what we do at each step along the way.  We answer Christ's question, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  We pray.  In some sense, if we look at the varied prayers of the Church, all prayer is answering this question.  Whether we pray, "Lord have mercy," in the tradition of the Church, or we pray for others, or we pray more formal prayers such as those taught to us by Christ, or those which are part of the tradition of the Church, every prayer seeks to answer this question.  Prayer has to be engagement, a dialogue.  Even when we pray by rote, our faith asks within us the true desire for prayer, that the Spirit help us with prayer, even if that prayer may be silence.  Jesus invites us to a life in which we participate in His life, a communion that is truly deeper than anything we know.  When we articulate prayer, we say the things He already knows we desire or have need of, but it is important that we do so, that we do our part in this communion.  It's not a one-way street.  What that does, in fact, is invite us deeper into communion with Christ.  Where He knows the depth of our hearts, we may be totally unaware of what that is or means.  Through a relationship, a communion of prayer, we are invited in, not just to know Christ, but to know ourselves as He knows us.  And in this depth of understanding is where salvation really lies.  That's the place where we become capable of discarding the things we think we need (such as the rich ruler Saturday's reading, above), in order to find the things He has for us and the treasure in heaven He teaches about.  Union with Christ, in fact, gives us the true gift of ourselves, but in God's sight.  This is the depth and goal we seek, the salvation He offers.  It is the cure for our blindness, if we but follow Him to truly see.  It may be a long road to Jerusalem, and we may sometimes stumble on the way, but that road is life itself.