Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!

 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 Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, 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 greatly 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.   Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem.  Jericho was known as a place of danger and also associated with sin (see the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke).  My study bible points out the the two blind men greet Jesus as Lord, the common title for God, and also as Son of David, a title that was deeply associated with the Messiah.  It adds that although Jesus knows what we want before we ask, He calls us to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy.  There is also a patristic spiritual interpretation of this miracle.  In this view, the blind men symbolize future generations who would come to faith only by hearing, without the benefit of seeing Christ in person (see John 20:29).  Those who try to silence the blind men are persecutors and tyrants, who, in every generation, try to silence the faithful.  But nevertheless under persecution the Church all the more confesses Jesus Christ.

There are many ways we could view today's reading.  Often it is made note of that Matthew's text seems to include a type of doubling:  there are two blind men in this story, just as, for instance, there are two demoniacs in Matthew's story of Jesus casting the many demons into swine (Matthew 8:28-34).   Some suggest that this is possibly Matthew's fuller reporting of details involved, whereas other Evangelists report the significant testimony of one.  It's possible to have a spiritual interpretation in that the two reported can be understood as signifying that Christ is Lord and Messiah for both Jew and Gentile.  We note the reputation of Jericho as a place of sin.  Sin is often associated with blindness, a kind of handicap in which we can't see clearly what is what.  The blind men seek their sight, and their hope is that Christ can give it to them.  It is Jesus' compassion that "enlightens" us, giving light and thereby sight to their eyes.  The text tells us that these men requested that their eyes be opened.  In a "fallen" world, one in which sin is normal, our values become skewed.  We can't necessarily see clearly.  We don't know what is best for us.  Our appetites and desires become fixed by relating to the world as we "see" it.  We're bombarded with impulses, images, desires for all kinds of things, whether we need them or not, whether or not they are good for us, and even despite whether or not we truly want them.  Advertising certainly helps this along, and quite deliberately so.  In our age of social media, we are even more inundated by images to try to live up to.  "Keeping up with the Joneses" for some people can mean impossible images of acquisition and the appearance that goes along with this, giving us all kinds of goals that aren't necessarily rewarding nor truly good for us (leaving aside the question of whether or not they are actually achievable).  This syndrome, most recently, has been frequently associated with depression and even suicide, particularly in young people.  We're born into a world where we have all kinds of natural appetites and needs:  for food, clothing, shelter, and the security of belonging.  But these legitimate needs become skewed and exploited, with all kinds of demands apart from the love and care of God.  It is there we turn, in our own blindness and our inability to truly see what's good for us -- even the image to which we truly need to spire -- to Christ who is here to help out of love and compassion for us.  This is what it means to be truly "saved" -- to see what is what, to focus on our true need, and to share His light with the world and within ourselves.  To be saved is to be liberated from slavery to false ideas, ideals, and images.  Like the passengers on an airplane who are encouraged in an emergency to first of all find their own oxygen mask so they may better help others, Christ's light works that way in us.  To be healed of false needs is a way to cast off desires and demands that are hurtful, so that we might share with others the relief from such burdens, and help one another with those burdens.  The burden of sin itself is one that Christ helps us to remove, for in contrast to that type of slavery to false goals or hopes, His "burden is easy" and His "yoke is light"  (Matthew 11:30).  Our faith in Him is true to us and not misleading.  The blind men know their hope in Christ, but so often our lack of sight (or even insight) prevents us from even that understanding, as we grope to find some sort of goodness and hope in life.  We seek all kinds of substitutes.  False prophets abound and come in many forms.  Let us go to the One who loves us and has compassion for us.  It is for this He was born into the world and remains with us as Jesus Christ.  Let us share in His light in whatever way we can be healed, and help to heal others!