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.  The title Son of David is a title for the Messiah, and Lord is the common title for God.  These two blind men greet Jesus with both titles.  My study bible comments that although Jesus already knows whatever it is we want before we ask, we are called to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy.  In stories in the bible, Jericho was a city synonymous with sin (see the parable of the Good Samaritan).  Blindness as a metaphor for those who live in the ignorance of sin, without the light of God.   So there is one metaphorical understanding here of the two blind men symbolizing a fallen world, one which needs Christ's light for healing.  My study bible gives another spiritual interpretation of this miracle, with the blind men symbolizing future generations who would come to faith only through hearing, without having the benefit of seeing Christ in person (see John 20:29).  Those who try to silence these blind men, in this interpretation, are persecutors and tyrants who, in each generation, try to silence the Church.  Nonetheless, under persecution, the Church all the more confesses Jesus Christ.

What is blindness?  In some sense, these two blind men represent the world which struggles in a place of darkness; that is, of spiritual darkness.  It needs the light to be whole, to be healed.  We need the light to know where we are going.  They call out to Christ because He is the true hope for blindness.  The people tell them to be quiet, and in a sense we could say that this is the world that won't really respond or listen to our true needs.  It is Christ who responds.  And in their darkness and their own need, they are capable of recognizing the one person who can help.  They are capable of recognizing Christ as both Lord and Son of David, in His true identity.  Perhaps we can infer from this aspect of the story that it is in our deepest need, and true recognition of our brokenness or flaws that we come to terms with our own reality.  If blindness is a metaphor for our collective inability to see spiritually, then these two men who recognize their real problem give us a sense in which it is in fully coming to terms with our condition and need that we are capable of both knowing Christ and also turning to Him as the place where we get help.  In a sense, they also illustrate that He is the last and best hope, the place where we turn when we know that the world and all it offers cannot and has not really helped us.  Their voice is the voice of prayer, the way in which we communicate our real needs.  All around us, the world grasps for solutions to its problems.  There are a myriad of political solutions offered.  There is the solution of thinking that if only we had more wealth we'd fix ourselves.  Better healthcare is certainly an advantage over what is lacking.  But wisdom -- a true spiritual wisdom -- is always necessary no matter what we have and no matter our position in life.  Wealth and all the things that go with it don't keep us from problems like loneliness or despair.   They can't provide us with the wisdom of Christ's guidance in life.  They can't take us to the places where Christ gives us both solitude and companionship as necessary.  They cannot feed us with the love of God, and the meaning and beauty of God's life for us.  They can't give us a sense of ourselves in a true way:  wealth won't give us the true look at ourselves to know our blindness, and neither will it give us the choice to understand our spiritual potentials in Christ.  In some sense, this story reveals that the blind men are truly better off than the rest of the crowds.  They know what their ailment is.  They know what they need.  They know where they need to turn for help.   It is the crowd that is possibly more blind than they are, because it is these healed men who will follow Jesus on the road knowing that they have been healed by Him.  The multitudes are those who follow Jesus today, and yet at the end of Passion week in Jerusalem, they will be among those who are manipulated by the leaders to call for His crucifixion.   It is one thing to be blind and know that one is blind and needs help; it is quite another to be blind and unaware of that fact.  In some sense, we all live in Jericho, a place with a lot of problems, and brokenness.  It has failures, it has those who merely join a parade of life without crying out to the One who is the author of life, the bringer of our salvation, and without following Him on the road out of Jericho with the knowledge that whatever they've received is just the beginning of the journey.   If we were not also victims of spiritual blindness, perhaps we all would know of Christ's compassion and love for us, that whatever it is we have in life -- the good things we are capable of understanding -- it is down to the Lord and God's love for us.  Perhaps we, also, would start that journey with Him, and follow, knowing that our need for Him is always present, and that His guidance is the universal truth that is always drawing us to deeper union.  In the Church, our refrain in worship is always "Have mercy on us, O Lord!"