[ Today's Readings ]
The LORD wants to open our eyes so that we can find joy in him. He wants to open deaf ears to hear his words.
If we are lowly we can find this joy. We must not be arrogant. We must not be tyrants. We must not be alert to do evil. If we are preoccupied with our own gain in this way we do not find joy. Only in the desire of the psalmist is true joy to be found.
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
But as for us, our eyes are not open to see him. Only the pure of heart may see him and we know our hearts are not yet completely pure. When we look but do not see, what do we do? Do we give up? Do we try to fix our vision on our own? Both choices indicate a lack of lowliness on our parts. We choose not to come before the one who can heal us. Instead, let us choose to humble ourselves before him and ask him to help us to see.
As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
“Son of David, have pity on us!”
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
Let us have faith in Jesus like these blind men have. This faith gives them the hope they need to humble themselves before Jesus.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (cf. 1 John 3:3).
Make no mistake, these blind men cannot even approach Jesus on their own strength. They can't purify themselves. They can't come to see him through their own effort. Only the hope which faith in him creates in their hearts allows them to come before him and plead for help.
Jesus offers this same faith and hope to all of us. This faith can give us purity. It can draw us from the darkness into the light. Where can we begin? One good choice are "the words of a book", the words of life we have in the bible. These words open our ears.
On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book;
These words are how we encounter Jesus. They are where faith is born. And faith in turn creates hope which flowers in fullness as love. When this happens to us we will find it hard to be silent about it.
Jesus warned them sternly,
“See that no one knows about this.”
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.
No comments:
Post a Comment