"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
This blind beggar nevertheless had a spiritual vision that caused him to realize something that was not apparent to everyone in the crowd. The crowd pointed to his apparent origins in Nazareth. But the blind man called to him as the messianic Son of David. The crowd assumed that Jesus had better things to do. But Jesus came to give sight to the blind. The blind man, sensing this, refused to be silenced by the crowd. In fact, the more they tried to quiet him the louder he became. The voice of the crowd was trying to exert an influence over the man that may be familiar to us as well. It told him that Jesus was distant, irrelevant, and indifferent. It attempted to drown out the quiet possibility of hope. If the man had only been testing a theory he probably would have given up. But he had faith. He could already imagine the way that Jesus would change his world and he refused to surrender that image.
"What do you want me to do for you?"
He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
His faith was what allowed Jesus bring what he imagined into reality. His spiritual vision would henceforth be reflected in the physical world as well. His blindness must been a true hardship. He no doubt wanted to experience the fullness of natural life as God intended it. But his spiritual insight and his faith made it seem likely that he was asking for something deeper along with his natural sight. We may also imagine that he was asking for the purity that allowed those who possessed it to see God, as Jesus taught in the beatitudes (see Matthew 5:8). This was the vision that can eventually make us like God when, at last, he see him as he is (see First John 3:2).
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
We who have been blessed with natural sight ought to remember to be thankful for that gift, since it is easy to take for granted, not having had to survive without it. But we should also come to Jesus and ask with faith for him to increase our spiritual vision, our ability to see him in a way that makes us become more like him. When our spiritual vision is healthy we are able to perceive the truth in spite of the indifference of the crowds, or even, as in the book of Maccabees, their active hostility. There are a thousand different directions and angles from which attempts to obscure the truth seem to come these days. Our physical vision sometimes seem to only make us enter more deeply into the confusion. Without spiritual sight we will almost certainly be lost. Lord, please let us see.
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