18 November 2019 - cry out to him

Today's Readings 

(Audio)

The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me!"

Let us not be silent when Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. We need his healing just like this blind beggar. Our vision is obscured not only by our own sinful habits and the shortsightedness on which we rely to protect them but even also simply on what we perceive to be normal, usual, or possible in the world at large. Our expectations are limited by what we have already seen. In other words, we are unable to see anything new without the help is Jesus. Where is the miraculous? Perhaps it is all around us and we are blind.

He replied, "Lord, please let me see."

The world isn't interested in having its assumptions challenged. In fact, in the face of the hope Jesus offers the world can either give in or refuse to listen. This refusal must be aggressive and can often be violent, for fear that the hope overwhelms it. Hope, to the blind eye, is the dangerous fact that change might be necessary.

Any scrolls of the law which they found they tore up and burnt.
Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant,
and whoever observed the law,
was condemned to death by royal decree.

Parts of us are often like this too. Parts of us are afraid of what it might mean to hope. It is only on the other side of hope that we experience ourselves being sustained, not be our own strength for a new task, but by grace.

But many in Israel were determined
and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean;
they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food
or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.

This dichotomy between hope and despair is why the same martyr can look so very different depending on who is looking. To one they appear to be battered and overwhelmed, ultimately failures. To a Christian gaze they inspire because beneath their own weakness the grace of God at work is evident.

Far from sinners is salvation,
because they seek not your statutes.

Jesus will pass us by today. Let us be attentive and cry out to him, with no regard to anyone who tries to silence us.

Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.