Thanks to Father Mark “the Younger” for Sunday’s Homily.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s Gospel we are told of encounters Christ has with those in need, and through this reading we are taught again about the power of true faith.
Firstly – Christ continuing his journey, after healing the woman with an issue of blood and raising Jairus’s daughter from the dead encounters blind men on the road.
The blind men had followed Jesus and were crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
Here we can see that their faith was already active and alive. We naturally understand this to be the case because they have heard or witnessed the previous miracles that Christ had performed. So, whilst they could not see physically, they possessed something greater, a spiritual sight – and it was this that would ultimately bring about the healing they fervently petitioned for.
However, unlike some of the other miracles we are told that Christ did not immediately heal the men and continued the short remainder of his journey to the house he was visiting …. with the spiritually emboldened blind men following Him, continuing their petitions to be healed.
They recognised Jesus as the Son of David – the promised and prophesised Messiah. What is important for us to understand is how they persisted in their plea.
This persistence in prayer is something we must learn and adopt in our spiritual lives. Often we pray but we do not receive what we ask for immediately, and we are tempted to give up. We need to be mindful that the Lord may delay his answer not out of spite or egotistic control – but out of love – to allow us to reveal the sincerity and depth of our faith, not only to Him but also to ourselves. He desires that we approach Him not just with our lips, but with a heart full of faith of trust and persistence.
When Jesus finally turns to the blind men, He asks them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” And they responded, “Yes, Lord.”
Their answer was simple, but it carried the fullness of their faith in Him as the Messiah. Jesus then touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it unto you” and immediately their eyes were opened.
These blind men submitted themselves to God with their unwavering faith, and it was according to their faith that they received their sight.
The Gospel then continues with a Second healing: the healing of a man possessed by a demon that had made him mute.
We know little of this man, but the power of evil is clearly evident in his long and continual suffering – but once the demon was cast out, with light replacing the darkness the man spoke, and we are told the crowd “marvelled”. Everyone that is except the Pharisees.
It was in this healing that the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons. That only evil commands evil. They could not see the truth that He (Christ) is the Messiah – our God and Saviour. They could not see the truth or the light because their hearts were blinded by pride, by envy, by spite and by jealousy
“Divine grace is resisted by those who are puffed up with pride, but is eagerly received by those who know their weakness and seek God’s help”. (St. Cyril of Alexandria)
The blind men and the man possessed, in their humility and torment received healing, while the Pharisees in their arrogance, rejected the very source of life – the God they purported to worship so grandly and publicly.
It’s a significant reminder to us of the importance of humility and the dangers of pride. We may be different colours, may have different opinions, different lives but are all made in Christs Image and should all profess the same faith and submit ourselves fully to His love and mercy.
Therefore in order to receive the fullness of both physical/spiritual healing and Grace that Christ offers freely, we must come before Him in humility with an open and contrite heart, acknowledging our need for His mercy.
Finally… after the miracles of healing
It’s easy to overlook to huge but simple statement in the final phrase in what appears to be what we call a “filler or throw away statement”
We hear that Christ “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction”.
It is in this last phrase that we are again reminded that the mission of Christ is not just about healing (be it physical blindness or casting out demons and breathtaking miracles), but it is to bring the light of truth to all humanity, to heal the sickness of sin, and to restore us to the fullness of life in Him which was taken from us by the falling of Adam.
We see a convergence with John’s Gospel where he writes about Christ. “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)
Christ Himself is the Truth: truth in action! Christ healing the sick; Christ casting out demons; and Christ teaching humanity the way of salvation.
Therefore, let us, follow the example of the blind men in today’s Gospel. Let us approach Christ with firm unwavering faith, dogged persistence and absolute humility, trusting that He is the truth and that He can heal us, not just physically but spiritually.
Then as we receive His Grace, let us give glory to God, recognising that all good things come from Him and through Him.
Amen.