Once I sat beside a blind but attentive beggar. Just by the sound of a coin dropping into his can, he could correctly decipher how much it was. Or, by the feel of paper money, he could tell a one-dollar bill from a 5-dollar bill.
God is great! Lacking one human sense, blind people have a more developed sense of hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling or touch. Today's gospel presents two blind men following Jesus and crying out. They might not see the Lord, but their better sense of hearing led them to Him. When Jesus entered a house, they approached Him there.
Two good things opened their way to the heart of the Lord, who appreciated their efforts: first, their humility borne of a desperate search for a better life and secondly, their simple, uncluttered faith. Uttering "Son of David" showed their recognition of who Jesus was and gave them a chance to ask for help.
These blind men in the gospel today knew what they wanted from Jesus. They acted by crying out loud in faith to Jesus for help.
- Do we know what we want from Jesus?
- What are we willing to do?
- Are we willing to go to Him and tell Him our needs?
- Do we truly believe He will answer?
According to a story I read in Paper Pulpit, years ago, an old lady who had no money to buy food prayed, "Dear Lord, please send me a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal." Over and over again, she prayed the same prayer aloud. One of the town's unscrupulous citizens decided to play a trick on her. He dropped a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal down her chimney. It landed in front of her as she knelt in prayer.
Jumping to her feet, she exclaimed, "Oh, Lord! You've answered my prayer!" then she went all over town telling everyone the good news. This was too much for the man who had dropped the food down her chimney. He ridiculed her publicly and said to her that God didn't answer her prayer; he did. The old lady replied, "Well, the Devil may have brought it, but the Lord sent it."
We are reminded during this season of Advent that God does not always answer prayers the way we think He should. The Jews, who were waiting for their promised Messiah, thought He would come as a King reigning over an earthly kingdom. When He came as a babe in a manger, they didn’t recognize Him. In their blindness, they brought Him to the Romans to be put to death.
The measure of how great our faith is in that little babe in the manger, whom we await now, can be seen in the effect of our life on those around us.
"That day the deaf will hear … the eyes of the blind will see" (Isaiah 29:18).
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