While Jesus Christ was walking to Jerusalem with his disciples, he passed by the small village of Jericho, where a crowd started to gather around to see him. There was a poor blind man whose mother had told him about Jesus Christ and his miracles. He tried to approach Jesus to be healed, but because he couldn’t see, he started to scream “Son of David save me.” Everyone was shouting at this blind man to be quiet. Don’t be so loud.
Jesus Christ heard that someone was looking for him and he started asking his disciples “who is asking for me?” And they answered: “Everyone is asking for you Lord.” But Jesus heard the blind man above all others, not because his voice was louder, but because his faith was stronger.
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What should we learn from this gospel? There is an important question we must ask ourselves: Do we have as much faith as that blind man? Our blindness is more serious than that man’s. Our eyes may work, but we are blind to what is truly important. When something is wrong in our lives, we have stopped praying about it and we have also stopped asking for help. We have lost our faith in God, and we have also lost trust and faith in each other.
So how are we going to help ourselves? How are we going to find our faith again? The faith of the blind man in this week’s gospel is a gift from God. If we have this strong faith we will never feel afraid or worried about anything. Jesus Christ is always with us, standing next to us. But we are blind and we can’t see or feel him. Why? Because we think we can solve all our problems by ourselves. Or we think our problems cannot be solved at all and we just give up.
If we are in pain, for example, if our back hurts, we have different choices. We can sit at home in pain that will never end. Or we can ask for help. We can go to the doctor and get pain medicine. But our pain will not be healed with only a pill. If we do not do our physical therapies and change our lifestyles, the pain medication does not last and we are in pain again.
The pill for our spiritual health is Holy Communion. We can come to church on Sunday, take Holy Communion and feel better. But this feeling will not last long. We need to keep praying during the week, louder and louder every day, all day. And if our prayers are as loud as this blind man’s shouting, then Jesus Christ will hear us. And we will receive the greatest gift, the gift of faith.
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