DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Saint Luke 18:35-43
(12/4-12/4)
The Twenty-eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Receiving Sight: Saint Luke 18:35-43, especially vss.
40, 41: “So Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be brought to Him.
And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, ‘What do you want
Me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, that I
may receive my sight’” Here is an encounter between the Lord and a blind man that
qualifies as a ‘happening.’
The Evangelist Luke would have us ‘see’ deeply into what
“...happened, as [Jesus] was coming near Jericho...” (vs. 35). There
were planned aspects in the event: the blind man ‘saw’ it best to
beg by the road leading into town - a good place to ply his trade. Jesus ‘chose’ to come
through Jericho, although a city off the regular road between Galilee and
Jerusalem (see Lk. 13:22, and 18:31-34). Another
happening occurred just before the encounter in Jericho: “...ten men who
were lepers...” cried, “...Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
(Lk. 17:13).
In this earlier event, a parallel occurred: one leper, a Samaritan,
returned, glorified God, prostrated himself before Jesus and gave Him thanks (Lk. 17:15). To
him Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well” (Lk.
17:19).
There is a subtle, but important development
in the efforts of the blind man at Jericho that demonstrates the parallel
between the Samaritan leper and the beggar at Jericho. The blind man asked what the commotion
and the crowd were all about - not a surprising request from a man who depended
on traffic along the road into town.
The answer he received was: “...Jesus of Nazareth was passing
by” (Lk. 18:37). But watch! His cry changed in his actual address:
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (vs.
38). He used a
‘Messianic’ title in his outcry. Where did this insight come from? Was he flattering, or was it spiritual insight ? Note -
he persisted in his efforts to meet Jesus, and focused his cry solely on the
title, “Son of David” (vs. 39). Verbally, he prostrated himself
much in the same way as the Samaritan leper did earlier (Lk.
17:13).
See the results of humble persistence:
“So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him” (Lk. 18:40).
Watch how the Lord assessed the beggar: “What do you want Me to do for you?” (vs. 41). Here was a blind beggar. Was he seeking alms? Was his cry an effort to get attention
in order to supplement his income, or was he signaling something more in using
of the Messianic title? The blind
man’s reply to Christ definitely shifted the nature of his appeal from
simple beggary: he asks, “Lord, that I may receive my sight” (vs.
41). The blind man crossed the
threshold from mendicancy to serious worship. He approached Jesus as One having paranormal power, like Moses, or the Prophets of
old, but particularly as the Messiah, the Christ.
The boundaries of the meeting had now been
defined, and Jesus, Who knows what is in men’s hearts (Jn. 2:24,25), spoke directly to the man’s appeal because of
his orientation to Himself, a sight that was clearly elevated above material
needs: “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well” (Lk. 18:42). As
Saint Nikolai of Zhicha says of the beggar at
Jericho, he “...could not see with his eyes either trees or rocks, wild
beasts or corpses, but...saw God in his spirit, who looked and saw the divinity
of Christ the Lord.”
Now what about us? We live in a materialistic age caught up
in widespread blindness, the common affliction of a culture that disdains
spiritual insight and blurs things of the heart (or nous) with things of the
soul in an effort to make physical sense of that which is open only to those
who see God in their spirits. This
disease is very widespread, a scourge even on many in the Church. Quoting Saint Thalassios,
Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
observes that “...patristic teaching advises us to keep watch over our
thoughts so that our ‘nous will not be darkened but, on the contrary,
will see.’” Glory to God, Who can open our spiritual
eyes (vs. 43).
O Lord and Master, graciously illumine our
hearts with the light of Thy countenance.
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