5th August Trinity 2008,The Working of the Divine

5th Trinity August

Luke 18, 35-43

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want that I should do for you?”

He said to him, “Lord, that I may look up and see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.” ( your faith has healed you)

In that moment his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being--and all who saw it praised God.

5^th August Trinity

August 24, 2008

Luke 18, 35 – 43

Incidents often have several layers to them. On the surface they may seem simple enough. But opening the layers reveals a richness of complexity.

Today’s short reading seems simple. A blind man asks for and receives his sight. But there are further rich layers to be mined.

First of all, this takes place near Jericho. Jericho is the place where the Hebrews, faithful to divine instruction, conquered the city. They circled around it for seven days, blowing their ram’s horns and shouting so that the city wall collapsed (Joshua 6). Out of this incident there also emerges one of Jesus’ possible female ancestors[1]. Today’s reading plays out against this historic backdrop of faith and sound.

The man, though blind, is not cut off from his surroundings; he perceives much – he hears; he is attentive, even curious. When a crowd goes by, he takes the initiative to ask what is happening. When he discovers that the well-known Jesus is in the crowd, he amplifies his initiative. He cries out in a loud voice, addressing Jesus as the son of David, hinting at the hope that because Jesus belongs to the house of David, He could indeed be the expected Messiah. He asks for mercy, that is, for compassionate consideration of the imprisonment of his blindness.

Immediately he meets with an adversarial reaction from the leadership. He is threatened and told to be quiet. But he does not let pressure or fear overcome his desire to connect with Christ. He cries out all the louder.

Jesus, meanwhile, doesn’t just storm over and cure him. He stops. He stills Himself. He invites, by having the blind man led over to Him. The blind man must be courageous and walk toward the one he cannot see. And then Christ asks the blind man what it is that he wants. In effect Christ lets the blind man determine his own outcome by having him define what it is that he wants.

And the man’s reply bears looking at closely: “Lord, that I may look up and see again.” Luke 18:41[2] He is asking, in effect, asking not only for everyday eyesight. He is also saying, ‘May I raise my eyes to the heavens, to the divine, and once again perceive that to which I am now blind. May the evolution of my being move forward again. ’

Jesus’ answer is “Receive your sight again.” Luke 18:42. He doesn’t say, ‘I have cured you’ or even, ‘You are cured.’ It is as though He holds out to him his sight, which inwardly the blind man must receive and accept. And then Jesus makes it clear that what lives in the man’s soul, his trust, his faith, the power for healing that already lives in him is what the man himself has awakened through his interaction with Christ. “And in that moment his eyes were opened.” Luke 18:43 He looked up and saw again.

After this climax of healing it is easy to overlook the important line that follows, for it says that the blind man then got up and followed Christ, and that it is this that reveals the working of the divine within the human being. The working of the divine in the human being – initiative despite resistance; the desire and movement toward evolving again, trust in the power of healing, following Christ – this is the revelation of the working of the divine in the human being. This is Christ in all of us.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] She is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. There are two Rahabs: Joshua 5, Rahab, an inhabitant who cooperated with the Hebrew spies and subsequently joined the Hebrew people. Another Rahab is the only other Rahab in the OT - the mother of Boaz - definitely in the family tree. 

[2] Literal translation of the Greek anablepso