5th Trinity August
 |
| Brian Jekel |
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.
5th Trinity August
August 23, 2015
Luke 18, 35-43
We can think of our
senses as doorways between our souls and the world. They bring the outside
world into us. Even if one or the other of the senses is weak, the others can
to some degree compensate.
In today’s gospel,
the blind man is lacking the vision’s input into his soul. All the more acutely
does he depend upon his hearing. He is
aware of the crowd passing, all abuzz with something happening ‘out there’. And
he rouses himself to find out what is happening. When they tell him that Jesus
of Nazareth is passing by, he becomes even more active. He shouts for an
interaction with Him. He knows that this is not only someone called Jesus of
Nazareth, but also that this is a Son of David, of the kingly line, and so he
asks for His mercy and grace. He lets no one stop him from an interaction with
Jesus.
Jesus asks what He
can do for him. Again the blind man must become active – this time inwardly. He
searches his soul and recognizes that he wants not only to see again in the
ordinary way, but that he wants to ‘look up and see again’. He wants not only
to see earthly things, but also things of heaven. And when the blockage is
removed and his vision restored, he looks up and sees – Christ, the one who has
brought heaven to earth. And so he resolves to follow him and become a
disciple.
This reading
encourages us too to ask for mercy; to override hindrances, to ask again. It
asks us to recognize that what we truly and deeply want is a relationship with
Christ, actively pursued. We want our senses to be healed so that we can see
and recognize Him, the Lord of Life, here and now on the earth.
The poet Mary Oliver writes about our longing to see and
our faith that it is possible:
Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun's brass and even
 |
| Corn Maiden, T. Lambert |
into the moonlight, but I can't hear
anything, I can't see anything --
….
And still,
every day,
the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker --
[the corn’s] green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.
And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing --
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.
And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
….
One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.*
*Mary Oliver, “Little
Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith” in West Wind
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