5th Trinity III
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!" 
Brian Jekel
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." [or, your faith has healed you.]
At 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 August Trinity
August 22, 2021
Luke 18:35-43
Imagine only being able to look downward, to only see the
ground under your feet. Certainly there are small miracles there—the beauty of
sand grains or green grass. But looking up, elevating our gaze, opens up whole
worlds. We can take in the majesty of mountains, the ever-transforming sky, the
magnificence of the stars. We can perceive the wonders of all our fellow
creatures. Whole levels of meaning emerge.
 |
| Jorge Coco Santangelo |
The blind man asks Christ to help him look up and see again.
He wants to elevate his gaze, to take in the expanse of the universe, to
experience new levels of meaning. And Christ tells him that because he trusts
that this is possible, the power to enlarge his vision is already operating in
him, is already elevating his gaze. His openness allows him to receive his
sight.
In a sense, we are all blind. Yet the ability to see, the
power of vision, is not merely given to us from without. It is an indwelling
capacity given to us by God, a capacity we can further cultivate. It is partly
a matter of ignoring those inner and outer voices which would squelch our
attempts to elevate our gaze. And it is a matter of trusting that it is
possible, and listening for the Voice that says that we have the power to heal
our own inner blindness, to raise our gaze upward.
And ultimately, when our eyes open and our gaze rises, we
encounter the One speaking to us, the One who helps us heal, the One who gave
us our sight.
And in the words of the poet, He tells us to look at the true
yet commonplace miracles:
…a small and airy cloud
is able to upstage the massive moon.
...
A miracle, just take a look
around:
the inescapable earth.
An extra miracle, extra and
ordinary:
the unthinkable can be thought.*
*Wislawa Szymborska, "Miracle Fair"
