The Persistence of the Faithful

Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Annunciation

Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an

old calendar Orthodox church sharing the faith of the Apostles

and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,

let's listen to this week's homily.

I'm the name of Father and Son the Holy Spirit

Lord to Jesus Christ. I have a seat if you

all wish. Our gospel reading today is Luke's account of

the healing of the blind beggar on the road to Jericho.

As Jesus was drawing near to Jericho, a blind man

sat begging by the roadside, and hearing the noise of

a great crab passing by, he he asked what is happening,

and he was told that Jesus of Nazareus was passing by,

and he began to cry out with all his heart, Jesus,

son of David, have mercy on me. And though the

people around him tried to silence him and push him aside,

it just made him cry out all the more. Lord, Jesus,

son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord

stopped and commanded that the man be brought to him

and He asked him, what do you want me to

do for you? And the blind man answered, Lord, that

I may receive my sight. And Jesus said to him,

receive your side. Your faith has saved you. And immediately

the man's eyes were opened, and he followed Christ and

glorified God. And all the people who saw this miracle

gave praise to God. Now I want to say a

few words about this reading, starting with the person of

the blind man, because there are actually two different interpretations

from the church fathers about who the blind man represents.

Saint Ambrose of Milan, for example, says that in the

blind Man, we have a type of the gentile people

who received by the sacrament of our Lord the brightness

of the light which they had lost. So to Ambrose,

the blind man represents the gentile race blind because of

the lack of their knowledge of God. Saint Augustine of Hippo, however,

says that the one blind man in Luke's account represents

the Jews alone, to whom Christ's commander the gospel be taught.

This is a man he encounters as he approaches Jericho.

Now Jericho they interpret as the end of his days.

And then when he's leaving Jericho in Marx. In Matthew's account,

he encounters two blind beacers, and what Augustine says is

these are different encounters. And the second time, when he

encounters two, that's leaving Jericho after his death and resurrection symbolically,

and so those two represent both the Jews and the

Gentiles now being the subject of the gospel. So it's

kind of an interesting question whether these accounts in Matthew

Luke are the same other different healings, But I'm not

sure it makes a difference in how we understand the

healings themselves, given that the facts of the two healings

are essentially the same. In both cases, you have a

blind man who cries out to the passing Lord Jesus,

son of David, have mercy. I mean, in both cases

the crowd rebukes him and he cries out. All the

more so, the first thing that we can say about

this blind man is as blessed the out black rights.

Let us marvel at his staunch confession. Although rebuked by many,

he did not keep silent. He cried out all the

more are urged on by the fervent seal within him.

The blind man represents or demonstrates unwavering persistence and calling

out to Christ, refusing to be silenced by the crowd

along around him. Despite being rebuked, he cries out all

the more. This persistence reveals of faith that empowers and

moves and overcomes obstacles, overcomes rebuke, overcomes embarrassment. It's a

faith that we're called to carry as well. In our

spiritual lives. We face many obstacles, doubts, distractions, the mockery

of others, even our own discouragement. Where our spiritual life

intersects the secular world, we often struggle in weighing out

what we show of our faith and what we hold

to ourselves. And the blind beggars Or becomes our example

of public evangelism. He didn't allow the judgment of the

cris diminish his zeal for God. He didn't allow them

to silence him. So we two must persist in prayer,

especially the Jesus prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, on God have

mercy on me, which sounds so much like the prayer

of the blind man. It's a proven, tested prayer, It's

proved by God. When difficulties arise, when our prayers seem unanswered.

We have to be like this blind man and call

out all the louder, refusing to let anything separate us

from Christ. Because this proclamation of faith, this act of

prayer from the blind man, it drew the attention of

the Lord, and he engaged this man face to faith.

He called from to be brought to him, when just

moments ago the crowd was trying to silence and hide

this man, and Christ asked this humble man, what is

it that you would have me do for you? And

a man boldly asked for the greatest gift that he

can to receive his sight and Christ to his himself.

The true light gives light to this man's life. It

is mere word, receive your sight. Your faith has saved you. Now.

Saint Simeon, the New Theologian, tells us that this persistence

in prayer is what led to the man's healing. If

someone is hesitant, doesn't wish to approach the Master, even

if he says, even if he comes in and says,

follow me, then let him follow him, as a publican

once did, abandoning his counting tables in his avarice. And

I'm sure Saint Simmes wrote that he shall make of

him to an evangelist, and someone's a paralytic lying on

their bed in sloth, carelessness or love of put pleasure.

And if he should see another or the Master himself

or one of disciples asked, do you desire to be healed?

Let him receive that word joyfully and reply immediately yes, Lord,

No one put me in the pool. And if he

should hear, rise and take up your bed and walk,

let him get up and run with the faith of

the one who has called him from on high. And

though Christ performs this miracle in front of the entire crowd,

he still does it with great humility and for the

benefit of those who are watching. He asks this man

what his request of is. He doesn't just restore the

sight of a man who may have just been asking

for alms. He doesn't make himself the object of attention. Instead,

he waits for that man's request, and then he humbly

grants it. And when he heals a man, he doesn't

proclaim I have healed you. He doesn't invoke his own name,

he doesn't invoke the name of the Father. Rather, he

credits the beggar entirely. Receive your sight. Your faith has

saved you. It's this humility in Christ that we model,

and the man's sight is restored to him. But Christ

asks nothing for himself. He grants that which was ass

And finally, let us consider the response of the beggar

when he receives his sithe. We're told that immediately he

received his sight and followed him, glorifying God, and all

the people when they saw it, gave praise to God.

As Saint Cyril of Alexandria says, he was delivered from

his blindness. But did he to neglect the duty of

loving Christ. He certainly did not, But it says he

followed him, offering him glory like to God. Saint Cyril

says that this man was set free from double blindness.

Not only did he escape the physical blindness of the body,

but also of the mind and the heart. He would

not have glorified God if he had not possessed that

spiritual vision. So he had both the physical and the

spiritual healing. And he becomes the means by which others

then give glory to Christ, glory to God. The once

blind man became a disciple. He was transformed from a

beggar to a giver, from one who received to one

who glorified God and thanksgiving for his blessings. And this

is also an example for us because when we receive

God's mercy, whether it's physical healing or forgiveness of sins

or spiritual enlightenment, we must respond with the same gratitude

and discipleship. This means actively following Christ on the way

to Jerusalem, the heavenly Kingdom. Our faith must be expressed

not just in words, but in our daily lives. It

must be open, not silenced by the crowd. We live

the faith when we live out our daily practices, when

we pray, when we attend the services, when we fast,

when we give alms, when we participate in the feast,

we are becoming witnesses called to draw others through Christ,

through Christ, through our transformed lives. So and sisters, as

we depart today, let us be emboldened in our faith

through the example of the blind beggar. Let us cry

out to our Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have

mercy on me. Let us eagerly bring our prayers before

him with humility and with faith, and let us glorify

Him and give thanks for the blessings which have been

stowed upon us that Christ to as the True Life,

may give sight to our innermost being, healing us by

our faith through the glory of God the Father. Amen.

All right, thanks for listening to Hill Country homilies. For

more information, visit Holy Nunciation Orthodox Church at www dot Denunciation,

tx dot com, and please join us again next week