Blind Man in Jericho Fr. Nicholas Carr

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Last

night, we were blessed with a visit from Abbot

Sergius from St. Ticon's Monastery. And I mention

that right now because of the great gift he brought

to us. When you come up and kiss the cross later,

you should come. over here and see this holy

relic that's been given to the church. To our

church of St. Seraphim's has been given a piece

of the Montia that was worn by St. Seraphim himself.

And what a blessing it is for us to have that.

So when you come later, make sure that you come

and have that blessing upon you of being with

it. Well, today's gospel reading from St. Luke

tells us of a blind man. And this blind man lived

near Jericho. And he sat by that road that went

into the city of Jericho as a beggar. He could

not earn his own living. He could not see. He

depended on others to help him. And this blind

man heard a commotion. on the road, a large group

passing by. And so he asked those near, what

is it? What's going on? And he was told that

Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Jesus, the

one through whom miracles had occurred. Jesus

had healed 10 leopards. Perhaps he could heal

blindness too. And so this blind beggar on the

road near Jericho called out these words. Jesus,

son of David, have mercy on me. And he shouted

so much that those around him told him to be

quiet. Come on, stop that. And yet he knew this

was his chance. And he did not listen. to those

around him. Instead, he cried out all the more,

son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus heard.

And when they came together, Jesus asked him,

what do you want me to do for you? And he said,

Lord, that I may receive my sight. And then Jesus

said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has

made you well. Imagine. being that man who had

been a long time in darkness. He had never really

seen with the senses of sight anyway. With his

sight, he had never seen light. He had never

had his eyes realize colors. And yet, at that

moment when Jesus healed him, he was illuminated.

He could see all these things. And how did he

respond? Well, he gave glory to God and he followed

Jesus. And all the people, when they saw it,

they gave praise to God too. I have never been

physically blind, but there was a time years

ago when I was spiritually blind. My vision for

spiritual things was obscured. Yes, he is the

creator of the invisible as well as the visible.

And I just looked at the visible. And I knew

there was invisible, but I ignored it and didn't

want to see it. It was like a window that had

mud smeared on it. And yet, that mud can be washed

away. Vision can come. The blind man... He had

his chance to draw close to Jesus and he took

action and he got healed. He did not care what

other people thought. That did not keep him away

from coming to Jesus. He knew that Jesus could

heal him. He cried out. He drew close to the

Lord and he was healed and his life was changed

forever. And this happened to me. It's happened

to countless people with not physical blindness,

but spiritual blindness. It can happen for anyone.

God wills it for every single person that is

living today, that they would be cured of spiritual

blindness. Saint Tikhon of Zidane says of this,

You see a blind man who cannot see his way, does

not know where he is going, cannot see anything

in front of him, and cannot see the ditch into

which he is about to fall. Turn your meditation

from this occasion to spiritual blindness. The

sinner struck by such blindness similarly cannot

see good and evil, does not know where he is

going, and does not see his own destruction into

which he is about to fall. Woeful is bodily blindness,

but spiritual blindness is the most woeful. But

just in the same way that physical blindness

can be healed and was healed by Christ, so we

are healed of our spiritual blindness. When we

come to the Lord, that man near Jericho cried,

have mercy on me, and that is the same thing

that we need to cry. We need to come to the Lord

with a humble heart, realizing our fall, our

mistakes, confessing them to him, and beginning

the process of sanctification. It's about coming

to the Lord Jesus Christ with humility, knowing

that we have sinned, knowing that the Lord can

make it right, and then living it. You know,

some people will not do that because they're

worried about what other people around them will

say. What if I said I am a Christian and I go

to church on Sunday? How would these other people,

what would they think? What would they do? Well,

it's been said that in America, we sometimes

spend money we don't have to buy things we don't

need to impress people we don't like. May that

not be true of you and of me. The blind man had

faith in Jesus and got to him. So, too, we must

ignore the crowds and the naysayers and those

that might judge us. and ignore it, and get to

Jesus. The cure for spiritual blindness is to

come to our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

with faith, to be baptized and chrismated. But

we know sometimes the window of our soul can

become covered with a mud from sin that has come

into our lives. We know we need confession. We

need to come and even after baptism, there's

much that has to be done in us by God to sanctify

us. So we need to come and confess and have that

window of our soul washed clean and so that our

eyes can be opened in a way that would prevent

us to get beyond sin, to break the chains of

anything that would be an addiction, to move

on. closer to God, and to be like that blind

man who gives praise to God and follows, he follows

Jesus because he knows where the source of life

and light is. Last Sunday at Theophany, we heard

the answer to everything in the gospel for that

day when Jesus called all to repent. That's all

we need to do. God will do everything else as

long as our attitude towards him is one of repentance

and want to follow him. And let us strive to

do that. Let us follow our Lord and God and Savior,

Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ.