Blind Man Fr. Nicholas Carr

the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus

Christ. In the Old Testament book of Genesis,

in chapter 25, we are told of how Isaac, the

son of Abraham, marries Rebekah and how Isaac

and Rebekah have twins. And these twins are named

Jacob, and Esau. And Esau was the firstborn,

and thus owned the birthright, the inheritance.

And just as Isaac had inherited all that Abraham

had, so Esau would also inherit, because of his

birthright, being the firstborn, all that his

father had. This birthright was something of

great value. And we are told that somehow Esau

sells his birthright to his brother Jacob for

a bowl of stew. That's right, one bowl of stew.

It must have tasted fantastic, or at least I

hope it did, because I would say that's probably...

the epic fail of bartering. Why would he do this?

Why would Esau sell his birthright? How could

anyone make this deal? Well, he was an outdoorsman,

a hunter. He survived on his own, a real man's

man, survivalist, who came back from one of his

outdoors, adventures, exhausted, tired. hungry.

And Jacob had that stew. And he said, sell me

your birthright. And Esau replied, look, I am

about to die. What good is that birthright then

to me? And he made the trade. He was afraid of

dying. He feared the harm that would come from

starving or the physical pain of starvation.

And he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.

He forfeited the future for short -term gain.

His physical needs outweighed the more important

big picture. And we see that his vision is failing.

He is blind. He does not value things correctly.

And you and I, we can be blind like that, hopefully

not to that extent, but we can be blind and sometimes

value the pleasures of this world, the visual

temporal world, more than the invisible, eternal

good things that God has for us. And sometimes

we consider, we may even consider trading, well,

Maybe we don't think we will trade it, but we

might trade our spiritual inheritance for something

like a bowl of stew. May God heal us of such

blindness. And in today's gospel, there is a

blind man who approaches the Lord Jesus saying,

Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus asks

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. And what a great example

this man is. This blind man is an example for

us today, for he demonstrates what we need to

do. In faith, we ask the Lord Jesus Christ for

mercy. We say to him, Lord, heal me of my spiritual

blindness that causes me to misvalue things.

And then what happens next? For the blind man

and immediately he received his sight and followed

him glorifying God and all the people when they

saw it gave praise to God and may it be so for

each and every one of us. Saint Tikhon of Zidonsk

says this, We fear the judgment of men, which

concerns only our body. Why do we not fear God's

judgment, which destroys both the body and the

soul? We fear temporal death. Why do we not fear

eternal death? We flee from temporal misfortune,

dishonor, reproach, disgrace, poverty, captivity,

suffering, sorrow, pain, and other adversities.

Why do we not rather strive to flee from eternal

misery which contains pain, sorrow, captivity,

dishonor, reproach, poverty, and all torment

and suffering? We wash our mortal body with water.

Why do we not wash our immortal soul with repentance?

We regret our lost wealth, honor, and glory,

all of which we will be forced to leave behind

together with this life. Why do we not regret

the loss of that wealth, honor, and glory, which

are the treasure that never departs from God's

elect? and avoid temporal misery, all of which

is like a dream departing from us as quickly

as it has come. But why do we not seek eternal

blessedness, which is unshakable? And why do

we not strive to avoid eternal misery? Oh, the

delusion. Oh, the vanity in which the blinded

sinner is tangled. We have this day, we are honoring

the holy new martyrs of Russia. And just as the

blind man is an example for us of valuing the

kingdom of heaven and being in God's will and

having sight, so the holy new martyrs of Russia

give us a great example of valuing correctly

our eternal salvation, our inheritance, if you

will. As Esau gave away for a bowl of stew, the

new martyrs of Russia, they were willing to pay

great prices. They endured persecution and suffering

under the communist agenda. They gave their lives

at a short moment in time in exchange. and obtained

eternal life. Let us all ask God to heal any

blindness that is upon us, the sight, spiritual

sight, that we would not sell our inheritance

in the kingdom for a bowl of stew. that instead

let us follow the example of the blind man and

the holy new martyrs of Russia and come to the

Lord Jesus with faith, trusting in his love,

walking in his commandments, glorifying God for

all he has done, is doing, and will do for us.

Glory to Jesus Christ.