Instruction for the Seventh Sunday After Pentecost (6)

As Jesus passed on from there (from the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue), two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying: have mercy on us, (Jesus) Son of David (Mt 9:27).

I have cited the opening words of today’s Gospel reading. The whole passage read today from the Gospel tells of the Lord’s healing of two blind men by a single touch of His hand, and of the casting out of the demon of muteness from a demon-possessed man; of the Pharisees’ slander against the Lord, that He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons; and, finally, of how the Lord went about the cities and villages, Himself teaching the people in their gatherings, «preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every infirmity among the people» (Mt 9:27-35).

Let us turn our attention, first of all, to the faith of the blind men, and to their unrelenting request. They go after the Lord, crying out loudly: have mercy on us, Jesus, Son of David—and when the Lord entered the house, they came boldly to Him, with full confidence in the mercy of the divine Wonderworker. To make manifest, before all, the great faith of the blind men, the Lord asks them: do you believe that I am able to do this? — and receives the answer: yes, Lord! Then the Lord touched their eyes, saying: let it be to you according to your faith—and their eyes were opened. See, then, the reward of faith—a great reward: for two words, a perfect restoration of sight! Great too is the power of faith! For all things are possible to him who believes (Mk 9:23), says the Lord. But the more astonishing the power of faith is, the more astonishing, on the other hand, is unbelief in people! The Pharisees looked upon the Lord’s miracles with the very same eyes, listened to the Lord’s teaching with the very same ears, as everyone else—and did not believe, and were offended. So do pride and prejudice blind the eyes of a man’s heart! From this it follows that people have, besides bodily blindness, a spiritual blindness too, worse than bodily blindness, since it arises from the evil will or evil heart of the man himself—not, as with bodily blindness, independent of the man’s own will. Guard yourselves against unbelief! Guard your faith with all your strength, whoever has it; it is good for a believer to live in this world: he is always with God.

After the healing of the blind men, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to the Lord. The Lord cast out the demon, and the mute man began to speak; the people, witnesses of the miracle, marveled, saying: never was such a thing seen in Israel—but the Pharisees, that is, the learned men, the Jewish scribes, who took upon themselves the role of teachers of the people, said: He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons—as though, according to the proverb, a raven could peck out the eye of another raven, or a demon cast out a demon. From what did such a vile slander against the Lord arise in the Pharisees? From their pride and envy, from their malice, for the passions blind the eyes of the heart; if your heart’s eye is simple, then you look simply upon people and their deeds, as they are, without cunning, without twisting the sense of things; but if it is cunning and unclean, then people, their words, and their deeds will appear to you cunning, unclean, filthy—or, as they say, everything will appear inside out. To the pure, everything is pure, but for the impure, everything is impure (Tit 1:15), for in him both mind and conscience are defiled. Woe to us, sinners, from an unclean conscience! Therefore let us be simple and sincere of heart, and let us always ask of the Lord a clean heart. «Make a pure heart in me, O God, and renew an upright spirit within my inward parts» (Ps 50:12).

The Lord, brothers, is always one and the same. Even now He works great miracles among believing people, both directly, Himself, and through His Most Pure Mother, the Virgin Mother of God, and through His Saints, and through His chosen ones, still living upon the earth. Oh, how often He heals in me the blindness of the eyes of my heart! For every day my sins blind the eyes of my heart, and, through the prayer of repentance, they are wondrously cleansed, made bright, made to see again.

Cataracts, sinful cataracts, brothers, lie upon the eyes of our hearts; and, alas, many do not understand this; people do not see their own dangerous, ruinous state; the drunkard does not see his own calamity, for drunkenness has blinded his eyes; the fornicator does not see his own calamity, for lust has blinded his eyes; the thief does not see his own ruin, for easy gain has blinded his eyes; the lover of money does not see the calamity of his own soul, for money has blinded his eyes. Every sinner, until he sincerely repents of his sins, is blind in spirit, and knows not where he goes, for darkness has blinded his eyes. Let us, then, truly repent, that we may see, may see with our hearts. Amen.