Homily

When I was reading today's Gospel earlier in the week, a phrase suddenly popped into my head: "What do you see and what do you say?" St. Matthew tells us that the two blind men were following Jesus, and if you think about it that's rather strange, isn't it? WHY do two blind men follow someone, even if that someone is Jesus? So now my little descriptive phrase for this Gospel changes from "What do you see and what do you say?" into "What do you hear, and what do you see, and what do you say?" The only reason two blind men would want to follow Jesus would be that other people had told them something about Jesus first, and even though we can't know for sure exactly what they were told, it is obvious, when Jesus questions them and asks them if they believe He can cure them, and they say "yes" — it is obvious that they believe that the power of God is at work in Jesus. The blind men believed what they were told about the Lord, and since they were blind, it's obvious that other people had to also guide them so that they would be able to follow Jesus, and it reminds me of the Fathers at the Ecumenical Councils who also told us about Jesus and guided us in the path of truth so that we ourselves would be able to follow Him.

(And as a side point here please notice that as they were following the men were crying out, "Have pity on us, Son of David!" And the Gospel doesn't say they begged just once, but that as they were walking they cried out, suggesting they yelled this phrase many times as they were walking, so it's a petition in much the same way as we keep singing "Lord, have mercy" in the Liturgy, they also kept asking for pity.)

"What do you hear, and what do you see, and what do you say?" They heard of Jesus and they believed in Him and His power to cure them, so Jesus touches their eyes and now they physically see Who He is. The blind men had already seen Jesus with the eyes of faith, and now they see Him physically, there standing before them. There is a suggestion, perhaps, that their faith increased as they were cured, which also makes sense. These men who first came to faith by hearing about the Lord from other people will now go out themselves through all the land preaching about Jesus. They heard, they saw, and now they really have something to say.

In the second half of today's Gospel, a man who cannot speak because he is possessed by a demon is brought to Jesus. And this time, the focus in faith is not on the individual but on the crowd. They have heard about Jesus and they believe, and that's why they bring the man to Him. The Lord casts out the demon and the man speaks. The crowd sees this. And they say, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." Jesus is the greatest miracle worker who has ever walked among the Jews. They know that this is the work of God.

But then there are the Pharisees. They have heard about the Lord. They have seen His miraculous healings and exorcisms. But what do they have to say about it? "He casts out demons by the prince of demons!" They hear the same things, they see the same things, but they come to a completely different conclusion than the people who are cured and the rest of the crowd. Jesus is in league with the devil. That's what they say. And don't forget they are the wise ones, the learned ones, the teachers who believed they were smarter and better than the simple fools who thought Jesus was a man of God.

What do you hear, what do you see, and what do you say? We've heard the words of the Gospels and the rest of the Scriptures, and we have heard the teachings of Christ as it has come down to us in the living and hold Tradition of our faith and I pray that we are always clearly hearing that truth in our minds and our hearts, and guided by that truth, just as the blind men, and the possessed man were guided to Jesus that we can then see ourselves, and our lives, and this world through the eyes of faith, and not by the perspective of the Pharisees, who, though they may hear the same things, and see the same things come to conclusions that are wrong, false and even morally evil. We have been brought to Christ, we have been brought up in Christ, we have heard, we have seen, so now what do we say? What do our lives, both in words and in deeds, tell others about our faith in the Lord?

Even here today at Liturgy, in this focus of time, there is plenty to hear about Jesus. There is also something then to see, for we shall either see bread and wine, or with the eyes of faith, we shall see the Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If we see Him Whom we have been told of, and receive Him more closely and more intimately, than any of the cured and healed people in the Gospels, what do we have to say about Him? And even more importantly, what do we have to say to Him? The blind men kept calling on Him to take pity. May we have the wisdom to keep asking Him for His great mercy as well, and ask for healing in soul and body, and for divine life, eternal, both now and after our time in this world. Glory to Jesus Christ!