Homily

Two blind men are following Jesus, crying out after Him, "Son of David, have pity on us!" A remarkable thing, because they had to ask for help from someone else to be able to follow after Jesus, because, don't forget, they were blind. And it was a remarkable thing that they called Him "Son of David," a title fit only for a messiah. This, along with their answer to Jesus when He asked if they believed that He could cure them, was a sign of great faith. They saw something more in Jesus despite the fact that they were blind. The Pharisees saw the same man as these two did, but they came to a very different conclusion. They claimed that Jesus was an agent of Satan, doing the work of Satan.

The faith of the blind men gave them something more. It gave them the ability to see the truth beyond what might have been seen by others. It gave them the power to understand a truth that was beyond the limits of this physical world, beyond the mortal limits of human intelligence and comprehension, to come to a truth that could not be found or discovered by any person, but a truth that could only be accepted or rejected when it was revealed to them. Their faith in Jesus gave them more, made them more, offered more, promised more than what they ever could have hoped for on their own in this life. The cure of their blindness was nothing in comparison to that. It was simply an indicator of the goodness their faith had opened them to. Being able to see Jesus was a great thing. Believing in Jesus and following after Him was a life-changing choice.

Because of their faith, they had more than other people. Because of our faith we have more than other people who do not believe. That doesn't sound very democratic does it, to think that we have more than other people? The general cultural opinion would be not that we have more, but that we are simply different than other people. We shouldn't think that our faith is any better than the belief of Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Wiccans, Voodoo-people, Buddhist, Jainists, Santerians, Baha'i or Jehovah's Witnesses, nor should we think our faith gives us anything more than what atheists and agnostics don't have. The cultural idea is that all beliefs are of equal validity and importance, and none should be considered superior to any other—that's the American way. And, increasingly, slowly but surely, many are coming to think that no faith is actually the best religion, because faith tends to get in the way of personal freedom. Now surely we recognized the freedom of all Americans to worship or not worship, to believe or not to believe as each person chooses. But that does not mean, of course, that all religious creeds are equal to each other. It simply means that all are to be treated equally under the law. It does not mean it makes no difference what people believe, as long as they believe it sincerely. Why would we ever think that receiving the Holy Eucharist is no better than sacrificing a chicken in some Haitian backyard? Why would we ever think that observing the Beatitudes is no better than following the impersonal demands of the god of Mohamed? Why would we ever want to be so weak that any sign of someone else's religious belief would cause us "emotional distress" as some atheists have recently claimed in court? Dear friends, we have more. We have faith in Jesus Christ. That does not mean we are necessarily better than other people in our conduct, because having more does not guarantee living better. We must use what we have. Having more does not mean we should not respect the rights of others to believe or not believe according to their consciences. Yet, because we do have more, in our faith in Christ, there is more that we must do.

We must understand that we have more. Because if we believe, in a certain unthinking and illogical way that all religious beliefs are kind of good, and kind of equal, then there are consequences. If that's true, then I don't have to act any better than anyone else! I don't have to be more compassionate, more caring, more helpful, more honest, more hopeful, more forgiving than anyone else out there, because we're all equal in faith, or lack of faith. And if other people never do or say anything to show any evidence of faith in their lives, for the most part, why would I want to do that? I mean, I'm no better than they are. I wouldn't want people to think I have values that might seem as better than theirs! I certainly wouldn't want to be judged by my faith, or because of my faith. The inherent danger in "kind of believing" that all religious are "kind of equal" is that it leaves a person to think there is no pressing need to practice my own faith, especially if it would set me off as different from other people. And by that I might mean making the sign of the cross in a restaurant, or letting someone get in the line ahead of you. And by that I mean speaking up for the rights of the unborn, and praying for a bad driver rather than cursing at them. And by that I mean acting honestly when other people are watching, and also acting honestly when no one else is around to see it. It's not pious in public and pretty poopy in private. It's living with more and all the time.

We have more in faith. We have the truth of Christ our Lord. But it does not really matter if we are not willing to live fully in that truth and practice what we believe. It does not really matter if we are afraid, or lazy, or neglectful or unwilling to some degree to live according to that truth. And having more will not be more for us if our values, morals, conduct, and attitude are not based on our faith in Christ. The two blind men were persistent and brave in following after the Lord to regain their sight. May we be as persistent as they were, and as enthusiastic as they were, not to regain our sight, but to ever deepen our own faith, our life in Christ.