Receiving Sight

Many years ago, there were two blind men who asked for their sight from Jesus. The disciples were with Jesus that time and a large crowd was following him. These blind men were sitting by the roadside and upon hearing that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

They were rebuked and asked to be silent.

But they shouted louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Then, Jesus stopped.

He asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“We want our sight”, the blind men replied.

Jesus touched their eyes...

Then, darkness began to be filled with light, and of colors, and of shapes, and of lines, and yes, of unfamiliar, strange and unrecognizable images -- everything is new.

Then, without asking, they followed Jesus.

These men did not become blind. They were born blind.

Sight is a new thing for them. They perceived things by how people describe them, or by how they have felt them, or by how they have smelled them.

Things are different now. All things are new. As well as their eyes – fresh eyes.

Today, our faith is challenged by our blindness. All of us are called to be like the blind men. We must not be discouraged by the strong voices that prevent us from calling unto Jesus to ask for our sight, a new set of fresh eyes and a new way of seeing.

Receiving sight means entering into a new paradigm where everything is uncomfortably unfamiliar. Receiving fresh eyes makes the things once described by texture or temperature now describable by colors, hues, and shades.

The work of the Lord, like the healing of the blind men, requires fresh eyes – the retirement of the once useful tools in our own survival. The Lord’s work is always changing and may not be understood, or worse, neglected due to the absence of fresh eyes.

Let us call unto the Lord, “Lord have mercy on me, I want to see”.

When people tell us to be silent, then let us shout louder unto God, “Lord, have mercy on me!”

Jesus will surely touch our eyes, and we will receive our sight. But who will tell what is white, or black, or blue, or yellow when we are in the stage of cognizing?

Our past perception may now be wrong. The things we perceived in the absence of our sight may no longer be applicable. We must realize that even good things useful in the past get obsolete.

The blind men understood this. And so, like them, our call is to direct our attention and follow Jesus. Our standard of what is white, what is red, what is straight line, round or square should be what Jesus will tell us in our present time, most applicable, most refreshing, most contextual and nearest to the definition of the word “good news”.