The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (9:27-35)

This world we live in has trained us to view everything through a scientific lens. What is true and factual is whatever can be observed and repeated in a controlled environment. We are taught that in order to know something we have to see it, to observe it. Our eyes have to grasp it in order to verify it.

Yet the evangelist St. Matthew brings us face to face with a powerful spiritual reality in today’s gospel reading. One doesn’t need to see God with his eyes in order to know Him and to have faith in Him. In fact, the evangelist pushes this further by telling us that one does not even need working eyes at all in order to recognize Jesus as the Lord and savior. You can be blind as these two men were blind.

In their blindness they did not complain and grumble against God. They did not wallow in self-pity about their situation. Instead they used what senses they did have to orient themselves to following after Christ. Sometimes we find ourselves in times of great difficulty. Sometimes these difficulties are self-inflicted, caused by our own life of sin. Like the blind men we might feel that we are in great darkness. We may feel that we don’t have the information or knowledge that is necessary to move one step forward in life. We are afraid that the next step that we take might be treacherous or dangerous. In these moments the lesson of this gospel reading is all the more powerful. Cry out to Jesus Christ. When you have nothing left to give, give it all to the One who alone can give you everything in abundance.

Frequently in the life of the Church, in our worship, you will hear us repeat the words “have mercy on us O God”, or “Lord have mercy”. Why do we do this? Why do we repeat these words over and over and over throughout the days and weeks and months and years? Is it because the Orthodox Church is boring and unoriginal and can’t find new material? No, my brothers and sisters. It is because the original material revealed by the Holy Spirit cannot be improved upon.

The Church is anything but boring because she is the body of Christ, the image of the kingdom of God. We also call the Church our mother and as any good mother does, she trains up her children in the fundamental skills of life. She teaches her children survival skills. She passes on her wisdom to her children and her children become wise. She doesn’t constantly invent new prayers and new music and new worship to fit with the times and seasons. She doesn’t give anything new because there is nothing new under the sun. So what the Church does is teach her children the authentic way to live, the way to drink from the waters of life. This way is found through an open heart and a disposition that learns to cry out to the living God with these words “Have mercy on us!” or “Lord have mercy!”

All of the liturgical prayers of the Church seek to impart this gift to us. The gift is humble faith. But how do we obtain this gift if we don’t first have faith? According to some of the fathers we begin with our words and our hearts will follow naturally. It’s one of the reasons why we should be careful about the type of music we listen to and the lyrics that we repeat mindlessly. They affect us and imprint on us. They change us with enough exposure.

Our prayers also change us. Our words and our actions help to mold our hearts. So the Church takes advantage of our human nature and calls us to become who we are meant to be in Christ. To learn to cry out to God and to address Him as one who is able to grant us mercy. And if you pay close attention you see that in fact the blind men followed this example since they followed Jesus to His house, which is a symbol of the Church, the place where Christ dwells. This is further demonstrated in that Christ shows them mercy and heals them in His house. Where do we find God? Where do we know that He will be waiting for us? In His house.

But it is really important to remember that in order for Christ to help and to heal you, you have to draw near to Him as if you are blind! You have to see yourself as blind and in need of outside help. This is especially true in your prayers. You don’t own or control God. You also don’t see God. Orthodox theology says that we can know God through His energies but never in His essence. So we have to approach God humbly, with our prayers, as the blind men did, and we have to do it with faith that He will hear us and reach out His healing hands to us in the midst of our blindness. After all, it is the Lord’s good pleasure to give you good things, because you are His child.

But pray as if your life depends on it, because it most certainly does! St. Mark the Ascetic teaches that “Nothing is stronger than prayer in its action, nothing more effective in winning God’s favor.” This is the favor that two blind men found through their heartfelt prayer of just a few words, “Have mercy on us!” AMEN.

Source: Sermons