(Isaiah 29:17-24, Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14, Matthew 9:27-31)
“Son of David” he cried out! The messianic title, Son of David, is connected with Jesus in Matthew and Mark when revealing Jesus’ healing powers. Yes, Jesus, our ultimate healer has the power to free us of our ills – providing we have faith in him. And while I am tempted to take today’s reflection in this direction, leading us down a path where our faith in Jesus is illuminated so that we can experience the healing God has for us, my heart is stuck on Jesus’ words “See that no one knows about this.”
You see, the cat was already out of the bag so to speak. After all, this story is placed towards the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry and people were acutely aware that he was walking around performing miracles. So why did Jesus “warn them sternly” to not share this story with others? Personally, this has called me into deeper reflection. And further, why does the church want us to read this particular Gospel today along with today’s particular Old Testament reading, today’s Psalm, and today’s Alleluia? The answer, as always, is in the Word.
In our first reading Isaiah shares God’s promises to his children while offering a preview of the coming Savior – and how abundant those promises are. The verse that caught my heart most directly was: “When his (Jacob’s) children see the work of my hands in his midst, they shall keep my name holy; they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob, and be in awe of the God of Israel.” The two blind men certainly witnessed the healing hands of God in their lives; however, did they show reverence towards Christ and did they stand in awe? They obviously had faith, because it was their faith that healed them; however, I don’t believe they showed reverence and awe. These men, while filled with love and belief in our Lord, did not honor his request to “see that no one knows about this.” In all reality they did quite the opposite -“… they went out and spread word of him through all the land.”
Before bringing this home, let’s look at the message in our Psalm. As the Psalms often do, today’s Psalm reveals the beauty God offers his children when they fall in love relationship with Him, holding (clinging) onto him alone. We are called to “contemplate his temple” and “wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.” So what would have happened if these men contemplated the temple (Christ) once they took leave of Jesus. After all, our Lord told them to keep this experience to themselves, in essence telling them to hold it in their hearts. The fact that they had such faith would suggest they indeed did wait for the Lord with courage until their meeting; however, they didn’t continue to wait for him, to wait to hear his voice speak to them once again after their eyes where opened.
Oh how many times have I have experienced God’s blessings in my life where I wanted to shout it from the rooftops – and did so perhaps prematurely… Maybe you can relate? How many times have we been like the blind men in today’s Gospel? How many times have we spread the word of God to all the land, sharing a particular blessing, when perhaps, God granted us that blessing so that we could experience a deeper union with him? While we are certainly called to evangelize, we are also called to deepen our relationship with our Lord and this must sometimes be done in the silence of our hearts. Just as our Blessed Mother did when she “treasured all these things in her heart and thought about them often” we too are at times called into silence. (Luke 2:19) How blessed are we as Catholics to be presented endless opportunities of quite and reverent reflection.
So why after such an encounter with God are we, like the healed blind men, sometimes called to go inward? Well, I certainly do not know the will of God and therefore cannot speak fully to this “why”; however, I do have some thoughts. Perhaps when we prematurely share our blessings with others their disbelief could in turn cast doubt into our hearts, perhaps the others in our lives are not ready to hear of such magnificence, perhaps the Holy Spirit is still actively “working” on the miracle and our words would only serve to obstruct the movement of the Holy Spirit. Whatever the reason may be, it seems from today’s Gospel that sometimes Jesus calls us to remain silent and allow his healing tonic to reach fuller heights inside of us so that we can, in turn, more fully partake of the infinite blessings offered by God.
So perhaps the Church wants us to read these particular readings today, towards the beginning of Advent, to encourage us to take time to pray, to meditate and to quietly reflect on deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ so that we can receive the restorative healing that only Christ can provide. During this season of Advent let’s allow God to speak to us in the silence of our hearts as we prepare to celebrate his upcoming birth. Let’s together discover God in the silence, in the quite where he offers true healing.
Be blessed my friends.
