Psalm 146 says, “The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;…”
In the Old Testament, there is much prophesy and tale of blind men. For example in Isaiah chapter 42:7 we read:
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
Here he is implying that those who cannot see are prisoners. This is interesting metaphorically considering what we read in the New Testament. In the bible there are two types of blindness.
The first deals with those that know Christ is the Lord, even without seeing him. For example Matthew 20:30 states, “And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”” They knew him, though they could not see him.
The second deals with those that are blind to Christ, even though they can see. For example in John 9:41, “Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, `We see,’ your sin remains” Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who believe they see, and that they get it, though they are arrogant in their faith… Christ advises them however that they are blinded by their arrogance.
We can see both types of blindness in the two thieves on the cross.
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:39-43
These two display both types of blindness, if we equate human blindness to those that are blind to the humanness of Christ… And likewise those that are blind to the Divinity of Christ, as those that are blind to the spirit.
The good thief is blind to the humanness of Christ, but sees His Spirit, His divinity. He sees him as powerful.
The one who reviles him is blind to the divinity of Christ, but sees his humanness. More so, he sees him as weak.
Now I could make this complicated and expand on the 4 combination’s of these two but I’ll just list them.
1st. Those that can’t see Christ humanly or divinely
2nd. Those that see Christ humanly, but not divinely.
3rd. Those that see Christ divinely, but not humanly.
4th. Those that see Christ humanly and divinely.
In today’s world I believe both of these types of blindness remain. There are those that know Christ, even without seeing Him. These are people of faith, people of humility, and people of Grace. I know many of these people and so do you. They just see through the junk and focus on Christ. Many times I find they can see God working and have a sort of supernatural wisdom. The greatest of these are those that see Christ wholly, as fully human and fully God. I’d like to think I am in this group, though I fall just like we all do.
There are also those who are blind to the Gospel. These are people addicted to the material world, Satan, and all his evil works. These are those that are so focused on junk, they can’t see HIM. Like the Pharisees. We also know many of these people. They see Christ’s humanness as a weakness and his divinity as a lie. They reject the life of Grace by their words and actions.
(NOTE: these are the extremes, there are many in between as well.)
And now for the scary part. There are people of all these types in every Church, in every workplace, and in every city. We can’t continue to think that those we go to church with aren’t blinded. Are you kidding me??? How many Catholics on any given Sunday read the bulletin during the Homily, or every week receive the Body of Christ in a state of sin? Or….how many people are blind to the Truth of the Eucharist?
We are called to SEE the light of Christ. I am a firm believer that miracles happen every minute of every day, many are just blinded and don’t see them. Let me list for you a short list of miracles I’ve seen in the last 6 months.
- a marriage renewed
- the hearts of men transformed by Christ’s grace flowing through them
- prayers for healing answered
- a child in the womb protected
- a man, whose marriage is at it’s end, make a decision to save it by seeking Christ in his life
- That same man’s wife, who was done with him, see Christ in him and decide to give it another try
- a baby born
- a Baptism
- a man turn from addiction to porn and seek purity
- 4 men ordained to the Priesthood by their acceptance of God’s will for their lives
- 2 different men, whose lives have been changed by Christ within the last 6 months, start Fishers of Men groups in their parishes
The list goes on and on because the miracle is not the fruit of what occurred, but that men and women chose to make a decision that they, in their humanness, are not capable of. THAT is God. THAT is missing from those that are blinded! Don’t you see??? (pun intended)
It’s not God who isn’t working, its US! Because we are blinded by our rules, our lack of faith, our pride, our comfort, our materialism, our politics, our self-image, our addictions, etc.
So what do we do?
Well, God writes in Ex 4:11, “The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
It is HE who makes us SEE
Psalm 146:8
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;
Mark writes in 10:49, “And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they *called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.””
God will open our eyes if we seek HIM. And He is calling each of us, he is saying to us ‘Take courage, stand up!’ Be strong and reach out to the blind.
In my Church there is a couple that comes to Mass each Sunday. The man is blind, yet his wife is ever steadfast. They walk into Church, his hand on her shoulder, as she guides him to their pew. They worship at Mass, and leave the same as entered, one leading the other. I know their faith is strong, I feel it. I know their love is strong, I can see it. And I know their desire to be in Christ is strong, because I can see it, not with my eyes.
We are called to be the blind man placing our hand on the shoulder of Christ to be led. I give my eyes to Him to see what he wills, to go where he leads, and to do what he asks. That is the blind faith I desire. For when I am blind to my desires, only then will I see fully Christ in His Glory. My faith is my eyes, and that is all that I need.
You are in my prayers as I hope I am in yours.
Tags: Body of Christ, Catholic, church, conversion, eucharist, faith, grace, life, love, prayer, Society, teaching
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