Opened Eyes

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!”  When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. 

Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”  But they went out and spread word of him through all that land. (Matthew 9:27-31)

The two men had blind faith meaning a “belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination.”  Is this really the kind of faith God desires us to have? Is our faith really to be blind, without true understanding?

Herein lies the heart of our Catholic or Christian dilemma.  True understanding of our faith and associated beliefs often is lacking.  Many of us think of the Bible as inerrant and dictated by God.  On the contrary, the Bible was written by Jews for Jews and with a Jewish perspective greatly affected by Jewish culture and history.

We need to have Jesus touch our eyes and open them.  We blind faithful must see.  That’s why we should seek true understanding so we may correctly perceive the Word of God and no longer need to be pitied for our ignorance of our faith and its Jewish foundations.  For this reason, we must all stridently oppose anti-Semitism – that spiritual disease, that cancer, now gaining momentum in our country by those blinded by hatred, lies, and media-led propaganda causing a resurgence of Neo-Nazism and the evil that entails.

Deacon David Pierce