And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

This passage from Isaiah was chosen to fit with the gospel of Jesus healing two blind men. Many of the readings we will hear during Advent hark back to that idealized vision of life before the fall—a time when there was no evil, no death, when all in the garden were vegetarians, and no one eating another. These visions of an idealized age will all be attributed to the messianic age to be inaugurated by Jesus.

People wonder about the passages in the gospels where Jesus tells the people he healed, not to tell anyone. We are given little insight as to Jesus’ motivation. That may be part of the point. Our natural inclination is to question everything and to want explanations for everything. God sometimes does things for seemingly inscrutable reasons, and our call is to trust and obey, even when we don’t understand God’s reasons.

Even as these two go out the door on their way to tell the news they aren’t supposed to tell, a demon-possessed man is brought to Jesus. These two healings come at the end of a series of healings. Shortly, Jesus will give the disciples of John the Baptist, as evidence of who he is, that “the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the news is proclaimed to the poor” (Matthew 11:5). This verse, coupled with the response given the Pharisees, presents us with two ways of responding to God’s activity in our world: accept the good news that Jesus is the Messiah or reject him.

Let Us Pray:

O Jesus, help me to focus on who you are and what you ask of me. May I steep myself in your word to gain greater insight into who you are and how I can become a better disciple.