“And he cried out, saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Luke 18:38
Thus, a blind beggar sitting by the roadside entreated our Lord. Although he lacked physical sight, the “eyes of his heart” were sharp as he recognized the divinity of Jesus and called Him by his messianic name. In fact, he persisted in crying out to Jesus as others in the crowd tried to silence him. While they were not physically blind, they were unable to “see” Christ’s divinity because of their spiritual blindness. Then Christ, hearing his entreaty, which is actually a form of the Jesus Prayer, stopped! Can you imagine our prayers, if offered in faith from our hearts, have the power to cause God to stand still and listen? After his physical sight was restored, Jesus told the former blind man that his faith had saved him. As we all find ourselves immersed in our busy daily lives, our Lord teaches us that even a short prayer offered from our hearts will capture His full attention. The key to our prayers is our faith. While many definitions of faith are known, our Lord instructs us in this reading that it is “being certain that we are in the presence of God.”
Dn Paul Tsahakis
Additional Scripture Reading: Luke 18:35-43