Romans 15:1-7; Matthew 9:27-35
Today we continue to celebrate the Transfiguration of the
Lord on Mt. Tabor, when the spiritual eyes of Peter, James, and John were
opened to behold His divine glory. They
saw Him shining brilliantly and heard the voice of the Father proclaiming “This
is my beloved Son with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” We also continue to prepare to celebrate the
Dormition (or “falling asleep”) of the Theotokos, when she became the first to
follow her Son as a whole embodied person into the eternal life of the heavenly
kingdom. This spiritually rich season
calls us to become transfigured in holiness like the virgin mother of the
Savior, who received Christ into her life without reservation and lived
faithfully as His holy temple all her days.
Regardless of our sex, marital status, or personal history, she remains
the model for us all of obedient receptivity to Christ. Our hope to follow her into heavenly glory is
in the healing mercy of her Son, Who shares His victory over death with all who
unite themselves to Him in humble faith and obedience.
That is precisely what the blind men did in today’s gospel
lesson. They sat by the road and begged,
for that was all that they could do in that time and place in order to
survive. We do not know the mental state
of the man who was possessed by a demon and unable to speak, for others had to
bring Him to the Lord for deliverance. The blind beggars were Jews who asked
for mercy from the Son of David, a Jewish term for the Messiah. Even though their faith was far from perfect,
as symbolized by their blindness, the Lord had mercy on them and restored their
sight.
The man who was unable to speak was a Gentile, which is
why the people responded, “’Never was anything like this seen in Israel,’”
while “the Pharisees said, ‘He casts out demons by the prince of demons.’” Due to their idolatry, the mouths of the
Gentiles had been shut to the glory of God, and the Jews at that time expected
a Messiah who would bless them, not the other peoples of the world. But Christ’s mercy restored the man’s speech,
cast out the demon, and provided a sign of how He came to bring salvation to
the entire world. In today’s epistle
reading, St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, both Jews and Gentiles, that
“together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” We Gentiles may now know and glorify Him every bit as much as
the descendants of Abraham, for the ancient promises extend to all who have
faith in the Messiah. The Holy Spirit has united the divided tongues of
the tower of Babel such that people of all cultures, ethnicities, and
nationalities may join together in the praise of God as full members of the
household of Christ in faith.
It should be no surprise that the Lord restored the
abilities of sight and speech to these suffering men. To see is to know and experience in ways that
transcend rational description. The spiritual
eyes of Peter, James, and John were opened to behold the divine glory of the
Lord, to the extent that they were able, at His Transfiguration, when they saw
Him radiant with brilliant light. We
know God through the eye of the soul, the nous,
not as a symbol or idea, but by true participation through His grace or
divine energies. Christ’s restoration of
the sight of the blind men provides an icon of what He has done for fallen
humanity blinded by sin, wandering in the darkness of those enslaved to the
fear of death, and unable to share in the eternal life of God. In Him, the eyes of our souls are restored,
cleansed, and healed so that we may
know the Lord not in images and ideas, but as a Person in Whose life we truly participate
as His living icons.
Likewise, our ability to speak has profound spiritual
significance, for the Lord taught that “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in
his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his
heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) The
Scriptures contain many warnings about the dangers associated with mindlessly running
our mouths. We read in the Psalms, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth;
keep the door of my lips.” (Ps. 141:3) Christ taught that we
will have to give an account for every idle word that we speak, “For by your
words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
(Matt. 12:36) It is not what goes into our mouths, but what comes out of
them that defiles us. (Matt. 15:11) As St. James wrote, the tongue is small,
powerful, and very difficult to control: “It corrupts the whole body, sets
the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”
(Jas. 3:6) The uncomfortable truth is that how and what we speak reveals the
true state of our souls, for which we must give an account to the Lord at the
last day. Whether we are currently embracing
Christ’s healing is not an inscrutable secret, but is plain for all to hear in
the words we speak and in the actions we perform every day. We must remember what the Lord said, “Judge not, that you be not
judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will
be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2)
Like the men in today’s gospel reading, we all need the gracious
healing of the Lord for our eyes, our mouths, and every aspect of who we
are. Though physical and spiritual sight
are different, what we fill our eyes with certainly impacts our hearts and how
we think, speak, and act. There is great
danger to our souls in pornography, in any type of entertainment that glorifies
sex, violence, and the love of money and power, and also in the many images of superficial
happiness found on social media. Much of what passes for news or entertainment
today is designed to inflame our passions in order to bring power and money to
the sponsors, whoever they may be. We may want only to be entertained or
informed, but what we see and hear can easily keep us so wedded to spiritual darkness
that we will become blind to the brilliant light of Christ. The less that we fill our physical eyes and
ears with what inflames our passions, keeps us from seeing ourselves and our
neighbors as living icons of God, and otherwise weakens us spiritually, the
more we will be able to open the eyes of our souls to experience and know the
Lord from the depths of our hearts. Keeping
a close watch on our eyes, ears, and mouths is not a calling only for other
people, for none of us is so advanced spiritually that we can safely let our
own guard down before such powerful temptations.
Especially in today’s culture, we must be careful not to fall
prey to self-centeredness in our words and deeds. As St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, concern
for the wellbeing of our neighbors must take precedence over our own desires:
“Brethren, we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that
which is good for his edification.” We
must not speak and act as though our will must always be done or think that we
have some personal characteristic that makes it necessary for us to always have
the last word. In the family, the life
of the Church, and in any other setting, we must embrace the humility of blind
beggars who know that they must cry out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” Such humble trust is necessary for us to
learn to see our neighbors as living icons of Christ whom we must serve with selfless
love. To see and speak about others in
the light of our passions is a terrible form of blindness that will make it
impossible for us to behold the glory of the Lord.
During
the Dormition Fast, we all have the opportunity to reorient the desires of our
hearts toward their true fulfillment in the love of God and neighbor. Our transfiguration in holiness is a matter
of following the example of the Theotokos in doing precisely that. Like her, let us gain the spiritual clarity
to lift up our hearts in humble obedience and receptivity to her Son, Who has
conquered death and opened the gates of Paradise. It is only through Him that our spiritual
eyes will be opened and our tongues will be loosed to offer praise and glory to
God.
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