Friday of the First Week of Advent

"The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life's refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1

Today's Gospel gives us a short story about two blind men begging on the streets in Capernaum. The life of a beggar in the ancient world was dictated entirely on the place that you were begging. They would have specific spots that they held as their own; places that they can count on people to pass by and give them alms. This was their livelihood; this was how they survived. As Jesus passes by, the two men leave their places and follow Jesus! They are unable to see, yet they throw caution into the wind and follow Jesus. By the time the two men get to him, Jesus has already entered a home, yet they still enter a stranger's home to talk to him.

What blindness do we have in our own lives? What is it that keeps us from getting away from what is comfortable in our lives? Wednesday we heard of the calling of the first Apostles, earlier in Matthew 9 we hear of the call of Matthew, and it seems that so often we wait for Jesus to call us to himself directly. Sometimes the call is much more subtle. In the case of these blind men, all they knew was that Jesus had passed by and they needed to be with him. No words exchanged. Jesus didn't pick them up. The blind men followed him. They just needed to be with him. We need to be with him. And as happens in the story, Jesus will always welcome those to come to him.

Lord, grant us the faith to run to you that we may be cured of our blindness.

reflected by Matthew Keppel