LEAVING THE HOUSE OF JAIRUS, Jesus was followed by two blind men who cried out, “Have pity on us, Son of David.” When He reached His own house, the blind men entered with Him, and He said to them:
“Do you believe that I can do this to you?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said. He touched their eyes, saying:
“Let it be done to you according to your faith.”
At His words their sight was restored. And He said:
“See that no one knows of this.”
As they departed, a demoniac who was mute was brought in to Jesus. He cast out the devil and the dumb man spoke, to the amazement of the crowds. But the Pharisees claimed Jesus had worked this miracle through the devil’s power.
At this time Jesus returned for a visit to Nazareth. He preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and the townsfolk were surprised at the wisdom of the “carpenter’s son.” But He performed few miracles in Nazareth, and the people remained skeptical and distrustful of the powers of this native son.
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them:
“You will surely quote Me this proverb, Physician, cure thyself! ‘Whatever things we have heard of as done in Capernaum, do here also in Thy own country.’ Amen I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. In truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there came a great famine over all the land; and to none of them was Elias sent, but only to a woman, a widow in Sarepta of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
His people were rejecting Him, just as they had rejected Elias and Elisha; and now, as then, God’s mercy was being given to strangers. Infuriated at Christ’s words, the congregation took Him out to the hillside, intending to kill Him by casting Him from the summit. But Jesus escaped from them and left Nazareth.
Matthew 9:27-34 | Matthew 13:53-58 | Mark 6:1-6 | Luke 4:16-30
Meditation: To cure the blind men, Our Lord needed to do nothing but to will that they receive their sight. However, he touched their eyes in performing the cure. He used an external and visible symbol of the exercise of His divine power. For He knew that such a method was human-better adapted to human needs and desires. Similarly in the sacraments, in which invisible grace is conferred upon the soul, God, out of consideration for our human needs, uses external and symbolic rites as the channel of His grace.
Information from The Life of Christ “Our Lord’s Life with Lesson in His Own Words for Our Life Today” The Catholic Press, Inc. 1959. 83-84. © 1954 edited by Reverend John P. O’Connell, MASTD and Jex Martin, following mainly A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels by Stephen J Hartdegen OFM NIHIL OBSTAT John A McMahon; IMPRIMATUR Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago August 1, 1953. Print. Drawing by Albert H Winkler.
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