Gospel (Mt 9:27-31)
As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened.
And Jesus sternly charged them, “See that no one knows it.”
But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
Commentary
Among our Lord’s miracles during his public life, we see one that He especially liked: restoring sight to the blind. Sight is the sense we consider most important, perhaps because we come to know the world above all through our eyes, sometimes even in faith: “you have to see to believe.”
In today’s Gospel passage Jesus teaches us just the opposite: “you have to believe to see.” As He is leaving Jairus’ house, where He has raised his twelve-year-old daughter from the dead, two blind men approach and begin to cry out for Him to have mercy on them. Our Lord doesn’t seem to pay attention to them but they continue following Him and enter the house where He is staying. As on other occasions, Jesus lets those who want to be healed insist in their request. In the case of the two blind men, this meant stubbornly following Jesus amid the darkness of their path.
Sometimes God wants us to follow Him in the dark, when at some moments in life our faith seems to fade or the desire to be faithful to his will falters. It is the time for trust, for listening more attentively to Christ, who is passing by our side.
Arriving at his destination, the Master allows himself to be reached by the two blind men and asks them a question, which seems almost a statement: “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” I know you have faith, since you have followed me here, but I need to hear you say it. “Yes, Lord,” we believe that you can do everything. And “their eyes were opened,” and their lives were flooded with God’s light.