Friday of Week 1 of Advent – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 9:27-31

Our readings today are both about seeing. The Gospel speaks about the healing of two blind men. It is a story which we also find in Mark’s Gospel, but here with significant differences. For instance, Mark has only one blind man while Matthew has two. It is important that we not read this as just another miracle, another proof of Jesus’ divine power.

It begins with two blind men going after Jesus—calling after him in desperation:

Have mercy on us, Son of David!

There is already an element of faith in calling Jesus by this messianic name (“Son of David”) and it also points to the healing power of Jesus; he is more than an ordinary rabbi. When they catch up to Jesus, he asks them:

Do you have faith that I can do this?

Without their trust in him, Jesus cannot do anything for them.

We remember what was said about the unbelieving people of Nazareth. These men say they do believe and Jesus responds:

According to your faith, let it be done to you.

They get their sight back. They can now see. Jesus tells them not to say anything about it. Jesus is not interested in being a sensation; he does not want people to have a wrong idea of his real mission. But they ignored his appeal and went about telling everyone of what had happened.

There is more here than meets the eye! What we have here is not just the restoration of their physical sight. They have gained ‘in-sight’. They can really see. They can see who Jesus really is, the Word of God, the Action of God—and they simply have to share that experience with everyone else. It is not something that they can keep to themselves.

It is significant that the following story is about the healing of a man who is unable to speak. There are several instances of Jesus’ healing people of muteness, deafness and blindness in the Gospel. As disciples of Christ we need to be able to see, hear and understand the message of Jesus and then we need to proclaim it everywhere.

Today is a day for us to be aware of our own blindness and our own deafness. We often have difficulty really hearing and accepting the Word of God, and how many us can claim that we can see Jesus as he really is? If we are to celebrate Christmas properly, we must learn how to listen to God’s Word, with understanding and acceptance, and learn how to see deeply into the meaning of his life as it is presented to us. And it starts right there with the baby in the stable.

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Friday of Week 1 of Advent – First Reading

Commentary on Isaiah 29:17-24

Today’s Mass is about seeing. The First Reading gives promise of a future full of hope. The prophet presents God’s plan of redemption in terms of happenings that could hardly be hoped for under normal circumstances, such as the cedars of Lebanon becoming a source of fruit and the fruitful field becoming a forest.

But more striking still is that the deaf will be able to hear, and the blind will be able to emerge from their world of darkness and see. The meek, that is those who are without power or influence, will find fresh joy in the Lord, while the neediest will rejoice in their God.

On the other hand, the tyrant, the scoffer and the doer of evil will come to a sad end. Those especially mentioned are those who corrupt the administration of justice.

Abraham is proposed as a model to be followed. Just as he answered God’s call in faith and journeyed to a promised land he had never seen, so he becomes a model for those who return to Judah and Jerusalem from their period in exile. Abraham had been called out of a land of idolatry, and so it is with Jacob, that is, the descendants of Abraham of whom Isaiah now speaks (Jacob was also known as Israel).

If they have the spirit of Abraham,

…those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.

Their eyes and their ears will have been opened.

Today is a day for us to be aware of our own blindness and our own deafness. Like the Israelites of Isaiah’s time, we have difficulty really hearing the Word of God, and how many of us can claim that we can see Jesus as he really is?

In our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, we must learn how to listen to God’s Word with understanding and acceptance, and learn how to see deeply into the meaning of his life as it is presented to us in Jesus.

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