“And when they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And behold two blind men sitting by the way side, heard that Jesus passed by, and they cried out, saying: ‘O Lord, thou son of David, have mercy on us.’ And the multitude rebuked them that they should hold their peace. But they cried out the more, saying: ‘O Lord, thou son of David, have mercy on us.’ And Jesus stood, and called them, and said: ‘What will ye that I do to you?’ They say to him: ‘Lord, that our eyes be opened.’ And Jesus having compassion on them, touched their eyes. And immediately they saw, and followed him.”
Jesus goes out from Jericho like a skilled farmer working on fertile land, taking with Him a great number of spiritual fruits, that is, the hearts of those captured by His love and wisdom: “The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few” (Matthew 9:37). The two blind men cry out with a Messianic title for Jesus, the eyes of their spirit being open to the truth, but the eyes of their body closed to His face. The multitude, in the throes of young love, are wrapped up in Jesus but either do not understand His mission: “And now I beseech the, lady, not as writing a new commandment to thee, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another” (2 John 1:5) or do not understand that He is the Messiah and God; “Behold a greater than Solomon here” (Matthew 12:42), instead thinking Him only to be a great teacher. Now a lover, when kept from his beloved by some obstacle, grows into a greater man, overcoming great trials in order to reach the object of his love, and this is seen here: where the multitude, not wanting to share their Beloved, prohibit, the blind men show their desire all the more: “Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from him, lest ye fall” (Ecclesiasticus 2:7). The Lord does not arbitrarily allow trials or such repulsion, but does it to draw the best out of His people, that rather than accepting defeat and going away sad: “And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:22), you may fight all the harder, letting love make you strong rather than complacent: “Love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames” (Canticle 8:6). Jesus stands still at this earnestness, not wanting any thirsty soul to be turned away, but letting any and all come to the fountain of His merciful love: “And he that thirsteth, let him come: and he that will, let him take the water of life, freely” (Apocalypse 22:17). He then looks to make a display of their faith, that many who followed Him as a teacher may know Him to be so much more: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). When they ask to see, Jesus touches them from an abundance of love, and they are granted sight, and so too when you struggle with seeing the deeper insights into the Scriptures should you turn first to the Doctors and Fathers of the Church: “’Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?’ Who said: ‘And how can I, unless some man shew me?’” (Acts 8:31), and pray that they may be clear to you, that they may enlighten your mind and your heart to truth and your heart may sing with love: “So Mary the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with dances: and she began the song to them, saying: ‘Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea’” (Exodus 15:20-21). They then follow Him, rendering Him their whole lives, for to follow Jesus isn’t necessarily in staying close to Him as much as in the spiritual beauty of one’s life and the love they give to the world: “Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk so as you have our model” (Philippians 3:17). Now, there are many spiritual meanings in this passage to be unpacked. First is that the blind men, representing those in the world that do not know the truth, realize Jesus is passing by the great number of disciples that are going by, and while Christ can work on His own: “And it came to pass, as I was going, and drawing nigh to Damascus at midday, that suddenly from heaven there shone round about me a great light, and falling on the ground, I heard a voice saying to me: ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?’ And I answered: ‘Who art thou, Lord?’ And he said to me: ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest’” (Acts 22:6-8), the bond of love that fills the Church and the knowledge of truth that wraps her are a great testament to His presence within the multitude of His people: “But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or an unlearned person, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. The secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will adore God, affirming that God is among you indeed” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25). They can also represent your heart and mind crying out to know God, not solely to know about Him, but to know Him: “I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23), and when Jesus passes by, everything in you stirs towards the true object of your heart’s desire, and to cry out after Him is to persevere in prayer, for like a sword that needs constant reshaping and hammering to be made sharp and wieldy, so too does prayer need much time and effort to pierce deep into the heart of the Beloved: “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse” (Canticle 4:9). So too should you ignore the advice of worldly men who hinder your spirit: “They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5), instead letting your love burst into a constant reaching out to God: “Therefore if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). Many are the saints, Theophila, who were put away by other Catholics, thinking them to be mad or strange, when in reality this is one burning with love brighter than what the others were capable of seeing: “But others mocking, said: ‘These men are full of new wine’” (Acts 2:13). It is a great affliction to the soul of the lover of God to hear from cold Christians to calm down and live a secular life, for those that are supposed to kindle the fire: “If two lie together, they shall warm one another: how shall one alone be warmed?” (Ecclesiastes 4:11) instead throw water upon it. Next, what is eternal, such as the truth of God, the nature of reality, the true forms of matters such as justice and love, all of these are unchanging truths, represented by Jesus standing still, and can be touched by the unveiling of God in the incarnation: “If I have spoken to you earthly things, and you believe not; how will you believe, if I shall speak to you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). Finally, there can be a meaning that Jesus walks in the Scriptures, and if you do not understand them, cry out for understanding and reach for explanations, not accepting to be kept outside the mystery, for the Bible is a love letter to you, and when you understand the love therein, often helped by the writings of those that have come before, the blindness of ignorance is dispelled and the light of truth enters your mind: “He that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God” (John 3:21). From reading the Bible, you can know how to follow Him as you are supposed to follow Him, enlightened by truth and set aflame by love.