Friday, January 24, 2020
2 Kings 4: Blindness
“How can I help?” These words of the prophet Elisha are echoed by Jesus when he asks the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:30-34, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43) We might take some time today to think about what it is we want. If Elisha visited us today, if we bumped into Jesus on our way home from work and were asked this question, what would we reply? For what blindness of our own do we seek healing? And once healed . . . do we wish to continue seeing Christ as the one who has done this healing?
We have many wishes hidden in our subconscious; or perhaps our secret desires are not hidden but rather have taken possession of our lives so that we think of nothing else. In either case, if we are asked to synthesize all that we desire into one great wish . . . what will it be? For whom will it be?
In today’s Noontime we read several stories: a widow with nothing whose children will be taken into slavery, a woman of influence whose child is brought back to life, a poisoned stew that becomes a healing meal, loaves of bread that multiply to feed many. These stories have something in common: The saving power of a loving God wrought by a faithful servant who is not blind to the possibilities before him.
The prophet Elisha is faithful to Yahweh in every way. He relies entirely on God’s providence for all that is necessary in living a mortal life: food, clothing, shelter. He also relies on God for his vision of possibilities. Most of us, when confronted by the widow, the wealthy woman, the poisoned stew and the too few barley loaves, want to turn to someone else to ask, “What am I supposed to do with this now in this moment?” Elisha moves toward God as he allows God’s miraculous work to take place. Elisha is not blind to the possibilities.
Jesus tells us about our own spiritual blindness (John 9:35-41) saying: If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim that you can see your guilt remains.
What do we claim that we can see? Is it the exasperation and desolation of life . . . or the goodness and gift of our existence?
What do we claim that we want? Do we seek comfort and ease for ourselves . . . or the beauty of understanding how we fit into God’s plan?
Are we blind . . . or do we truly see? When Jesus hears that the man he has cured of blindness has been thrown out of the temple precincts, he seeks the man out and asks: Do you believe in the Son of Man? When this man asks who this Son of Man is that he may see him, Jesus replies: You have seen him and the one speaking to you is he . . . I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.
Jesus presents this man – and us – with an important question: Once we have seen the miracle before us, do we believe it, or do we choose to categorize it in a way that it can be explained away? Jesus also asks us to think about this question: What is our own spiritual blindness? What are the miracles lying just before us that we pass by because we cannot fathom their possibility? And so we consider . . . if Elisha visited us today, if we bumped into Jesus on our way home from work, what would we reply? For what blindness of our own do we seek healing? And once healed . . . do we take these gifts for granted . . . do we explain them away . . . or do we give God the honor due . . . and do we see Christ as the one who has done this healing?
First written on January 21, 2010. Re-written and posted today as a Favorite.
To read commentary on 2 Kings 4, click on the image above or go to: http://deaconsmemorial.blogspot.com/2011/04/optional-mass-of-fifth-week-of-lent.html
The Noontimes 