In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Last
night, we were blessed with a visit from Abbot
Sergius from St. Ticon's Monastery. And I mention
that right now because of the great gift he brought
to us. When you come up and kiss the cross later,
you should come. over here and see this holy
relic that's been given to the church. To our
church of St. Seraphim's has been given a piece
of the Montia that was worn by St. Seraphim himself.
And what a blessing it is for us to have that.
So when you come later, make sure that you come
and have that blessing upon you of being with
it. Well, today's gospel reading from St. Luke
tells us of a blind man. And this blind man lived
near Jericho. And he sat by that road that went
into the city of Jericho as a beggar. He could
not earn his own living. He could not see. He
depended on others to help him. And this blind
man heard a commotion. on the road, a large group
passing by. And so he asked those near, what
is it? What's going on? And he was told that
Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Jesus, the
one through whom miracles had occurred. Jesus
had healed 10 leopards. Perhaps he could heal
blindness too. And so this blind beggar on the
road near Jericho called out these words. Jesus,
son of David, have mercy on me. And he shouted
so much that those around him told him to be
quiet. Come on, stop that. And yet he knew this
was his chance. And he did not listen. to those
around him. Instead, he cried out all the more,
son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus heard.
And when they came together, Jesus asked him,
what do you want me to do for you? And he said,
Lord, that I may receive my sight. And then Jesus
said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has
made you well. Imagine. being that man who had
been a long time in darkness. He had never really
seen with the senses of sight anyway. With his
sight, he had never seen light. He had never
had his eyes realize colors. And yet, at that
moment when Jesus healed him, he was illuminated.
He could see all these things. And how did he
respond? Well, he gave glory to God and he followed
Jesus. And all the people, when they saw it,
they gave praise to God too. I have never been
physically blind, but there was a time years
ago when I was spiritually blind. My vision for
spiritual things was obscured. Yes, he is the
creator of the invisible as well as the visible.
And I just looked at the visible. And I knew
there was invisible, but I ignored it and didn't
want to see it. It was like a window that had
mud smeared on it. And yet, that mud can be washed
away. Vision can come. The blind man... He had
his chance to draw close to Jesus and he took
action and he got healed. He did not care what
other people thought. That did not keep him away
from coming to Jesus. He knew that Jesus could
heal him. He cried out. He drew close to the
Lord and he was healed and his life was changed
forever. And this happened to me. It's happened
to countless people with not physical blindness,
but spiritual blindness. It can happen for anyone.
God wills it for every single person that is
living today, that they would be cured of spiritual
blindness. Saint Tikhon of Zidane says of this,
You see a blind man who cannot see his way, does
not know where he is going, cannot see anything
in front of him, and cannot see the ditch into
which he is about to fall. Turn your meditation
from this occasion to spiritual blindness. The
sinner struck by such blindness similarly cannot
see good and evil, does not know where he is
going, and does not see his own destruction into
which he is about to fall. Woeful is bodily blindness,
but spiritual blindness is the most woeful. But
just in the same way that physical blindness
can be healed and was healed by Christ, so we
are healed of our spiritual blindness. When we
come to the Lord, that man near Jericho cried,
have mercy on me, and that is the same thing
that we need to cry. We need to come to the Lord
with a humble heart, realizing our fall, our
mistakes, confessing them to him, and beginning
the process of sanctification. It's about coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ with humility, knowing
that we have sinned, knowing that the Lord can
make it right, and then living it. You know,
some people will not do that because they're
worried about what other people around them will
say. What if I said I am a Christian and I go
to church on Sunday? How would these other people,
what would they think? What would they do? Well,
it's been said that in America, we sometimes
spend money we don't have to buy things we don't
need to impress people we don't like. May that
not be true of you and of me. The blind man had
faith in Jesus and got to him. So, too, we must
ignore the crowds and the naysayers and those
that might judge us. and ignore it, and get to
Jesus. The cure for spiritual blindness is to
come to our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
with faith, to be baptized and chrismated. But
we know sometimes the window of our soul can
become covered with a mud from sin that has come
into our lives. We know we need confession. We
need to come and even after baptism, there's
much that has to be done in us by God to sanctify
us. So we need to come and confess and have that
window of our soul washed clean and so that our
eyes can be opened in a way that would prevent
us to get beyond sin, to break the chains of
anything that would be an addiction, to move
on. closer to God, and to be like that blind
man who gives praise to God and follows, he follows
Jesus because he knows where the source of life
and light is. Last Sunday at Theophany, we heard
the answer to everything in the gospel for that
day when Jesus called all to repent. That's all
we need to do. God will do everything else as
long as our attitude towards him is one of repentance
and want to follow him. And let us strive to
do that. Let us follow our Lord and God and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ.