SERMO 88
On the Words of the Gospel, Matthew 20:30-34:
And behold, two blind men sitting by the roadside, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent; but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" And stopping, Jesus called to them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened." And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
Where two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and crying out,
"Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David."
Christ, the physician of our salvation. To what purpose his miracles were.
Your Holiness knows well with us that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the physician of our eternal salvation, and that He took on the weakness of our nature so that our sickness would not be eternal. For He assumed a mortal body in which He could kill death. And although He was crucified through our weakness, as the Apostle says, He lives by the power of God. The words of the same Apostle are: And because He no longer dies, death no longer has dominion over Him. These things are well known to your faith. It also follows that we should know that all the miracles which He did corporeally are for our admonition, so that we may perceive from Him that which will neither pass away nor have an end. He restored sight to the blind, whose eyes death would someday close; He raised Lazarus, who would die again. And whatever He did for the health of bodies, He did not do so that they would be eternal: although He will indeed grant even to the body eternal salvation in the end. But because those things which were not seen were not believed, through these temporal things which were seen, He built faith towards those things which were not seen.
The faith of the Church thereafter is more praiseworthy without miracles.
Therefore, let no one, brothers, say that our Lord Jesus Christ does not perform these things now, and for this reason prefer earlier times over the present times of the Church. For at one time the same Lord, to those who saw and therefore believed, preferred those who do not see and yet believe. Up until that time, indeed, the disciples’ weakness wavered to such an extent that, even though they saw Him already resurrected, they thought they needed to touch Him to believe. It was not enough for their eyes to see unless hands were also placed upon His members and the scars of the recent wounds were touched: so that the disciple who doubted, upon suddenly touching and feeling the scars, would exclaim: "My Lord and my God!" The scars showed Him to be the one who healed all wounds in others. Could the Lord not have risen again without scars? But He knew the wounds in the hearts of the disciples, which He kept the scars on His body to heal. And what did the Lord say to that now-confessing disciple who declared: "My Lord and my God"? "Because you have seen me," He said, "you have believed; blessed are those who do not see and yet believe." Whom did He call, brothers, if not us? Not just us alone, but those after us as well. For a short time later, after He withdrew from mortal sight to strengthen faith in hearts, whoever believed, believed without seeing, and their faith held great merit: comparable to this faith, they brought only a pious heart, but not a probing hand.
Christ now performs greater miracles.
Therefore, the Lord did these things to invite to faith. This faith now burns fervently in the Church, spread over the whole world. And now it performs greater healings, for the sake of which He did not disdain to demonstrate those lesser ones then. For as the soul is better than the body, so the salvation of the soul is better than the salvation of the body. Now the blind flesh does not open its eyes by the miracle of the Lord; but the blind heart opens its eyes to the word of the Lord. Now the mortal body does not rise again; but the soul, which lay dead in the living body, rises again. Now the deaf ears of the body are not opened: but how many have closed ears of the heart, which yet, being penetrated by the word of God, are opened, so that those who did not believe, believe, and those who lived badly, live well, and those who did not obey, obey? And we say, He believed; and we marvel when we hear about those whom we once knew as hard-hearted. Why then do you now marvel at someone believing, being innocent, serving God; except because you see someone seeing, whom you knew as blind; you see someone living, whom you knew as dead; you see someone hearing, whom you knew as deaf? For behold otherwise the dead, about whom the Lord said to someone who was delaying, so that he would not follow the Lord, because he wanted to bury his father: "Let the dead bury their own dead." Certainly, the dead who are burying are not dead in body: because if they were, they would not be able to bury dead bodies. Yet He calls them dead: where, except inwardly in the soul? For as visibly often in an entire and safe house, the master of that house lies dead; so in an entire body, many have a dead soul within: and thus the Apostle arouses them: "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will illuminate you." He illuminates the blinded one who arouses the dead one. For by His voice through the Apostle, it is cried to the dead: “Arise, you who sleep.” The blind will be illuminated by light, when he has arisen. But how many deaf people did the Lord himself look upon with his own eyes, when He said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." For who was standing before Him without ears of the body? Therefore, which other ears was He seeking, except the ears of the inner man?
The eye of the mind, by which God is seen, is cleansed through faith.
Moreover, what kind of eyes was he seeking when he was speaking to those who surely had sight, but seeing through the eyes of the flesh? For when Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us": he indeed rightly understood that the Father being shown could suffice; but if he who was equal to the Father did not suffice, how would the Father suffice? And why did he not suffice? Because he was not seen. Why was he not seen? Because the eye was not yet healthy enough to see. For what was seen in the flesh of the Lord was seen by the disciples who honored him, but also by the Jews who crucified him. Therefore, he who wished to be seen differently required different eyes. And so he responded thus to the one saying, "Show us the Father, and it suffices us": "Have I been so long with you, and you have not known me? Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father." And so, to heal the eyes of faith for the time being, he was first admonished according to faith, that he might come to sight. And lest Philip think that God should be considered as he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the body, he immediately added: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" He had already said: "He who has seen me has seen the Father." But Philip's eye was not yet healthy enough to see the Father: and therefore not enough to see the Son equal to the Father. Thus, the mind's vision still wounded and unable to bear such great light, was healed and strengthened with the medicines and plasters of faith, and he said: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" Therefore, he who cannot yet see what the Lord is about to demonstrate, should not seek first to see what he believes: but first believe, that the eye may be healed with which to see. For the form of a servant was displayed only to servile eyes: because he who did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, if he could already be seen as equal with God by those he wished to heal, would not have needed to empty himself and take the form of a servant. But because there was no way for God to be seen, and there was a way for a man to be seen, he who was God made himself man, so that what was seen might heal what could not be seen. For he himself said in another place: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Philip could indeed have responded, and said, "Lord, behold, I see you: is the Father like this which I see, since you said, 'He who has seen me, has seen the Father'?" Before Philip responded to this, or perhaps before he thought it, when the Lord said, "He who has seen me, has seen the Father," he immediately added: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" For with that eye he could not yet see, neither the Father, nor the Son equal to the Father: but that the eye might be healed to see, it had to be anointed to believe. Therefore, before you see what you cannot see, believe what you do not yet see. Walk by faith, that you may arrive at sight. Sight will not gladden in the homeland, whom faith does not console on the way. Thus says the Apostle: "As long as we are in the body, we are away from the Lord." And immediately he connects why we are still away, although we have already believed: "We walk," he says, "by faith, not by sight."
Our whole work now is to heal the eye of the heart.
Therefore, all our work, brothers, in this life is to heal the eye of the heart, whereby God may be seen. For this reason are the most holy mysteries celebrated; for this reason is the word of God preached; for this reason are the moral exhortations of the Church—namely, those pertaining to the correction of morals, the correction of carnal desires, and the renunciation—not only in word but through a changed life—of this world; for this end do the divine and holy Scriptures accomplish whatever they do, that the inner part may be cleansed from that which hinders us from the sight of God. For just as the eye, made to see this temporal light, and although heavenly, yet corporeal and visible (for it was indeed made to see this light); nevertheless, if something is thrown or falls upon it, by which it is disturbed, it is cut off from this light; and although this light surrounds it by its presence, yet the eye turns away and is absent: but not only does it become absent by its disturbance from the present light, but the light itself, for which it was made to see, becomes painful to it: so too the eye of the heart, disturbed and wounded, turns away from the light of righteousness, neither daring nor able to contemplate it.
The study of cleansing the eye of the heart.
What disturbs the eye of the heart? Greed, avarice, iniquity, worldly desires disturb, close, and blind the eye of the heart. And yet, just as a doctor is sought when the eye of the flesh is disturbed, and it is not delayed to open and cleanse it so that it may be healed to see this light, so should it be. We run, no one rests, no one delays, even if a speck falls into the eye. Certainly, the sun, which we wish to see with healthy eyes, was made by God. Much more luminous, indeed, is He who made it: nor is it the same kind of light, which pertains to the eye of the mind. That light is the eternal wisdom. But God made you, O man, in His own image. Would He give you the means to see the sun He made, and not give you the means to see Him who made you, when He has made you in His own image? He gave this also: He gave you both. But you care much for these outer eyes, and neglect the inner one greatly: you carry it worn and wounded. It is torment for you if your maker wishes to show Himself to you: it is torment for your eye before it is cured and healed. For Adam sinned also in paradise and hid himself from the face of God. Therefore, when he had a healthy heart with a pure conscience, he rejoiced in God's presence: after the eye was wounded by sin, he began to fear the divine light, fled into the shadows and thick woods, fleeing the truth and seeking darkness.
The sick are invited to take the cup by the example of Christ.
Therefore, my brothers, since we were born from there, and as the Apostle says: In Adam all die: for we all were once two men if we did not want to obey the doctor, so that we would not be sick; let us obey, so that we may be freed from sickness. The doctor gave us precepts when we were healthy: he gave precepts so that we would not need the doctor. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, he says, but the sick. We disregarded the precepts when we were healthy, and we experienced how dangerous it was to disregard that precept. We have already begun to be sick, we labor, we are on the bed of sickness: but let us not despair. For since we were unable to come to the doctor, he himself deigned to come to us. He did not despise the wounded even when he was despised by the healthy. He did not cease to give other precepts to the ailing one, who did not wish to keep the first ones so he would not become ailing: as if he were saying: Surely you have experienced that I spoke the truth when I said: Do not touch this. Therefore heal at last, and come back to life. Behold, I bear your sickness: drink the bitter cup. For you yourself made those precepts of mine given to the healthy so sweet, so laborious. They were disregarded, you began to labor: you cannot be healed unless you drink the bitter cup, the cup of temptations with which this life abounds, the cup of tribulations, distresses, sufferings. Drink, he says, drink, so that you may live. And lest the sick respond to him, I cannot, I do not endure, I do not drink: the healthy doctor drank first, so that the sick would not hesitate to drink. For what bitterness is in such a cup, which he did not drink? If it is insult: he heard it first when he expelled demons: He has a demon, and because he casts out demons in Beelzebub. Hence, to console the sick, he said: If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more his household? If sufferings are bitter: he was bound and scourged and crucified. If death is bitter: he also died. If the kind of death is feared by weakness: nothing at that time was more ignominious than the death of the cross. For not in vain did the Apostle, commending his obedience, add, saying: He became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Why Christ honored the cross here.
But because He was going to honor His faithful ones at the end of this age, He first honored the cross in this age; so that the princes of the earth who believed in Him would prohibit the crucifixion of any criminals: and what the persecuting Jews procured for the Lord with great insult, now His servants, even kings, bear on their foreheads with great confidence. It is not only evident now what kind of death the Lord deigned to endure for us: as the Apostle says: He was made a curse for us. And while the blindness of the Jews insulted Him as He was hanging, He could indeed have come down from the cross, He who would not have been on the cross at all if He had not willed it: but it was greater to rise from the tomb than to come down from the cross. Therefore, the Lord doing these divine acts and suffering human ones, reminds us by corporeal miracles and corporeal patience, that we may believe and be healed to behold those invisible things which the eye of flesh does not know. Therefore, doing this, He cured those blind men, about whom now the Gospel has been recited. And in curing, see what He admonished the inward sick man.
The healing of the two blind men, what it signifies.
Observe the outcome of the event itself and the sequence of things. Two blind men were sitting by the road, and as the Lord was passing by, they cried out for Him to have mercy on them. But the crowd that was with the Lord restrained them from shouting. Do not think this was left without a mystery. However, they overcame the restraining crowd with their very persistent cry, so that their voice reached the ears of the Lord, as if He had not already anticipated their thoughts. Therefore, the two blind men cried out to be heard by the Lord and could not be silenced by the crowd. The Lord was passing by, and they cried out. The Lord stopped, and they were healed. For the Lord stopped: Jesus, and called them, and said: What do you want me to do for you? And they said: That our eyes may be opened. Because of their faith, the Lord restored their sight. If we understand the inner sick, the inner deaf, the inner dead; let us also seek the inner blind. The eyes of the heart are closed: Jesus passes by, so let us cry out. What does it mean, Jesus passes by? Jesus does temporal acts. What does it mean, Jesus passes by? Jesus performs transient actions. Observe and see how many of His deeds have passed. He was born of the Virgin Mary: does He always get born? He was nursed as an infant: does He always suckle? He journeyed through the stages of life up to youth: does He always grow physically? Childhood gave way to boyhood, boyhood to adolescence, adolescence to youth in one who was passing by and yielding. Even the miracles He performed have passed: they are read and believed. For such things were written to be read, they were passing as they happened. Lastly, so that we may not dwell on many things, He was crucified: does He always hang on the cross? He was buried, rose again, ascended into heaven: He no longer dies, and death no longer has dominion over Him: His divinity always remains, and the immortality of His body will never fail. Yet all the things that were done by Him temporally have passed; they are written to be read and preached to be believed. In all these things, therefore, Jesus passed by.
Two blind men, two peoples.
What do the two blind men by the wayside signify if not the two peoples to whom Jesus came to bring healing? Let us show these two peoples in the Holy Scriptures. It is written in the Gospel: I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, that they too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Who, then, are these two peoples? One is the Jewish people, and the other, the Gentiles. I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He said. To whom did He say this? To His disciples, when that Canaanite woman was crying out, who confessed herself to be a dog, so that she might merit the crumbs from the table of her masters. And because she merited them, two peoples to whom He had come were demonstrated: specifically, the Jewish people, of whom He said: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the Gentiles, whose type this woman prefigured, whom He first rejected, saying: It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs. And to whom, when she said: Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table, He responded: O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire. From there was also that Centurion, about whom the same Lord says: Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith in Israel. Because he had said: Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. Thus, before His Passion and glorification, the Lord already designated two peoples: one, to whom He had come because of the promises to the fathers; and the other, whom He did not reject out of mercy: to fulfill what was promised to Abraham: In your seed all the nations shall be blessed. Therefore, the Apostle also, after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, having been rejected by the Jews, went to the Gentiles. Yet he did not remain silent to the churches that had believed from among the Jews: I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they praised God because of me. Thus, Christ is called the cornerstone who made both one. For the cornerstone unites two walls coming from different directions. What is so different as circumcision and uncircumcision, with one wall from Judea and the other wall from the Gentiles? But they are united by the cornerstone: For the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. A corner in a building is not there unless two walls coming from different directions meet in one, and are joined together in a certain unity. Therefore, these two walls figuratively were the two blind men crying out to the Lord.