Lectionary: Luke 18:35-43
It is quite common to describe sin as blindness.
This is because sin obscures things. Sin obscures the ability to make reasonable decisions, it tempts us to do things that are harmful to ourselves and to other people. These are things that, if I was thinking clearly, I simply would not do. But sin obscures our understanding. It stokes fear inside of us, and it cultivates anger and ignorance. And Sin obscures the very image of God within us, to the point where I might struggle to see God’s presence in the world, in those around me, and especially within myself.
And so even if I chose to sin in the first place, a blindness now comes over me. It leaves me in this place where I’m lost, disoriented, and unable to see. And now, even if I want to go back to where I was before, I can no longer find my way out. I’m stuck in the dark.
That’s what Sin does to us. It may be something that we choose for ourselves, at first. But in this choosing, we ultimately rob ourselves of the ability to choose anything else. This is why we say that we are “enslaved” to Sin. In the search of pleasure, and the passions, we willfully give up our freedom, and we become lost in darkness. And so, seeing what we have done to ourselves, the Father sends His beloved Son, so that He might restore our sight back to us. But, as we have just heard, when Christ comes to restore our vision, he does so in a very specific way.
Before bestowing any kind of healing, Christ asks this blind man what it is that he wants. Is it not obvious? He’s blind! He’s blind, and he wants help. Why would Christ ask such an obvious question? It’s not out of ignorance, or out of playfulness. Christ does not ask because He’s being cruel. Christ asks precisely because He’s looking for a response.
Why?
By making the blind man ask to be healed, Christ is doing far more than just restore his physical sight. Christ is actually giving back precisely what was lost in the first place: freedom. Freedom is an intrinsic part of humanity. Something that God instilled in us from the very beginning.
Creating us freely in Love, God gave us the ability to freely love him back. And what did we do? We chose the wrong thing. We chose Sin. We chose to be blind. But just because we fell, just because we made the wrong choices, and continue to make the wrong choices, that doesn’t mean that God has now decided that freedom itself was a mistake.
He doesn’t replace our enslavement to Sin with enslavement to something else. He does not seek to rob us of anything. No, instead God becomes man. He walks amongst us and he heals us. He even dies for us, on the
Cross, and He enters into Hades for us. And now, having reached these depths of darkness, Christ reaches out his hand, and he still asks: do you want this? Do you want to be healed? Because God loves us so profoundly and so immensely, that He will do anything for us, except choose for us. So when Christ heals this blind man, He first restores that man’s freedom back to him. He gives him the choice.
And by Faith, this man says, “Yes!”
And this is exactly what is offered to us, today. Today, Christ is reaching out, asking us the same question. Do you want to be healed?
In that very question, Christ reveals what he has already done for us. He has already conquered death, and already overthrown the devil, and He has already given us back our agency. Our freedom.
And He gives us that freedom, so that we choose Him. For by choosing Christ, we are restored back to our intended purpose, to love and to be loved, in total and radical freedom. We regain our freedom in Christ, and through Christ. We are no longer enslaved to the Passions.
And we see that today, right now.
We will all leave here today, and we will encounter temptation, and struggle, and conflict. And yet within every temptation, and struggle, and conflict, Christ is offering us this same radical choice. We do not have to succumb to anger, or fear, or lust, or greed. Our ability to decide has been restored to us by Christ’s willful sacrifice on the cross.
And this isn’t just a reset to where we were before the Fall. Because now, when we fail, when we fall and make mistakes, the light of Christ still reaches us. We do not fall into complete blindness, but into the hands of Christ, who descended in order to catch us. And He is there, ready to ask that same question: do you want to be healed?
Brothers and Sisters, today we thank the Lord our God for living for us, and for dying for us. By doing his saving work for us, Christ ensures that we always have the choice to be healed. Let us go out today and choose healing. The healing power of patience, and kindness, and love. The healing power that is instilled in every virtuous choice that God gives us. The healing power we receive by exercising the freedom God has given us, the freedom to pursue goodness and love, basking in the illuminating light of Christ.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
