Believing is Seeing
God gave us senses to experience and understand the world around us.
Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.” But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God. - Luke 18:31-43
When someone you love tells you they are dying, your first reaction may be to argue with them.
You are not dying. You will get through this.
It is what we want to believe. We all feel this way once in a while. We see how miserable everything is, or how bad we feel and we say this is the end.
We may not want it to be the end, or we might want it. Either way, we are not being heard.
The blind man heard something and wanted to know what it was he was hearing. The crowd told him, and out of his faith, he called for Jesus to heal him.
Why was he able to hear and understand while the apostles could not?
Sometimes we are too close to see or hear. Our love clouds our senses. We see and hear what we want to or need to.
The apostles did not want to believe that the time of Jesus' death was so close. He had escaped capture before. He will do it again.
It takes a blind man to show them how to see what they hear.
Maybe we need to close our eyes and listen more.
More to come...