Homily on the Seventh Sunday of Matthew:
The Healing of Two Blind Men and a Mute Demoniac
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Gospel tells us about another miracle performed by our Lord Jesus Christ – the miracle of healing two blind men and a mute demoniac.
This is the Gospel story:
As the Lord was passing through the outskirts of Capernaum, two blind men followed Him and cried out, "Have mercy on us, Jesus, Son of David" ( Matt. 9:27 )! And when He came into the house, the blind men came to Him, asking for healing. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord!" Then He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. Jesus then sternly said to them, "See that no one knows about this." And they went out and spread the word about Him throughout all that land. And as they went out, they brought to Him a mute man possessed with a demon. And when the demon was cast out, the mute man began to speak. And the people marveled, saying, "Never has such a thing happened in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "This man casts out demons by the prince of the demons." And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people (Matt. 9:28–35).
From the Gospel read today, the faith of these two blind men, their tireless, persistent, fervent request for healing and mercy is edifying to us, my beloved. They cry out without ceasing: "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" confessing Christ as the Messiah Whom the people of Israel were expecting. And when the Lord entered the house, they did not leave Him in the hope of receiving what they asked for at any cost. Then the Lord, seeing their faith and wanting to show this faith to the people, asks them: "Do you believe that I can do this?" And they answer: "Yes, Lord!" And He, in order to show that everything is possible for him who believes, touched their eyes and said: "According to your faith be it unto you." And they received their sight. Such is the power of faith, its significance for our healing and treatment.
Faith is the power of our soul that moves mountains. All things are possible for the believer. And for you and me, dear ones, even in our days the power of grace-filled faith has not diminished. And the Lord is close to us and is always ready to fulfill our requests according to our faith. And in our days the Lord tells us: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matt. 7:7-8). For the Lord said to us: "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20).
What attracts our attention from today's Gospel is the prohibition given by the Lord to the blind men who had regained their sight, that they should not tell anyone about the miracle He had performed for them. By this the Lord teaches us not to trumpet before people about the good deeds we have done for someone, not to seek praise from people for our good deeds, but to be modest and humble, attributing all glory to the one God, to Whom praise, honor and glorification rightfully belong, for He is the God of glory.
There are also two more circumstances in the Gospel we have just read that are edifying for us. First, after the healing of the mute demoniac, simple-hearted people, seeing this great deed, looked upon it as a miracle of God and therefore marveled at the greatness of God and glorified God for such great miracles. And second, evil-hearted people, proud scribes and Pharisees, on the contrary, rejected the miracles of Christ, even attributing them to the action of demonic power. So it was then, so it remains at all times: simple people with uncorrupted hearts always see in the deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Most Pure Mother and His saints the extraordinary action of Divine power and glorify God for this; the proud do not recognize any miracles, considering them an absurd fiction or a consequence of natural phenomena, and even attributing them to the action of a dark force.
Moreover, the Gospel of today says that the Lord went through the cities and villages, teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God everywhere, healing every weakness and illness in people. You see, dear ones, that the Lord, the King of Heaven and earth, works, wanders through the villages to save people. But we ourselves do not even want to work for ourselves, for our own salvation.
He preached to people the kingdom of truth, peace, love and eternal blessedness, teaching them to turn away from the kingdom of sin and the devil, but we voluntarily enslave ourselves to sin and vices, we cling to earthly things and goods to the point of addiction, while we should cling with our hearts to the Lord, we should more often raise our heart's eye to Heaven and to God and take greater care of the salvation of our soul, which is more precious than the whole world. Also, if we have fallen into the devil's nets and suffer spiritually and physically, then we must resort to the Heavenly Physician of souls and bodies, Who alone can give timely help in our needs.
However, if the Gospel blind men mentioned today were blind in body, then we, having healthy bodily eyes, suffer from blindness of the eyes of the heart. The vanity and cares of life, as well as the sorrows and griefs of this world and all sinful desires and feelings have darkened our hearts, and we suffer from inner blindness, which is much more terrible than bodily blindness. And therefore, all the more must we always cry out to the Source of our life, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only and speedy Physician of our souls and bodies.
Let us, my beloved, sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and with faith turn to Him with our requests, and He will always give us everything necessary for our life, our health, our well-being, as well as everything necessary for achieving blessedness in the future life. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
