Witness

When we ask God for miracles, we may be asking for more than we bargain for. On the threshold of his passion, Jesus gives two blind men their sight. St. Matthew tells us that immediately upon regaining their vision, they followed Jesus. In other words, it is very likely that the first thing these men saw in their entire lives was the culminating event in all of history. They could have been a part of the crowd as our Lord entered Jerusalem, shouting “Hosannah to the son of David!” They could have witnessed the many momentous public events in Jesus’ last days, including following him right up to Calvary where, at the foot of the cross, they saw Jesus give up his spirit. And then, who knows? It could have been these same two men who encountered our Lord on the way to Emmaus and whose “eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). But then later, “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30-31). 

These men in today’s reading asked that their eyes be opened. Perhaps that is exactly what Jesus did, not only once but more than once.

When the Lord performs miracles in our lives, it is not the end of the story, but the beginning. It is a turning point. When an illness goes into remission, when a damaged relationship is healed, when a child is born, when we receive one good night’s sleep after many sleepless nights, that is not the end of a long painful story, it is the beginning of a whole new one that is full of grace. In opening our eyes to a God who comes down and intercedes directly in our lives, our very next question should be, how is this the beginning of a whole new story of God working through my life and using it as a witness for his glory?

Sarah Cornwell lives in Wheaton, IL with her husband, James, and their seven children.