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Two blind men heard that Jesus was passing by.  They shouted, “Son of David!  Have mercy on us.”  The people told them to be quiet.  Evidently the people wanted a ceremony of pomp and revere.  Perhaps they were thinking, “Silence, a great teacher is passing by.”  But the men with no sight knew their only hope for working eyes lay in the man who had done such greater things than anyone before him.  So they shouted all the more.  For if there was any hope, this was the moment!  How could a blind man hope to chase after the man of such power?  This slice of time was all they were going to get.  Hope was NOW!

Have you any hope from the moment of time when you shouted to the Lord for sight?  Do you now know that Jesus is the Christ of God?  Do you believe that Jesus is Glorified and Lord of all things?  Is your life laced with a particular hope that non-believers cannot own?  Regardless how much faith you have, it is as if you have received working eyes.

The two blind men received their sight.  Now they saw shapes, colors, shadows, and light.  What did they do in response to this great gift from the Lord?  They followed Him.  They considered that they had nothing before He touched them.  Now they had all they had ever wanted.  They didn’t consider that they could now go out and earn a living, create a household, and perhaps marry and have children and a social purpose.  They left behind all the things the people around them craved.  They forsook this world and all it offers and bent their will and lives around the Son of God.

Far too often, people who receive an understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven receive this gift as if it is owed to them.  Many are indifferent to the gift given them in the Gospel.  They receive this gift as if it is some kind of social rite of passage, not realizing that this gift is precious and glorious.  The gift of salvation is the beginning of the central reason for life here.  But it is not often perceived as such.

What have we forsaken after receiving our sight?  I recognize that not everyone is called to forsake their households, land, income, social status, and position in life.  But surely, before we received our sight we held dear the things the people in that crowd desired.  It should not be that the Gospel makes no permanent and radical change in our lives.  It is not a rite of social passage.  It is a soul shattering change from death to life.  It is not religious ceremony and a particular belonging to a social club called the church.  It requests and requires a vibrant following after the Glory of God in Jesus the Christ.