Beloved in Christ,
There is a Romanian myth that says that when the Earth was first created, it was transparent, like glass or crystal-clear water. You could look down at your feet, and see clear through it to the other side. According to this myth, after Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, Cain covered over the transparency of the Earth so that he could hide his brother’s body in the ground. But God was not so easily fooled, and all of creation remained transparent to him. He responded to Cain’s plot by telling him that "your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground," (Gen. 4:11).
Of course, this myth does not describe any physical reality in creation. Yet, in a spiritual sense, it is true. Creation was originally intended to be a transparent medium of communication with God. This means that when we look at creation, we are intended to look 'through' it in order to see God's presence as the basis of all he has made. When we encounter our fellow human beings, we look 'through' them to see Christ's presence in his world.
Most of us do not see Christ's presence in our brothers and sisters. Like the two men in today's Gospel reading who were physically blind, we have become spiritually blind to the reality of Christ's presence throughout his creation. We tend to focus all of our attention on the surface-level of the world around us rather than looking 'through' creation to see our Lord "who fills all in all," (Eph. 1:23). We look on our fellow human beings at the surface-level of their faults and imperfections rather than viewing them as transparent revelations of their creator.
We can only regain our spiritual sight by looking inward. We can only begin to see Christ's presence in our neighbor when we first learn to see Christ's presence within ourselves. Our Epistle reading today tells us that "as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ," (Gal. 3:27). To respond faithfully to Christ's working in our lives is to be clothed with Christ, to allow Christ's presence in us to define and transform our lives. Such a person is viewed not primarily as what he or she used to be, but as what he or she is becoming in Christ. When we "have put on Christ," then in us "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female," but instead we are "all one in Christ Jesus," (Gal. 3:28).
Like the blind men in our Gospel reading, Christ heals us of our spiritual blindness when we cry out to him in prayer, "Have mercy on us, Son of David," (Matt. 9:27). When we find him in our hearts and call on him for mercy, then he answers our prayer by leading us to our salvation. Let us allow him to transform us once again into transparent witnesses to his presence throughout creation!
In Christ,
Fr. Jeremy