“Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord that I may receive my sight.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” — Luke 18: 35-41

There are a few things about this passage of Scripture which need to be mentioned.

1. If you are blind, you cannot receive your sight unless you ask for it. If you aren’t willing to make the effort, you won’t get it. No one is going to make you see against your will.
2. Sometimes, in order to get what you want, you have to be loud, louder than the crowd, and much, much louder than those around you who are trying to shut you up.

Obviously, this story is about one physically blind beggar man who refused to keep his voice down, an individual person who understood that something about his situation was wrong and took the necessary step to correct it. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work? Well, as long as the problem stays at the individual level and all of us are blind to the truth about it, that might be a good way to read it. However, America’s community is made up of individuals, many of them nothing more than dirt-poor beggars who are blind as bats and who couldn’t see the light of day if it shined directly into their eyes. And, to accompany them, there are multitudes of others who are well above the paygrade of dirt-poor beggary, but who are just as blind. In fact, this blindness extends to many, many people across all levels of society, most of whom don’t even realize that they can’t see farther than the end of their nose, that their vision isn’t worth a tinker’s damn. All of which means that the community they are a part of is also blind. Not physically blind, but spiritually, which is by far the worst of the two.

Now, just suppose that Jesus comes strolling into our neighborhood with the attendant bevy of noisy, jostling supporters, hangers-on, and groupies who are filling the air with an atmosphere of anticipation and expectation, at least according to their line of sight. What would happen if the blind beggars and the higher-ups who can’t see would suddenly hear the approaching din and begin to cry out, “Jesus, Son of God! Have mercy on us!” And, then again, louder and louder, in spite of all the remonstrances from the oh-so-righteous among us, OR the frenzied, shrieking of those ridden by demon-spirits, OR the rich, powerful elites who want to control everything. “Keep quiet, you’re embarrassing us.” “Shut up, you stupid dirt-ball, or we’ll put a sock in your mouth!” “Oh, you want to escape our clutches, do you? Well, how about a bag over your head, tied around your neck, so no one can hear you scream, and a two-by-four slapped across your noggin to reinforce the message?”

“You do get the message, don’t you? Just be quiet and be a good boy. It’s OK.”

And, so we do. Obey. Comply. Silence ourselves as we hear the procession moving further and further away, around the corner and over the next hill. Gone. Out of sight forever. But wait! No! No! NO! NO! NOOO! “Jesus, Son of God! Have mercy on us!” Louder. “Jesus! Son of God!! Have mercy on us!!!” Louder, yet. “JESUS!! SON OF GOD!!!! HAVE MERCY ON US!!!!!!” Until He stops and asks us what we want, at which point we ask to have our sight restored, the sight which our community needs, the sight which each and every one of us must have to be able to live, work, and worship together without trying to kill each other.

What would happen in America (and the rest of the world) if this happened? But, then, you might question why we should or what would be the reason for doing so. After all, we’re rich, live comfortable lives, get along with our neighbors (at least most of the time until they have something we want or say something we don’t like), celebrate with the Super Bowl winners even though we didn’t approve of the half-time show, and on and on and on and on. Like I said, blind. Spiritually blind. We have everything except what we need to be spiritually aware, awake, and seeing.

“If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” — Matthew 15:14

America, as community, is blind. Americans, as individuals, are blind. The situation doesn’t seem to be getter any better and will not ever be resolved as long as blind people are leading other blind people. Or, to put it another way, as long as blind people follow other blind people, nothing will change for the better. Both the leaders and the followers are blind, spiritually blind, and no one seems to know the way out of the situation, but desperate times call for desperate measures, such as, getting on our feet and calling out for help. Not to the government power brokers, the financial and “smart-set” elites, the so-called religious leaders, political parties, particular ideologies which advocate the use of force to gain their ends, or any others who claim to know it all. No, we need to be, as individuals and community, raising our voices, louder and louder, to Jesus the Christ, the only one among us who can set us free from the blindness which shackles and binds us in our misery.