Today’s Scripture Readings

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar Near Jericho

As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ Then he shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

There is a hunger that lives in every human heart, a longing not only to see, but to be seen. In the blind man by the roadside, we witness the ache of all who have waited in darkness, unheard and unseen. Yet when Christ draws near, something begins to stir, the faint tremor of hope moving through despair. This is the holy moment when hunger and hope collide: when deep need recognises the nearness of mercy, and the soul can no longer stay silent.

The man’s cry rises above the crowd because hunger has its own courage. It refuses to be silenced or shamed. When our deepest longing meets the possibility of divine love, we too are moved to act – to reach, to call, to believe that change is possible. And when Jesus stops, when the Lord of Life halts His journey for one forgotten voice, loneliness is met by love, and blindness by light.

This story is not one to be dissected but lived. It speaks to every place in us that still waits by the road, yearning for healing, for communion, for hope to meet hunger once again.

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us.
For those, whose hunger cries out in the dark, hear them and draw near.
For those who walk beside the suffering, fill them with compassion that listens and lifts.
When hunger and hope collide in the hearts around us, let love be born there.
Teach us to stop, as you stopped, to notice, to reach out, and to respond.
And when You pass by, may both the broken and the bystander find their healing in You. Amen.