Two men are playing golf. One of them is about to take a swing when a funeral procession appears on the road next to the course. He stops mid-swing, takes off his cap, closes his eyes, and bows his head in respect.

 

  His golfing buddy says "That must be the most touching thing I’ve ever seen. You are a very compassionate and kind man."

  The man, recovering himself, replies, "Yeah, well we were married for over 25 years."

 

  Jesus in today's Gospel story however, shows us real compassion in his healing of a blind man.

 

Luke XVIII :42 “And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight :thy faith hath saved thee”

 

  This Gospel lesson does show our Lord's compassion, but it is really also a story of two kinds of blindness.

 

  One is the physical blindness of the man who cries out for help and is healed by Christ.

 

  The other is the spiritual blindness shown by our Lord's disciples in the first part of our lesson today.

 

  The blind man in the story has a problem that is easily understood by us all.

 

  Physical blindness left him in a terribly difficult situation. He was unable to support himself and it forced him to live by begging along the road.

 

  The disciples were at this point also in a pitiful position spiritually.

 

  When our Lord told them of His coming suffering they really were blind to the meaning of His words. They weren't yet able to understand the need that His suffering and death on the cross take place.

 

  They didn't understand that God's only Son needed to die for their sins, and for the sins of the whole world.

 

  In this Lenten season, beginning Ash Wednesday, we too need to beg for help like the blind man in today's story did.

 

  We need in faith to ask that Christ remove the curse of blindness from us that keeps us from realizing our own personal need of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

 

  If the blind man in today's story had stopped crying for help, because others around him told him he was making a nuisance of himself, what a different outcome would have been his case.

 

  Jesus would have continued down that road and that man would have stayed in his helpless condition.

 

  He would have stayed blind.

 

  However, he kept begging for Christ's help!

 

  We too need to must keep asking in prayer until our blindness is lifted by the healing touch of Jesus.

 

  We then, like this man, can follow Jesus “glorifying God”.

 

  We can then devote our lives to His service. We can then really help bring others to His wonderful healing touch.