Open My Eyes

Thought about Haiti lately? With the earthquake over; our news has become focused on other things. So have I. It’s hard to feel compassion for all the hurt and wrong and suffering you hear about in the average day. You can’t pray for, or give to, or alleviate it all - so our compassion eyes go blind, and we feel nothing. What little we do is out of guilt, not compassion.

I was reading the story of the triumphal entry of Jesus coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Mt. 21:1-11). Wondering what the context was, I turned to the end of Mt. 20. On his way to Jerusalem from Jericho Jesus is stopped by two blind guys who keep yelling “Have mercy on us Son of David, we want to see!” Who has been bombarded by more news of suffering than the great healer, Jesus?

The passage says that Jesus was “deeply moved.” My interlinear says it means “he felt compassion.” It’s defined as “a deep awareness of and sympathy for their suffering.” Jesus never let his compassion eyes go blind.

One thing I like about this story is it reminds me that Jesus didn’t heal everyone. Everyone blind didn’t get sight. Everyone who was deaf didn’t hear. Everyone who died didn’t come back to life. But some did. As a human (Divine, yet human), he did what he could with what he had. Jesus never let his brain go blind.

Have mercy on us Son of David, we want to see!

Ps 119:18 (NIV) Open my eyes that I may see...