Call on Jesus!

 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Romans 15:1-7

Matthew 9:27-35

When we are first born, we inherit Adam’s sin - not the individual acts, but the sinful nature and spiritual blindness which resulted from the Fall of Man.  Through Baptism, that sinful nature, Original Sin, is healed.  But the blindness continues.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians “now we see as in a glass dimly, but when the perfect is come, we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall understand fully”.

Today’s Gospel gives us the easiest means of curing that spiritual blindness.  Just ask to see!

Is it that easy? Well, earlier in Matthew, Jesus tells us “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you”.  

So, how do these blind men ask?  The first thing is that they were Israelites, not Gentiles - they recognized Jesus as Son of David, as the Messiah.  So, for one to ask to have their eyes opened today, they must be Christian.

Then, they cried out to Jesus.  They invoked Him as Messiah, just as we can call out to him by name.

They were direct.  They asked Him to have pity on them.  And then, they expressed faith that He was able to answer them.

Does this mean that we can say, “Hey Jesus, let me see”? No.

Remember the parable of the unjust judge and the widow.  The judge didn’t fear God, he didn’t care about his fellow man.  But, the widow kept demanding justice, and she wore him down, and he gave in.  

Certainly, we aren’t going to wear God down, but He wants us to persevere.  Through perseverance, we realize what we really want.  And, through perseverance, we form a place in our hearts to receive the grace that we’re asking for.

In the Church, both East and West, there’s a long tradition of invoking the name of Jesus, alone. 

The story is told of a priest who was posed a theological problem.  How did he respond? It wasn’t by hitting the books or asking another priest.  Rather, he went before an icon and prayed that simple prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.  After a period of time, Jesus answered his prayer and gave him the answer he sought

And it’s not just to open our eyes to truth. In his commentary on The Lord’s Prayer, St. Maximos the Confessor writes, “When we call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not hard for our conscience to be made pure, and then we are no different from the prophets and the rest of the saints. For God's purpose is not that we should suffer from His anger, but that we should gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. So then, whether we are watchful in virtue or sometimes fall asleep, as is likely to happen because of our failings, yet shall we live with Christ. As we look up to Him with cries of distress and continual lamentation, it is He Himself that we breathe. Let us therefore put on the breastplate of faith, and take as our helmet the hope of salvation: then the arrows of dejection and despair will find no chink through which to wound us”.

St. Edmund had special devotion to the Name of Jesus, which Our Lord Himself taught him. One day when he was in the country and separated from his companions, a beautiful child stood by him and asked, “Edmund, do you not know me?” Edmund answered that he did not. Then, replied the child, “Look at me and you will see who I am.” Edmund looked as he was bidden and saw written on the Child’s forehead, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” “Know now who I am,” said the Child. “Every night make the Sign of the Cross and say these words: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’ If you do so, this prayer will deliver you and all who say it from sudden and unprovided-for deaths.” Edmund faithfully did as Our Lord told him. The devil once tried to prevent him and held his hands so that he could not make the holy sign. Edmund invoked the Name of Jesus, and the devil fled in terror, leaving him unmolested in the future. 

And St. Hesychios the priest said, “Stones form the foundation of a house; but the foundation of sanctity - and its roof - is the holy and venerable name of our Lord Jesus Christ. A foolish captain can easily wreck his ship during a storm, dismissing the sailors, throwing the sails and oars into the sea, and going to sleep himself; but the soul can be sent to the bottom even more swiftly by the demons if it neglects watchfulness and does not call upon the name of Jesus Christ when they begin their provocations”.

In The Glories of the Holy Name, Fr Paul O’Sullivan tells us that when we pray the name of Jesus: 

1. We offer to God all the infinite love and merits of the Incarnation. 

2. We offer to God the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. 

3. We offer to God all the more than 500,000 Masses and Divine Liturgies being celebrated in the world—for His glory and our own intentions.

So, let us go from here with the name of Jesus on our lips, not as a swear word, as is often the case in the world, but as an act of praise and as a prayer.