Patrick Comerford
The Season of Advent – and the real countdown to Christmas – began on Sunday with the First Sunday of Advent (30 December 2025).
Before the day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 9: 27-31 (NRSVA):
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’ 30 And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, ‘See that no one knows of this.’ 31 But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district.
Today’s reflection:
The Gospel reading in the Lectionary for the daily Eucharist today (Matthew 9: 27-31), is a short passage of only five verses and is found only in Saint Matthew’s Gospel.
In this reading, Jesus heals two blind men who then go throughout their district spreading the news about Jesus.
The context of this reading is important, though. This chapter (Matthew 9) includes a series of healings that are unique to Saint Matthew: a paralysed man, whose sins are forgiven (verses 2-7); the daughter of a leader of the synagogue (verses 18-19, 23-26); and a woman who has been suffering from haemorrhages for 12 years (verses 20-22).
These two blind men – the Greek allows for the possibility that they are a man and a woman, perhaps a couple – seem to have been following Jesus all along the road, hoping for healing. But instead of healing them in the public glare, Jesus waits until he is indoors, after they follow him into a house.
Without sight, how did they know this was Jesus, how did they follow him, how did they know he was going into the house, and how did they manage to follow him into the house and find them there?
They are asking not for sight or healing, but for mercy – the very foundation of the Jesus Prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy me.’
Jesus turns to the pair and asks them if they believe that he is able to do this. They answer with two simple words, ‘Yes, Lord’ (verse 28). He touches their eyes and tells them it is their faith that has opened their eyes.
He then tells them sternly not to tell anyone what has happened. But they go out and ‘spread the news about him throughout that district’.
Why did Jesus chose not to respond to them outside, on the street? Their cries seem to fall on deaf ears, but they are, in fact, heard and answered in ways and at times that are unseen to those outside.
Why does Jesus ask these two to stay silent?
Why do they do quite the opposite?
Am I blind to Jesus when I am blind and deaf to the needs of others?
Shortly after these healing stories, Jesus tells the disciples of Saint John the Baptist, as evidence of who he is, that ‘the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me’ (Matthew 11: 5-6).
In the darkness of winter, in the darkness of Advent, in the dark moment in my life, when others see darkness or fear, I am invited to see God at work around me in my own life and in the lives of others.
Today’s Prayers (Friday 5 December 2025):
The theme this week (30 to 6 December 2025) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Kingdom is for All’ (pp 6-7). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from the Revd Magela, Vicar of Cristo Redentor Parish in Tocantins, Brazil and coordinator of Casa A+, a place of hope and healing for people living with HIV.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 5 December 2025) invites us to pray:
Let us pray for health workers and communities, especially in fragile regions, that they receive the care, support, and resources they need.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
O Lord our God,
make us watchful and keep us faithful
as we await the coming of your Son our Lord;
that, when he shall appear,
he may not find us sleeping in sin
but active in his service
and joyful in his praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Almighty God,
as your kingdom dawns,
turn us from the darkness of sin
to the light of holiness,
that we may be ready to meet you
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
