Deacon Brigid Waszczak

Two blind men… sitting by the roadside… heard… Jesus… going by [and] shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

The crowd rebuked them… to be quiet, but they shouted… louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Jesus… called them. “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

Jesus had compassion… and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight…
—Matt 20:30-34

Sisters and Brothers,

Two blind men would not be shushed by the dismissive crowd who deemed them noisy, presumptuous outcasts. The crowd’s rebukes served simply to amplify the men’s cries. The fast-fading moment, their only opportunity to catch Jesus’ attention, encouraged the two to become even more bold.

Jesus is direct and to the point: “What do you want me to do for you?” Their rapid response is just as frank: “We want our sight.”

In praying for help and healing, I often have not been that frank or bold. In fact, when I receive an answer to prayer that is not exactly what I’d hoped for, friends have laughed and said, “Be careful what you pray for” or “You need to be more specific.” Alas, yes!

I prayed years for help with a challenging problem I didn’t detail to God because I thought God certainly knew the issue already (God knew. Right?).

Turned out God was not only waiting for me to be more precise but was waiting for me to take the first step toward a solution (Walk by faith!). I bypassed the first step these blind men took—reaching out with intention and a concrete result in mind. They demonstrated their faith when they called to Jesus with a goal already in mind: restored sight. My goal was fuzzy, unclear, and unstated.

When I finally got around to stepping out in faith, my healing wasn’t as immediate as in the story. This long unresolved problem needed a long-term solution and partnering with God in patient, therapeutic work (God and I arrived at a resolution). Of course, I’d have preferred a more immediate result! That may happen only in short Bible stories, so we see a fast, fruitful outcome.

How bold are your prayers? How frank are you in stating what you want from God? Is there a first step you could take?

I wish I could say I learned my lesson, but too often I am lax with my prayer requests. Sigh. That’s why we call prayer a “practice.” We’re not perfect at it all the time.

Grace and peace,

—Deacon Brigid