Reflecting on this passage of Mt. 9: 27-31 exemplifies the fact that we must examine what we truly mean when asking God for help. We can ask the Lord to have pity on us, but do we really trust Him to carry us through the situation according to His will, or do we essentially just want to use Him to get to where we hope we’ll end up? When we pray, it can be helpful to think of God’s answer as being a “yes,” a “no,” or a “not yet.” God may grant what we ask for, or He might not. However, His answer could also be “not yet,” meaning that He knows it’s not time for us to have what we asked for. For instance, if one is praying for a new job, God might grant them the wish provided that they wait with patience for a few months. When we pray, we have to make sure we fully trust Him to bring the answer He knows to be most fit.
Jesus asks the blind men, “Do you believe that I can do this?” He is asking them this to ensure they are willing to trust Him for being Him, not just for their own desires. They say “Yes, Lord,” and then Christ responds by saying “Let it be done according to your faith.” The Lord can tell that they are being genuine in their faith towards Him, so He heals them. As humans, we are subject to corruption, physical or moral. No matter which type, today’s Gospel shows that within our finite limitations, we long for God to make us complete; in fact, He is the only thing that can make us complete. No matter how hard we try on our own, our true fulfillment always has and always will lie in communion with the Lord. He came to Earth as a man to show us this even more clearly.
In this season of Advent, we are called to place our full faith in Him as we wait, knowing that He truly is what the world needs to heal.