Deafness and blindness are problems that afflict our entire race, not merely those with recognizable physical handicaps. In fact, it is often the case that the physically impaired person “sees” or “hears” better than those of us having our hearing and eyesight. The testimony to our spiritually and attitudinally blind-and-deaf condition is demonstrated in the frequency we will hear people say, “I don’t see how they could do that to me,” or, “I just won’t hear of it!”
So much of the time we humans neither see the need and pain nor hear the heart-cry and ache of those around us. We tend only to react out of our own frustration, when instead our Savior is seeking to cultivate our “listening” and “seeing” skills so we can serve human need rather than seeking to be served.
Jesus pronounced the blessing we read above because His disciples were experiencing the fulfillment of God’s age-long objective (v. 17). As His “once-hidden-now-revealed” purposes have been shown to us in Christ, let us remember: Seeing and hearing Him will make us more “seeing” and “hearing” toward others.
