Scripture Study for

The procession of returnees seems to be retracing the very path taken when  the people were exiled to the land in the north. They had left their cherished  homeland in tears, but they would return amid shouts of joy. Jeremiah states that  only a remnant will return, and this remnant will consist of the most vulnerable of  the people. It will include those who are blind or lame, who are mothers or who  are pregnant, all people who are utterly dependent upon God. It will be through  them that the nation will be restored. Restoration is a work of God, not of human  endeavor. 

Patterned after the model of Aaron, the prospective high priest must be able  to empathize with the frailty of the people, and he must have been called by  God. Jesus did not trace his ancestry to a priestly family, and there was no need  for him to make sin offerings for himself. Therefore, his right to function as high  priest had to be explained. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews does this by  referring to him as Christ, and then reinterpreting two very familiar biblical passages that have messianic significance. Since both kings and priests were anoint ed, the title Christ, or “anointed one,” carries both royal and priestly connotations. To call Jesus by this title is to make a claim about his messianic identity. 

The faith of the blind man in the Gospel is both demonstrated by his actions  and explicitly recognized by Jesus. When he hears that it is Jesus of Nazareth  who is passing by him, he cries out to him using a title that has strong messianic connotations. Son of David identifies Jesus not only as a descendant of this royal  figure, but also as the long-awaited one who was to fulfill both the religious and  the political expectations of the people. The man who was blind already had  eyes of faith and he acted on this faith, publicly proclaiming it.