written that so they might be read, they “passed by” when they were being done. In a word,
not to dwell long on this, He was Crucified: is He hanging on the Cross always? He was
Buried, He Rose again, He Ascended into heaven; “now He dieth no more, death shall no
more have dominion over Him.”2890 And His Divinity abideth ever, yea, the Immortality
of His Body now shall never fail. But nevertheless all those things which were wrought by
Him in time have “passed by;” and they are written to be read, and they are preached to be
believed. In all these things then, “Jesus passeth by.”
10. And what are “the two blind men by the way side,” but the two people to cure whom
Jesus came? Let us show those two people in the Holy Scriptures. It is written in the Gospel,
“Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also must I bring, that there may be
one fold and One Shepherd.”2891 Who then are the two people? One the people of the Jews,
and the other of the Gentiles. “I am not sent,” He saith, “but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel.”2892 To whom did He say this? To the disciples; when that woman of Canaan who
confessed herself to be a dog, cried out that she might be found worthy of the crumbs from
the master’s2893 table. And because she was found worthy, now were the two people to
whom He had come made manifest: the Jewish people, to wit, of whom He said, “I am not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel;” and the people of the Gentiles, whose
type this woman exhibited whom He had first rejected, saying, “It is not meet to cast the
children’s bread to the dogs;” and to whom when she said, “Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of
the crumbs which fall from their master’s table;” He answered, “O woman, great is thy faith,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”2894 For of this people also was that centurion of whom
the same Lord saith, “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
Because he had said, “I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak
the word only, and my servant shall be healed.”2895 So then the Lord even before His Passion
and Glorification pointed out two people, the one to whom He had come because of the
promises to the Fathers; and the other whom for His mercy’s sake He did not reject; that it
might be fulfilled which had been promised to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all nations be
blessed.”2896 Wherefore also the Apostle after the Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension, when
He was despised by the Jews, went to the Gentiles. Not that he was silent however towards
the Churches which consisted of Jewish believers; “I was unknown,” he says, “by face unto
2890 Rom. vi. 9.
2891 John x. 16.
2892 Matt. xv. 24.
2893 Mereretur.
2894 Matt. xv. 26–28.
2895 Matt. viii. 10, 8.
2896 Gen. xxii. 18.
799
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xx. 30, about the two blind men sitting…