TEN QUESTIONS JESUS IS ASKING CHRISTIANS
Ten Questions Jesus is Asking Christians
Week One: 20/20 VISION
Question 1. What do you want me to do for you?
Read: Matthew 20:29-34
God does not save men out of fairness or what we deserve, but out of His generosity. The Christian message is summarized right here, that we are great sinners, every single one of us. There is none righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Through God's grace we are given amazing grace as an undeserved gift unto salvation. And the only hitch in that plan is you need to want it. For this reason Christ Jesus asks of the blind men, "What do you WANT me to do for you?"
We're not told if these blind men were born blind, or maybe they became blind during the course of their lives for some unknown reason. Maybe by accident or sickness. What we do know is that they are sitting and begging on the roadside along the by way. And they're crying out to Jesus “Lord, have mercy on us Son of David.” And the crowd of Jesus' followers attempt to prevent them from interfering with Jesus' travels.
So before we dive into the obvious failure of the crowd (the church) to be inclusive and compassionate, let's not breeze too quickly over the word's "Son of David". What is the significance of Matthew being certain to include this phrase? Right away I can see that these two blind men had 20/20 spiritual vision. They'd no doubt heard about Jesus and knew the things that were being said of him. And they also knew the great significance of that title "Son of David”.
These two blind men no doubt knew that God said, through David there will come an everlasting King. In fact pretty much every Jew would know that God promised in Isaiah 9:6. “For unto us, a child is given, a Son is born, a Son is given, a child is born, He will be the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father.” They would know that God promised his Messiah would come and give sight to the blind among many other miraculous and mighty deeds. And so, they are not only living recipients and eyewitnesses to the supernatural power of Jesus Christ, they are a living fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. They were physically blind, but they were spiritually sharp. And this prophecy even goes further back in time...all the way back actually. This idea of one great saviour King can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter 3. After Adam and Eve sinned (the fall of mankind), God cursed the land, the man, and the woman, but he did not say “You bunch of weak and evil creatures, all of you are doomed, there's no hope for you!” Instead God promised, GOD prophesied, He promised He would send a seed of a woman, that is from Eve, and there will come a descendant who will crush the head of the serpent who deceived. From the very earliest days of the creation God The Father promised us all the "Son of David" would come and He knew that he would give sight to the physically blind and spiritually blind. So it's a rich, theological concept that really ties together the entire Old and New Testaments. And these two blind beggars, reduced to nothingness in society, recognized Jesus IMMEDIATELY. Where the learned religious men and many others were blinded by their arrogance and pride, these two blind men had 20/20 spiritual vision. And the religious unbelievers heard about his great preaching, and miracle powers, but they do not recognize Him as the Messiah.
The crowd didn't appreciate these two blind men making a fuss and presuming upon the pathway of Jesus. They tried preventing one from approaching The Master. And of course the blind man didn't want to make people uncomfortable. So he backed off and went back to his begging on the roadside...WRONG!
“They cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.” [Luke 18:39]
And of course Jesus told his disciples to get with the blind man and make an appointment for him to come and see him in Jerusalem next Sunday...WRONG!
Truth is:
The gospel tells us that Jesus stopped. He was heading towards Jerusalem, heading for the his betrayal, his rejection, his ridicule, his torture, and his cross, in just a few days time. But when He heard the cry of these miserably blind men, He stopped. And He called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Truth is:
They could have asked for anything.
“Lord, let our eyes be opened” is all they asked of Him.
Jesus touches them, and restores their sight.
Just another run of the mill, plain vanilla miracle like so many others we've read about.
Right?
Was it?
Maybe something more happened that day along the roadside. Maybe that day their hearts grew three sizes more (oops wrong story).
“They followed Jesus.” [Matthew 20:34]
I believe they received the salvation of their souls. Why? Because in Mark, it is said, “Go your way, your faith has made you well.” [Mark 10:52] The word, ‘well’ there, is the word, ‘sozo’ in the Greek. A word that is often used to refer to spiritual salvation. I believe these blind men with 20/20 spiritual vision not only received physical eyesight, but also forgiveness of sin unto salvation. And in Luke's gospel [Luke 18:43] it tells us “That they glorified God.”
FOR FURTHER STUDY AND DISCUSSION
This simple, seemingly typical, run of the mill miracle moment is a miracle repeated in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The three synoptic Gospels that look deeply into the life of Christ. It's also the last healing miracle recorded there. And it reveals for us the fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiahship of Jesus. It demonstrates the Mission of Jesus. And it teaches us about the Message of Jesus' generosity.
Q & A
Q: What was his message and how can we understand that message better in light of the context of "Many who are first will be last and the last, first.” [Matthew 19:30]
I believe the message is - we can come like beggars. And we should come like beggars. We should come to God just as we are. It's not important that we come all trussed up and rolling on up in all our holiness. This doesn't mean we shouldn't keep our lamps filled. This doesn't mean we shouldn't be at work serving God's kingdom. And it also doesn't mean we should presume upon our Lord stopping in His way. Go back and read the lesson scripture Matthew 20:29-34. These men got up and got into Jesus' way, and they cried out to Him in faith.
Recently I had to make an appointment to go and have my eyes examined. My glass frames had broken and this is typically the time that I decide it's time to get a checkup. I could easily afford to have my eyes checked regularly and to purchase frames that aren't worn out, weakened by sunlight, and stressed out by my fat head. But no...all too often I wait until some disaster happens and then I'll give it the attention it deserves. I choose to live instead with the poor vision, and the flimsy frames, until life decides for me. Only then do I get up and take care to get into the way toward clearer and more secure vision.
The lesson for me today is this; people (the crowd) allow unChristlike behavior into their lives. They allow a blindness (a Jezebel spirit) to live within their spirit. They know the cure, they know about the salve that will heal them, but that spirit of blindness will try to keep them in the dark. And many will NOT go into the way and get their checkup. They'll live with that poor prescription and broken frames. And they'll go on living like that until life brings them down so far that they're stuck on the roadside begging.
The good news is no matter where you are on that blind pathway, all you need to do is get up and get into Christ's way, and in Jesus' name you rebuke that Jezebel spirit. You cry out to Christ Jesus...whether its thoughts of suicide, depression, unhappiness, hopelessness, addictions, sickness, immorality, frequent disturbances in your peace of mind...it's all the spirit of blindness working on you and in you. It wants you begging on the byways. And Jesus knows about it, he's STOPPED, and he's asking you...
What do you want me to do for you?