29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord,[e] have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
Continuing my thoughts on The Questions of Jesus, I was reading the end of Matthew 20, right before Jesus is going up to Jerasulem. It was here where He asked a simple, direct question that at times I (and I suspect most of us) have struggled to answer, specifically.
What do you want me to do for you?
I’ll see if I can break this down:
29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord,[e] have mercy on us, Son of David!”
Jesus was passing by with great crowds. At this time, right before He went up to Jerusalem, He was probably at the height of His popularity. So it would seem as soon as the blind men heard all the people shouting Jesus’ name to get His attention, they knew He was here. The Bible doesn’t say they were sitting there because they knew He was coming, however, but I believe destiny aligned their position. Sometimes, we have to be in the right place at the right time. Yes, that’s very cliche’ worthy, but in this case it is true. These blind men didn’t know Jesus would passing by at that exact moment, but they were ready to petition Him with their requests if they had a chance.
Today, we don’t have to wait for Jesus to walk on by to get His attention. We can be assured He’s always walking past us, hoping we’ll call out or reach out towards Him. The right place at the right time is right now! Also, the blind men knew He had the power to do something about their condition because they recognized His authority. I’m learning that before I ask Him to do something on my behalf, I make sure declare who He is first.
31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
The blind men wouldn’t be deterred. They kept pleading to Jesus to “have mercy”, again recognizing that His authority over their sins and that He could save them from them. The crowd was annoyed at the blind men probably because their loud cries got in the way of wanting to ask Jesus to heal them, or trying to challenge His authority, or who knows what. I’m sure back in those days Jesus was the celebrity everyone either loved or hated, but they couldn’t get enough of Him – either way. I can only imagine people looking down on these blind men because the blind men weren’t worth Jesus’ time.
I touched on this in some earlier posts, but I’m thankful that Jesus does give the floor to the marginalized. Yes, they were blind, but they could be any one of us one day. We could be blind in many other ways, and the rest of society (the crowd) would say, “Hold up, why are you having that issue? That isn’t worth all that prayer. Just stop doing it…” – or some variation of that. But Jesus is concerned with every issue we have. None is too big or too small for Him to care, and most importantly, fix it.
32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Finally. They have gotten the Master’s attention, and instead of simply healing them, He asks them what do they want. The key part here is that, of course, Jesus knows what they want. He knew it before He even started down that road. He knew when He heard their loud cries. He knew as He was asking. My point being, He knows!
Moreover, I’m learning that when Jesus asks you for something, the answer has to be something that glorifies Him. I’ll admit, if I heard that type of question, my answer would be something like: “Shoo, I want you to give me a new car, new house, pay my bills, bless my family, oh, heal the world, make it a better place for you and for me, oh, and money so I can tithe…”
Well, all those things can glorify God, but those motives are from a selfish heart. I believe when we tell Jesus what we want it has to be born out of our love for Him. And if we love Him, we definitely will give him petitions to make His name great, not ours.
33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
The blind men state the obvious, and Jesus heals them. In His compassion, He shows that He does care for our physical condition as well as our spiritual condition. What’s interesting is that the Scripture doesn’t say that they were saved immediately. But it does say that once they could see, they followed Him. Wow! A life-changing miracle by Jesus is the true catalyst for action! These men were essentially blind lowlifes of society on the side of the road a couple of minutes ago and now they had 20/20 vision and were (probably) on their way to becoming disciples!
The response to a miracle or even a small blessing is a closer walk with Him. He blesses, I get closer. The reaction is not merely to ask for more of what you just received, but it is to want more of Him. It’s all about Him.
God be praised.
Amplified Jesus 