Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. - Matthew 20: 29-34 (NKJV)
We stand a few days away from Palm Sunday. The triumphal entry where the people would shout adulation at the Savior. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! A mere week later those same people would still be shouting but now their shouts would be - crucify Him! Before we get to the laying down of the palm branches, the Gospel of Matthew shows us yet another miracle performed by our Savior on His way to Jerusalem. The Gospels are filled with the miracles of Christ. People healed. People delivered from Satan. People freed from demonic shackles. These same miracles are needed today. People need to be healed; spiritually and physically. People need to be delivered from the enemy. People need to be freed from demonic oppression. We see such horrifying stories such as the multiple knifing attacks by a 16 year old in Pittsburgh and watch as the world tries to figure out what we should already know as Christians. The world ponders - how could this happen? We know as Christians - how could it not? When you routinely mock anything that is of God - how could it not? When you allow children to be raised by a media system devoid of right and wrong - how could it not? When the value of life has been marginalized and cheapened to the point it is at today - how could it not? The good news however is that the same miracles performed by Jesus over 2000 years ago are still available today. The question is if we know what we want God to do for us.
Here we find Jesus on His way to Jerusalem. The key verses tell the story of the healing of two blind men. Within this short tale are four points for us to consider today as we too seek Christ for the needs we have. The first point is that we need to press in when seeking God and not pay attention to what others might say and the second point is to remember the need for humility:
Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" - Matthew 20: 29-31 (NKJV)
Jesus always had a great multitude following Him and He still does today. Here we see that the blind men hear Jesus is passing by and start shouting. They are not timid in their approach towards Jesus. Note that the crowd tries to silence them. After all these were just two poor blind men. They had no power. They had no political stroke. They were marginalized in their society. No one advocated for them. The crowd that was adoring Jesus seemed to have no tolerance for these two men. The "super spiritual" rarely do have time for other people. They do not want any messy relationship issues to interfere with their religion. You can almost feel the indignation in their voices as they shout down the two blind men. Beloved, we cannot allow the religiosity of others dissuade us from pursuing Jesus. We must press in.
We see here that the blind men pay no attention to those trying to silence them. Their critics do not matter - only their Savior does. Their opposition does not matter - only their need does. The more the crowd tried to silence them the louder they shouted for Jesus. They pressed in like the woman with the issue of blood:
Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." - Mark 5: 25-28 (NKJV)
