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)

If I can just touch but the hem of His garment! Pressed in through the crowd - a crowd so big Jesus could not tell who touched Him. Likewise these two blind men just shouted louder. They had a need and were not going to be denied when they heard God was going to be walking by! Meanwhile, we have the Spirit of God on the inside of us and we act like He is a far away entity that we can seek but may not find. 

Secondly from the first half of the key verses we see that their pursuit of the Savior was undertaken in complete humility. They refer to Him as Lord and ask for mercy. That may seem like an obvious point but if you look around modern Christendom there has been a decline in the reverence we show to God. We sing pseudo-worship songs that demand our blessings. We randomly throw around terms that glorify who we are instead of who He is.

"I'm a princess because I am a daughter of the King." 

"I am Apostle Bill and I move in the prophetic anointing of blah blah blah." 

So much of today is trying to get people who are lost to follow man instead of having them call out to God. Yet what do these blind men do? They scream for mercy. I have heard many Christians demand healing and claim that God has virtually no sovereignty in the matter. Beloved, this is not the buddy Jesus you have been sold. This is the creator of the entire universe! I cringe when I hear some Christians address Him, demand things of Him, or even just approach Him without any humility. Have mercy on us indeed. The second half of the key verses reveals the final two points:

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: 32-34 (NKJV)

What do you want me to do for you? Seems an odd question coming from God Himself, no? It also seems odd since it would be quite apparent that the two men were in fact blind, no? So why the question here? Jesus answers their plea, sees their plight and certainly could have healed them immediately but instead He asks - what do you want me to do for you? God is omniscient beloved; He already knows everything. When He calls out for Adam in the garden it was not because He didn't know where he was. God always knows where we are, even when we may not. No, God wanted to see if Adam knew where Adam was. In this story here, Jesus wants to see if the blind men knew why they were seeking Him out. Remember, as we walk through the Bible, not everyone has pure motives or clear understanding:

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  - John 6: 66 (NKJV)

Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  - John 6: 26-27 (NKJV)

But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!  Y ou have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity."  - Acts 8: 20-23 (NKJV)

The first verse is when Jesus started teaching harder truths to those who were following Him. As we can well imagine, the more miracles He performed, the more people were following Him but they were there for the wrong reasons. They wanted the show. They wanted the performance. They liked being with the "in" crowd." Once Jesus starts talking about them needing to eat His flesh and drink His blood...they walked with Him no more. The second set of verses are from the aftermath of the miraculous feeding of 5,000. Jesus cuts them to the quick by saying that they are seeking him for carnal reasons and not supernatural ones. The third set of verses is from the story of Simon the Sorcerer. The Bible says that Simon became saved. He was baptized and followed Philip. Then Peter came to town and Simon saw that when Peter laid his hands on people they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Once Simon offers money to have this same power he is exposed for being a false follower. He was not in it for Jesus and the advancement of His kingdom but rather for his own personal gain. 

So the two blind men ask for mercy and Jesus wants to make sure they know why they sought Him out. When we seek Him we also must understand what it is that we need. For these men their ailment was obvious but maybe it will not be for our situation. The human condition is great at denial. We hear sermons often referring to Christians who circle the same mountain over and over again. Year after year. Saved by the blood but crawling into heaven. Saved by the blood but no victory in the one area they need the most deliverance from. Jesus can open our eyes if we wish them to be truly open. He can remove the demonic shackles from our feet if that is what we truly want. Sometimes I think we want Jesus to forcibly remove from us the things we know we ought not do. It does not work that way beloved. We have our part to play as well. We have to cry out for mercy. We have to press in to touch the hem of His garment. We have to be able to answer the question - what do you want me to do for you?  

The last lesson here is that they followed Him. Do we get that today? They followed Him. You see we can tell Jesus that we need His help to overcome alcohol but if we then choose to go back into the bar, we are not following Him. We can ask Jesus to help restore our marriage but if we then go back into flirting with co workers, we are not following Him. We beg Jesus to take the shackles off and then when we think no one is watching, we quietly slip them back on. Keep circling that mountain. It is not enough to know that Jesus is with us all the time. It is not enough to realize that we need to call out to Him. It is not enough to realize that we cannot listen to others trying to keep us quiet. It is not enough to press in. It is not enough to ask in humility. We have a role. We have a part. 

What do we want Him to do for us today? Where does this writing find you? What shackles need to come off? What mountain needs to be stopped circling? What demons need to be cast out? Jesus can do it all beloved. There is no question about His omnipotence. He can already see it all as well. There is no question about His omniscience. He is at your right hand, indwelt in you through the Holy Spirit - no appointment necessary! There is no question about His omnipresence. The only question is:

What Do You Want God To Do For You?

Just be sure you are ready to answer. Be sure you are ready. 

Reverend Anthony Wade - April 10, 2014