Sight for the Blind (Matthew 20.29-34)

Sermon by: Robert Austell; March 18, 2018 - Matthew 20:29-34

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::: Scripture and Music ::
Open the Eyes of My Heart (Baloche)
Open Our Eyes (Cull)
CHOIR: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (arr. Manor)
Lord Have Mercy (Merkel)
Glory to God Forever (Fee, Beeching)

:: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) ::
This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable Year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18)

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Ephesians 1:18-19a)

Hear the Good News: Jesus gives sight to the blind. And though he healed physical blindness, the greater miracle is opening our spiritual eyes to see God.

Can you see? What can you see? What do you see? Jesus would speak to you this morning.

Blind Men Stood on the Road and Cried (vv.29-30)

Every week Melissa and I have chapel with the children at our preschool. A few years ago we did the story of Jesus healing a blind man and I taught them a song called “Blind Man” which has become one of their favorites. The words are simple… I’ll sing the first verse to you:

Blind man stood on the road and he cried
Blind man stood on the road and he cried
Blind man stood on the road and he cried
He cried, “Oh, oh, oh…
Show me the wa-a-a-ay
Show me the wa-a-a-ay
Show me the wa-a-a-ay
The way to go home.

Jesus healed the blind more than once, which is no surprise given the words he read from the prophet Isaiah to begin his public ministry of teaching and healing. By the time this story takes place in the timeline of Jesus’ ministry, people have heard of Jesus and gather in crowds to hear him and witness the miraculous signs he performed. In fact, this is the last miracle recorded in Matthew before Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, five days before his crucifixion. It is right after the passage we looked at last week, in which Jesus lifted up serving God and others as the greatest thing.

We read that as Jesus and the disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men sitting on the side of the road heard that he was coming by and called out loudly to him: “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” (v.30)  Calling Jesus “Son of David” was acknowledging him as the Messiah, who was understand to come from the line of David. And more than one prophecy in the Hebrew scriptures spoke of the Messiah healing the blind and helping them to see. So they were crying out in faith, believing or at least hoping that this was in fact the Messiah, and the one who could help them see. Now it’s not clear if they wanted or anticipated more than physical healing. You might wonder why they didn’t shout “Heal us!” But it may be that simple – that the Messiah taking time to hear them and heal them was a great mercy. But, as it turns out, there was much more involved!

Shush (v.31)

The reaction of the crowd both fascinates and concerns me. This was a crowd presumably following Jesus in hopes that he was the Messiah. Given the times, it was likely a distorted understanding of Messiah as political figure, King David returned to confront the Roman Empire. Nonetheless, their reaction to these blind men calling out to Jesus AS the Messiah clearly misses something. The prophet Isaiah had written about the Messiah healing the blind. Jesus himself had already performed many signs of healing, including giving sight to the blind. Why would the crowd not want to see Jesus perform another miracle?

Perhaps they thought the time for signs was over… time to head on to Jerusalem to march in victory. Jesus and the crowd were, after all, headed toward Jerusalem. The very next passage is the Palm Sunday passage. But no time for healing?

Perhaps, as is human nature, they had found the truth and were “in” and were not focused on those who had not yet heard or followed or joined in. As we’ve seen the past few weeks, the last several teachings of Jesus recorded here in Matthew were focused on others rather than self. Maybe Jesus was directly addressing a self-focus he saw evidenced in the disciples and the crowd that followed him.

Maybe all of the above. It leads me to pause to remind you of my desire to not only welcome, but embrace visitors, children, and those new to this fellowship who may dress differently, make noise, move around, or otherwise seem like a distraction. Hear this, whether you identify with the crowd or with the blind men: these two calling out loudly for God’s mercy were not a distraction to Jesus, they were why he was there in the first place. If church gets loud, if church gets messy, if there are babies and new faces and rattling papers and children having trouble focusing… PRAISE THE LIVING LORD! I remember a while back when God was really leading us out beyond the walls of our church. I warned you that it might get messy and loud. And I challenged you that if that happened, not to withdraw, not to get nervous and resistant, but to recognize that it was working… God was, in fact, working in us and through us as good neighbors in this neighborhood.

As it turned out, I think – I hope – that the two men were not the only ones that had their eyes opened that day. Those who were listening and paying attention to Jesus also glimpsed God’s will and God’s purpose. It is my prayer that whether you identify with the blind men or with the followers of Jesus, you too will SEE God in our midst and God at work.

Mercy, Sight, and More (v.31-34)

The crowd did not dissuade the two blind me. They cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” And Jesus stopped and called out to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they answered, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.”

With detail that I appreciate so much, we read that Jesus was moved with compassion, touched their eyes, and healed them. They had called out for mercy and that’s exactly how Jesus responded. Compassion is full-blown mercy. It’s not just the act of kindness, but the sympathetic and empathetic connection with a person’s situation that stirs response. Jesus didn’t just bestow healing as a sign of his power and authority. He was moved by their situation and their plea. And he reached out, touched them, and healed them, restoring their sight, but also instigating more. They connected back. They didn’t just start seeing, they also followed him. There’s so much that happens in that one verse (v.34): “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed him.”

That’s Jesus; that’s the Triune God – Father, Son, and Spirit. God is not remote and detached, but has created us in love, pursued us relentlessly across time and history, and come among us in the flesh and then in spirit. God is personal and is vitally interested in humanity and in you. This is evidenced in Jesus’ life and ministry as a whole and it is demonstrated in this particular encounter.

Receiving vs. Following

Last week I confessed my tendency – and perhaps yours as well – to approach God with a “what can you do for me?” attitude. And indeed, God does invite us to make known our wants and needs. But God is so much more! These men cried out for mercy and asked for healing and they were not wrong for doing so. But notice how Jesus’ response re-orients everything. As we talked about last week, his teaching lines up with God’s words in the Hebrew scriptures through Jeremiah: as you seek the shalom or blessing of others, as you pray for others, you will come to know that peace and blessing for yourself. His teaching undergirds what the Apostle Paul would later write about what food Christians should or should not eat: let the defining question be what is God’s best for those around you rather than what you want. There is great freedom in Christ, but it is most experienced with heart set on God and on others.

In our call to worship, we heard a wonderful metaphor about the heart. The same Apostle Paul writes and prays in Ephesians 1, “May the eyes of your heart be enlightened… to know the hope… riches… and greatness… of God toward us who believe.” Paul’s prayer describes the gift Jesus gave those two men and the gift he offers us. We may be asking God to “fix our eyes” and the greater gift he offers is to “fix our eyes on Him.” Those two men regained their sight and followed Jesus. I believe the greater gift, the greater healing, was fixing their eyes on Jesus and following after him.

There is a second verse to that simple song I began with. It goes like this:

Jesus stood on the road and he cried
Jesus stood on the road and he cried
Jesus stood on the road and he cried
He cried, “Oh, oh, oh…
I am the wa-a-a-ay
I am the wa-a-a-ay
I am the wa-a-a-ay
The way to go home.

Can you see? What can you see? What do you see?