We Need Him 3

Matthew 20:30-34

Today’s passage is a little longer than most days, but it presents a story which flows rather quickly. Who does Jesus encounter? What do they want? What do the people in the crowd do? How does Jesus respond?

This is a simple story of healing from the Book of Matthew. As Jesus is traveling he passes two blind men who call out to him for healing. There is nothing wrong with that, but for some reason the crowd wants them to be quiet and leave Jesus alone.

But they persist until they get the attention of the Lord. Now Jesus addresses them directly – what do you want? Obviously, they want the ability to see. And so, with great compassion, Jesus touches the men and they are healed.

It’s a wonderful story but, of course, we can’t just leave it at that. There must be something deeper going on.

The first thing that I notice is that these two men who are in need of healing sought out Jesus by way of calling to him. They knew they had a need and they were willing to do something about it. When they were aware of his presence they tried to get his attention. Now, for some reason, others wanted them to be silent.

Could this be a message to us that we need to be willing to be honest about our need for Jesus in spite of what others think? If we need the healing power of Jesus – whether physically, emotionally or spiritually – we should be willing to call out to our Savior without fear of what others may think of what we are doing.

The two men were self-aware enough to know what they needed. They needed the ability to see.

What about us? Although we may have the physical capacity to see, we may need the self-awareness to know that we need to have the eyes of our spirit opened so that we are more sensitive to how we can live in the Kingdom of God. We may need to have Jesus touch us so that our vision is the vision that God gives us.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you get new “sight” from God?