BELIEVING IS SEEING (MATTHEW 9:27-31)
Helen Keller, the much beloved blind, deaf and dumb American author, envisioned what she would most like to see if she could see for just three days. In her article “Three Days to See,” she wrote that she would like to see those she loved on the first day - to look deeply and lovingly into the faces of people whose kindness, gentleness and companionship have made her life worth living, including her teacher, Ann Sullivan, all her dear friends and even her loyal dogs. At the end of the day, she would take a long walk in the woods to enjoy the countryside and at night watch the lights burn in darkness at home.
The next day, she would walk through museums to view past and present history, then visit art museums to study artistic expression and examine great carvings, sculptures and paintings and cap it by attending a theatre, a movie, a dance, or a play at night.
And on the last day Keller would head for the city to gaze at its bridges, towers, and people and then stand at a busy corner, merely to look at people to understand something of their lives, their smiles, joy, determination and even suffering. At the end of the last day she would go window shopping, walk the streets, and visit all the possible neighborhoods she could.
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Blind people can live productive lives today, but not in Jesus’ time. In Matthew 9, Jesus healed two blind men who were prepared for the encounter, patient in their pursuit and practical in their faith.
Is there such a thing as blind faith? Why does God expect disadvantaged people to come to Him in faith just like everyone else? How does faith help sufferers transform from victims to victors in life?
Search the Scriptures
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" (Matt 9:27)
A man went to see the Pope as he was visiting in Europe. There was a huge crowd of people there but he managed to get through. He watched as the Pope stopped every once in a while to whisper something in their ear. He was dressed in his best suit because he really wanted the Pope to talk to him but, as the Pope came up to him, he walked right by and stopped by a guy near him who was homeless and dressed in rags.
So, the man said to himself, “I know why he stopped at him, he’s homeless!” So the man paid the homeless guy 50 dollars to use his clothes and he went back the next day. Well, this time the Pope stopped at him, leaned over, and whispered to the excited man, “I thought I told you to get out of here yesterday!”
For all their setbacks, the two blind men more than made up for their physical handicap and personal disability with their theological inspiration, clear understanding and deep insight. They were theologians, historians and psalmists (Ps 9:13, 51:1, 57:1, 86:3, 86:16, 119:132, 123:3) without peer. Unknown to others, they had no firewall, blinders or handicap in their interpretation of and insight into Scripture. The title “Son of David” is a significant expression in Matthew’s gospel, where it appears ten times, more than all other gospels combined. Nowhere else in the Gospels receives as much as coverage. The title appears four times in Luke (3:31, 18:38-39, 20:41) and thrice in Mark (Mk 10:47-48, 12:35), but none in John. Matthew revealed that the blind men were pioneers in recognizing, uncovering and announcing Jesus as the Expected Son of David to his fellow Jews. They were blind but they were well-informed, well-versed and well-prepared.
The blind men were, in fact, the first people to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of David in the gospels. Matthew intended to portray Jesus Christ as the Son of David (Matt 1:1) and to present the blind men as the mouthpiece of the good news (9:31).
The identity of the Son of David was never easy to spot or track. Fourteen generations of David’s descendants had shuttled between Babylon and Palestine before Jesus’ arrival (Mt 1:17). How did the men know what his blind countrymen did not? Weren’t they disadvantaged people? They did not read the Old Testament, study genealogical records or go to a rabbinical school, but by God’s grace, they understood what theologians, historians and rabbis could not: that Jesus was the son of David, not of Joseph or Mary.
Faith distinguishes those with sight and those with insight, levels the playing ground of those who can see and those who cannot, separates those that cannot see and those that do not and would not see.
The blind men had the faith to ask for the impossible. God had never healed any one who was blind in the Old Testament. On one occasion, God healed Elisha’s Aramean attackers, who were temporarily blinded, not permanently blinded or born blind (2 Ki. 6:18). The blind men pleaded with Jesus with words right out of the Psalms that were mostly from David’s prayers (Ps 4:1, 6:2, 31:9), but one quotation grew on and stuck with Jesus. The “Have mercy on me” pleas were from David primarily, but the plural “Have mercy on us” (Ps 123:3) gave Jesus pause and food for thought. The original reference in Psalms 123:3-4 was heartbreaking: “Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.”
Seize the Opportunity
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. (Matt 9:27-28)
A guessing game goes like this: A man said, “Knock, Knock.” A voice then asked, “Who’s there?” The man replied, “Opportunity.” The voice, however, answered, “Can’t be.” The man was taken back, and asked, “Why not?” To which the voice countered, “Because opportunity knocks only once.”
The English word opportunity comes from Latin ob portu, where the English word for “port” is derived. In the days before modern harbors, a ship had to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port. Like a surfer riding the waves, a ship at a port waits for the moment when it could ride the turn of the tide to harbor. The captain and the crew would have to get ready for that one moment, for they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in.
It’s been said that four things cannot come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, time past, and the neglected opportunity (Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, 178).
The blind men not only had inspiration; they had industry. The blind men had reasons to impose on Jesus and to invade his privacy. Jesus’ next step was to leave Capernaum and proceed to other towns and villages with his disciples. His mission was to teach and preach in the synagogues of Judea (Luke 4:43-44) and in the towns of Galilee (Matt 11:1). He and his disciples would leave Capernaum before the chapter ends (Mt 9:35) and their opportunity would disappear.
The challenge of the blind men, like most sufferers, was not combating people’s hurtfulness, but to overcome their own sense of helplessness and hopelessness in a normal society. Blind men were good for little. They were beggars in old days, masseurs in many parts of the world today; though some have acquired higher education, they still end up as basket weavers, telephone operators and with low-end jobs. People then had no Braille invention, guide dogs or discrimination laws to make life easier.
The two blind men who met Jesus had no sight but that they made it up and helped themselves with their intelligence, interdependence and industry. They made full use of their other senses and faculties, especially their ears, legs and hands to follow Jesus back to his house. They had no help, except one another, but together they followed Jesus patiently until the right moment to barge inside (v 28). The blind men were resourceful in approach, relentless in spirit, and rapid in stride, following him on the streets, back to home and into the house. They were disadvantaged in sight, but not short of ideas. They grasped each other’s hands, held onto their canes with the other hand and listened attentively to Jesus’ stride, turn and pace for the right moment to approach Him. What a sight it was! They walked closely behind Him, waited smartly for the right opportunity and made sure they were not separated from each other and Jesus.
Eventually Jesus slowed to a halt, the ground was different and the blind men knew it was now or never. Since Jesus did not stop for them, they had to stop Him before He disappeared and closed the door. With that, they gave chase, cried out and rushed indoors. Astonishingly, they were there uninvited, but they were not unwelcome. They infringed upon Jesus’ time, space and rest, but Jesus did not rebuke their presence or impede their entrance. In fact, their unflinching resolve, irrepressible spirit and desperate mindset caught Jesus’ eye, cornered him inside and captivated His attention. What unity, capability and audacity!
Spare the Time
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. (Matt 9:28-31)
A man fell on a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. He yelled for help: “Is anyone there?” A voice answered him from heavens: “I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?” In despair he cried out: Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hold on much longer.”
Immediately the voice said to him, “That’s all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch,” the reassuring voice said. A moment of pause, then the man spoke his mind: “Is anyone else up there?” (Bits and Pieces, 6/24/93)
In the end, the blind men were rewarded not only for their inspiration and industry, but also for their insight. The blind men’s response was the first of four “Yes, Lord” responses from the Gospels in the exact Greek word order. The others were the Canaanite woman (Mk 7:28), Martha (Jn 11:27) and Peter (Jn 21:15-16). Jesus had a knack of asking the crowd and his disciples questions, whether he was teaching or healing and whether he could get an answer or not. But He never let blind people leave with just their sight restored but their participation lukewarm and understanding incomplete.
The two men were not the only blind men Jesus questioned. Jesus asked the blind man in Bethsaida if he could see anything (Mk 8:23), questioned Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51). In John 9, Jesus returned to ask him a blind man kicked out of the synagogue, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (Jn 9:35). In fact, none of the blind, including the demon-possessed blind man (Mt 12:22), could leave without questions asked, if not by Jesus or the crowd (Mt 12:13). Surprisingly, the blind did not get a free ride even with their condition. They could not leave quietly without answering a question, which Jesus used as a way to plant faith in them, to harvest faith from them or add faith to them.
Questioning the blind men served many purposes. Not only did Jesus care to meet and talk with them, he also cared to instruct and correct them. Later, Jesus encouraged and humanized them by touching their eyes (v 29). Blind people are naturally distrustful of people. Like most folks, they faced discouragement when they are disliked, discriminated and disparaged.
To appeal to God’s mercy is the first step, but faith is still the personal step every one must make - the subsequent and ultimate and only path to God. Someone once said, “If you don’t matter to you, it’s hard to matter to others.” Heb 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Conclusion: Faith comes from our insight, not from our sight. Our eyes one day will need glasses, grow dim or lose sight, but faith will overcome poor eyesight, old age and physical handicap. Have you let the absence of sight, the dispute over evidence, or the presence of opposition hinder you from God? Seeing is believing for those without assurance, conviction and hope, but believing is seeing for those who have faith in God as their guide, caregiver and friend. God has promised that He will never leave, disappoint or fail those who trust in Him. Is your faith firmly rooted in the word of God and fixed on the Son of God? Is it persistent, patient and purposeful faith? Or is it fleeting, fragile and feeble?
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
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