The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached Series

were held captive to sin. The ransom had to be paid in order for us to go free. That ransom required every drop of blood Jesus had. And He paid that price for you and for me.

Some of us probably need to go home and seriously evaluate how we have defined greatness in our own lives. True greatness is hindered by pride, characterized by service, and...

3) PRACTICED by GIVING

In other words, when we emphasize giving over getting and serving over being served, we become great in the eyes of God. It is this “open handed” willingness to help those in need that Jesus wanted to teach his disciples. Jesus knew well that the best sermon in all of life is the living sermon. In verse

twenty-nine, Jesus put into practice what he had just taught. I can imagine Jesus and his disciples walking down that Jericho road we talked about last Sunday. Jesus is talking about servanthood and greatness. Even as he is teaching them the wonderful truth of verse twenty-six and twenty-seven, you can hear distant crying. Two men are desperately calling Jesus’

name. They are pleading with him. They call out in verse thirty-one, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

No one would have noticed had Jesus paid them no mind. In fact, they would have preferred that he simply look the other way and pretend they were not there. To the disciples, these men were a nuisance to be avoided. But not to Jesus.

These men may have been blind physically, but I think they had some spiritual sight that others did not have. It was for mercy that they begged. A man convicted of a heinous crime before a righteous judge does not demand his rights, he pleads for mercy. That is exactly what these two men did. I like what

Matthew says in verse thirty-two. “Jesus stood still.” Jesus was on his way to Calvary. Nothing could stop him or turn him away. But when two men cried for mercy, Jesus stood still. Even today, whenever sinners ask for mercy, Jesus stands still. The angels stand still. All heaven stands still...and waits.

Jesus wanted to show his disciples that true greatness is not about getting but about giving. What better way to do so than to stop and give these two the gift of sight? Verse thirty-four says that Jesus took his open hands and touched their eyes and healed them. He didn’t have to touch them. Other times he healed the blind without doing so. But this time he

wanted the disciples to see that touching hurting people was a part of what true greatness is about. It means we give of ourselves, that God might use us to touch a world lost and dying without Jesus Christ.

I read this past week the story of the very first Baptist missionary to China. In September 1835, Mr. John Lewis Shuck was attending his church when they had a special offering to support foreign missions, much like we are doing right now.

God spoke to Shuck and revealed to him that He wanted him to serve as a missionary to the people of China. So as the offering for foreign missions was being collected that day, he scribbled a brief message on a piece of paper. While others were giving dollar bills and coins, he dropped that piece of paper in the