Mercy, Faith and Obedience

Matt. 9:27-31 is a picture of mercy, faith, and a lack of obedience. The focus is on Jesus’ authority & the faith of 2 blind men. In this story we see what everyone wants: mercy; what everyone needs: faith, and what everyone struggles with: obedience.

What Everyone Wants: Mercy
The first thing we observe about the two men is they were blind. Blindness was and is a common problem in the Middle East. Some were born blind; others became blind due to sickness and disease. The fact that Jesus healed so many cases of blindness reflects how common it was. Unsanitary conditions, infectious diseases carried by swarms of flies, blowing sand, accidents, war, excessive heat and malnutrition all played a part in making it such a danger. The 2 men tracked Jesus, crying out loudly; continually shouting, yelling with great intensity – trying to get His attention in the midst of a huge crowd. They could not see Him but they were trying to get to Him. They said Have mercy on us. Mercy is God’s inexhaustible and infinite compassion and loving-kindness – shown to needy sinners to alleviate the misery brought on by sin. In mercy God withholds from us what we deserve (punishment; God’s wrath against our sin), by grace He gives us what we do not deserve (forgiveness; unmerited kindness and love). God is merciful. He shows compassion and loving-kindness for His Name sake; alleviating the misery brought on by sin. He does so at His own discretion, by His sovereign choice. Rom. 9:15-18 recounts says, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy; it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy; So then, He has mercy on whom He desires."

They had the right attitude; they admitted their need for forgiving mercy. You need to admit your need for forgiving mercy. Daniel prayed Dan. 9:18 on behalf of himself and his fellow Israelites: We are not presenting our prayers before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great mercy. Jeremiah Lam. 3:22-23 said The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. The writer of Hebrews said Jesus was made like His brethren in all things so He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest Heb. 2:17. Paul reminds us of the surpassing riches of God’s grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus Eph. 2:7. That Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. Mercy and grace work hand and hand – mercy holding back what our sins deserve; grace giving what we don’t deserve.

What everyone needs: Faith
The 2 blind men called Jesus Son of David. Without a doubt they were confessing Jesus as the Messiah, the One who would rule forever. Son of David was one of the most common titles for the promised deliverer – a royal title, pointing to His descending from the family of King David and His subsequent right to set up and rule over the coming Kingdom of God. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the way to the cross multitudes of people cried Hosanna to the Son of David Matt. 21:9. To call Jesus the Son of David was to call His the promised deliverer - something unbelieving Jewish leaders knew well. [they rebuked people for calling Jesus that 21:15-16]. Every Jew who heard the 2 men would have known what they were saying – and taken it to be a clear confession of belief in Jesus as the Messiah. They boldly and publicly declared their faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. They had the right belief. In the same way, you need to acknowledge Jesus as King by faith. Faith is reliance on God, trust that He can and will; and therefore placing all your hope in Him. They were physically blind but they saw better than others. In the time of Jesus there was a huge Messianic expectation; and people believed that when the Messiah came He would Open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. Is. 35:5-6. The lame would leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute would shout for joy. If Jesus was the Messiah, the blind men must have reasoned, He would have mercy on them and they would have their sight. Their need drove them to faith. They were focused on the right person – the most merciful person who ever lived - the Lord Jesus – they staked their lives on Him – a rock-solid, truth-grounded, promise-anchored trust in Christ to save them spiritually from sin and physically from blindness. They walked by faith not by sight. They “saw” what others could not: Jesus is the Sovereign King of the universe and so they relied on Him. When we realize how dependent we are on God for salvation – His death for our sin, His life for our righteousness – we understand why the Bible insists salvation comes only through faith in Him.

Jesus did not heal them right away. He waited until they were indoors. The men had faith enough to follow Jesus into the house. He lets them get all the way to Him and asks…do you believe that I am able to do this? Do you trust that I can heal you & make you see? Are you relying on Me to do this? The answer: Yes Lord. Yes we believe You are able to do what we asked of You; & Lord we believe that You are the Divine Messiah, the coming Savior promised long ago by God through the prophets. True faith is dependent on God. Jesus is the author (giver) and perfector (sustainer) of faith. God gives faith as a gift & God rewards those who believe. Heb. 11:6 He rewards those who earnestly seek Him by faith. Jesus touched their eyes and said “Be it done to you according to your faith”. D.A. Carson observes that, Jesus’ authoritative word, “According to your faith” does not mean “in proportion to your faith” (so much faith, so much sight) but rather “since you believe, your request is granted.” (Your faith has healed you 9:22). Their eyes were opened. God is powerful and merciful. God restores physical and spiritual sight.

What everyone struggles with: Obedience
Jesus sternly warned them, don’t tell anyone about this! This may reveal Jesus’ desire to avoid undue and untimely attention that might impede his true mission. Whatever the case the seeing disobey. They go out and spread His fame; proclaiming their belief that Jesus was the Messiah – a great thing to do – but something Jesus asked them not to do right then. We have no such warning today – just the opposite – Go and tell everyone what great things God has done for you. Preach the Gospel to all. As Paul said, Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel! But timing is everything – and Jesus had told them no to. So why do the seeing not obey? Think about what we believe. We believe that at the moment that we come to believe in Jesus, placing our trust in Him and His finished work on the cross, we by faith also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). This story reminds us of another foundational truth – that when we have experienced God’s grace in Christ, and received the Holy Spirit, obedience is not an option; but to obey is not automatic when we come to faith. The Christian life is not lived by remembering an experience we had – it is lived in the daily grind of discipleship; following Jesus lovingly, dependently and obediently. It is lived soberly in simple obedience to Jesus and what He says. The right course the right action, is to apply what Jesus says. Do what He tells you to do in God’s Word. Our experience, our thinking, our feelings - even some we think come from the Holy Spirit, should never lead us to contradict Jesus’ clear commands. The way to make it in life is to trust God’s mercy by faith and live in obedience. One thing I consistently try to get across is we can do nothing without Jesus, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Everything we do should flow from the life of Christ in and through us – that we would worship God, build up believers and reach others for Christ – out of the outflow of Christ’s life in us. As we are saved by grace, so we live by grace and serve by grace. God intends for the Christian life to work this way – we yield to the work of God in us, making moment by moment choices to be doers of the Word and not just hearers who deceive ourselves. God does not want us to be deceived – thinking that we are somehow in control or that we call the shots – we are to be in all things under Him – seeking what He wants above what we want. That will lead to deeper worship of God, more connectedness in the family of God and more fruitful outreach for Christ among the unsaved. To live like this we need to walk with Jesus, being corrected by the Word; shaped into who God wants as we live under Him.

It would be easy to say what did Jesus expect right? How do you hide a miracle like that – anyone who knew them would know. He expected obedience. Sometimes we think if only a person would get saved their life would turn around. True – but not a guarantee that it will happen right way. Proof - the 2 men do not listen to Jesus. We get expert at justifying disobeying Jesus’ commands: ‘He would want us to do this.’ ‘He really wasn’t serious.’ ‘He didn’t really mean that’. When God’s Word and our thoughts collide God will win – like the father who tells his wayward or rebellious son – you can do this the hard way or the easy way – but either way I am going to win – so why not make it easier on yourself. This story of Jesus healing the blind men reminds us we need to be born again and then walk by/rely on the Spirit so we will not carry out the desires of the flesh.