by David Smith
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
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.
Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. (Matthew 9:27-31 TNIV)
See this Scripture.
You're blind, dependant and more or less outcast. You haven't a thing in the world except one friend -- a friend who also is blind. Begging is your only means of living and the two of you have become adept at calling out to passersby on the street for help. You aren't really living, you're just surviving.
Meanwhile, throughout the days, you keep hearing good things of someone named "Jesus." Good things, indeed -- deeds are apparently being done again and again by him that are nothing short of miraculous! Of course, the two of you haven't seen these things yourselves because you're blind! But still, you continually hear mention made of him and what he's doing and you ponder who this "Jesus fellow" could be and what he's about. And as the two of you ponder your condition and hear these things about Jesus, a well-worn phrase from one of the prophets of old regarding the Son of David, the Messiah to come, once again comes up to mind:
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened ... (Isaiah 35:5 NIV)
They're just a handful of words, but oh, what words they are! How you both have longed for them to be true -- for your blind eyes to be opened! But, oh how long they have not been opened still! And you ask each other again for the thousandth time: "Will we live to see the day?"
Your thoughts are interrupted by a crowd coming up the street. The people are talking about this very "Jesus" again and you overhear bits and pieces of what the crowd is saying to each other. Things like:
"He healed that woman who had bled for years!"
"I tell you that girl was dead. Dead I say! And he brought her back to life! I saw it with my own eyes!"
"We thought John was someone great. True enough, the whole country seemed to respond to him, but John never did anything like this! Not one miracle did we ever see John do! But this man -- why, what have we not seen him do? He's David's Son, I tell you!"
And suddenly, as if the two of you are one man, you seem to resolve the same thing at the same time -- you get up and begin to follow the voices of the crowd. And as you walk, you begin to say what you've said to every passerby that has ever come by you: "Have mercy on us."
But now you find yourself adding a bit more to that. You dare to say what you want so desperately to be true. As you are tugging on the crowd to find and feel your way, you begin to cry out to this man now invisible to you, but seen by all: "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
You follow, feel, push, stagger and bumble your way along with and through the crowd. Finally, the crowd seems to come to a stop, but the two of you do not. You continue pushing and jostling your way to the front. You now have only thing on your mind -- to be heard.
"Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
As you push your way through, the two of you suddenly break out into the open. You sense that you have been funneled, as it were, out of the crowd and into a courtyard. And with keen senses sharpened by your long dependence on them, the two of you sense without sight that you're standing in front of someone.
Him.
Now breathless from the effort and exertion, your loud cry has become only a whispered pant:
"Have mercy on us, Son of David! Have mercy on us!"
And then he speaks. He speaks to you and the two of you hear words you never thought you'd hear. You're forced to consider the meaning of what you've been saying. It is now the moment of truth; it is the moment of testing.
"Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
The words hang in the air and there is a pause. A pause brought about by your pondering. A pondering over considering whether you have been carried away with your emotions or if your only glimmer of hope is real. Whether or not to place your trust in this one you do not know and cannot see. You rehearse again in your mind some of the time your trust and hope has been abused before by jokesters and charlatans. You will not give these two treasures away again lightly, for as small as they be, your trust and your hope, they are all you have.
But finally, the silence gives birth as one of you dares to say it aloud. The risk will be taken and all is laid on the line: "I do, Lord."
And then another pause, finally broken by words equally considered with care: "Yes, Lord."
Then you feel his hands cover your eyes and you hear him say things almost too wondrous to grasp: "Since you believe, it will be done to you."
You feel his hands removed from your eyes and now -- you jerk and instinctively cover your eyes with your own hands! The nearly blinding light and color of a bright new world has exploded on your mind!
Squinting and straining, you are forcing your eyes open again and again, trying to get adjusted to the light. And you are slowly coming to the awareness that you and your friend are shrieking the same thing at the top of your lungs: "I can see! I can see! Lord, I can see!"
The two of you struggle to take in and comprehend all that is around you. You stop and stare at each other for a moment -- seeing each other, though friends for so long, for the very first time. There is a whole world to be seen and you want to see it all at once! You embrace and you feel the hot tears pouring from your once dry eyes. Then releasing each other you turn to Jesus. Overcome with emotion, you fall down at his feet and through your gasps of joy you hear him firmly say to you: "Make sure no one knows this has happened!"
But his words are too little and too late for the two of you for you are now so delirious with the joy and wonder of sight that you are now on your feet and are running -- though you know not where! Now you need not grope your way through a crowd, for the crowd parts in front of you like the sea parted before Moses. They too are struck with wonder over what they have seen! And the cry of your voices rings over the roar of the crowd and follows you, even as some of the crowd now begins to run after you: "See what has happened to us today! We live and see! The Son of David has had mercy on us!"
And might he have mercy on us, too, today.
Lord, help us to see. Help us to see to believe and believing, to see you. Give us mercy, for mercy is what we need. May faith grow up within us today to believe that you are more than enough for our life and all our days, indeed, that you can do even more than we ask or imagine. As surely as we know you responded to the faith of these two who were blind, may we respond and put all our trust and hope in you. Amen.
