The Two Blind Men's Faith

 

by Anne Marie S. Lubaton

Scripture Text: Matthew 9: 27–31.

 Greetings

Good morning to all my colleagues and professors. It is indeed a privilege to share the message of God with you. At the same time, I am also a bit anxious, but either way, I am grateful.

 Prayer 

Let us pray to the Almighty and Everlasting God.

We pray, dear Lord, that you will fill us with the Holy Spirit. Bless your servant as he proclaims your word. Bless your people who receive it. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

 Introduction 

We are still in the midst of the Lenten season, during which we will journey towards a reflection of our lives, examining our own weaknesses and strengths, our limitations, struggles, and difficulties. With that, I would like to share with you the story of the two blind men, and how they were able to receive the beautiful gift that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Body

For some reason, I tried to look up the definition of "visionless" and searched YouTube for people who have this disability.According to a medical dictionary, there are three different types of blindness among individuals: one who lacks vision legally, someone with partially limited sight, and someone with blurry vision. To move, they use their senses; the touch of hands, smells, and listening ears. I was amazed at how they were comfortable amidst their incapacity, and how they were fine having seen nothing, even when people described the world around them to blind people, especially those who haven't had vision since birth. Blind people wouldn't understand or picture what people with vision could see. Somehow, while there, answering the question "if they wish they could see?", there were statements like "yes, I wish I could see". 

In the biblical passages in the Old Testament, blindness is mentioned as a punishment inflicted by God. It is a punishment for Israel’s disobedience to their covenant (Deuteronomy 28:28–29). "The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. At midday, you will stumble about like a blind person in the dark. "You will be oppressed and robbed day after day, with no one to save you."And another is for the "negligent shepherd" of Zechariah 11:15-17. Then the Lord said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd." For I am going to raise a shepherd over the land who will care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will also eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves. Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and right eye, may his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded! " The Bible attributes blindness to God, just as it attributes sight restoration to Him.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ begins his ministry through teaching, preaching, and healing. Jesus began healing people several times, most commonly confronted by blind people. Nothing specific was mentioned if they were born visionless, or it could mean they were blind in some way. The text Then, according to Matthew 9:22–26, Jesus Christ was there at the ruler’s house named Jairus, and Christ healed his daughter. The event from the house of Jairus spread all over the crowd, and it was from there that these two blind men followed him; it might be that they were in the place and heard the news and quickly seized the opportunity. 

So, in verse 27, Jesus Christ had gone on from there, possibly implying that he had left the house.The two blind men "called him out." In other biblical texts, it is said to be "crying aloud or crying out." It might be a sign of earnest pleading. They called out to Jesus, saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us." Calling Jesus "Son of David" is something very significant about this event. In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, it was stated that the Messiah, the long awaited Saviour of Israel, would bring fulfillment to the prophecy, but it had to be in the lineage of David. And Jesus Christ came from the lineage of the King, as Matthew 1 stated in its genealogical proof. With that calling, it might have brought attention to Jesus, so he decided to go in private in verse 28, and there he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?". Jesus Christ wanted to affirm how strong their faith could be in him. And when the two reply, "Yes Lord," it then signifies that they really believe he can heal them. And yes, Christ had given them the reward of their faith and had touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith, it will be done to you" and restored their sight. Afterwards, Jesus sternly asked them not to tell anyone this. But the joy they felt never kept their mouths shut, and again, the event spread to the entire region. 

 There are a few things that we learn from the story of these two blind men.

 First, they acknowledge their need for

These two blind men had probably experienced the difficulties of living without vision, which were exacerbated by the fact that anyone with this body impairment was accused of being unclean, and no one wanted to lay their hands on them. They were punished by God for what the people had instilled in their minds.When you acknowledge, you accept the fact that it is true. With that, I assumed that they felt uneasy throughout their lives; they felt shame and brokenness, and they wanted to be saved from this lowly life of being discriminated against, disgusted by, and rejected. They acknowledge their need for help. They do not want to settle in this darkness; they want to be rescued, they want to be free. 

Acknowledgement also means to recognize; for example, the two blind men recognize their pains, struggles, and weaknesses, and they know they must act or else nothing will be done for them. It also means we know that we have limitations. We can not do everything for ourselves. We need someone to help and assist us.

As students, I know everyone can relate to the hardships we experience in our studies. Aside from being bothered by the signals during our virtual classes and all the background noises, we also face other challenges, such as financial to cater our needs, especially for those who are still reeling from the effects of Typhoon Odette and the cause of Pandemic. We are also challenged with doing and accomplishing our requirements, reports, and all the theological articulations we need to make. But all of this is part of our training as pastors to be. The fact that we have our limitations and incapability means that we don't owe every piece of knowledge, wisdom, or learning that we need to have.if we learn to reach out , we can receive help, We can reach out to our colleagues  or professors who are willing to help. All we need is to ask.

Second, their perseverance in seeking and courage in calling out to Jesus.

Although they had no idea who Jesus was or how they would recognize him personally, they were so motivated at the time that they were eager to follow Jesus despite the difficulties they would face; the crowd, the various corners of the street, the houses.To get the Lord’s attention, they cried out, "Son of David! Have mercy" in verse 27. It’s not just shouting or calling a name, it’s crying out loud and asking for mercy! The character of calling out to Jesus in the form of humbling themselves and asking for help. 

Perseverance is the ability to consistently do whatever the task is needed in order to accomplish something, and courage fuels the thoughts, the mind, and the heart, so that even in difficulties, you still continue to pursue the things you want to pursue. In this story, the two blind men pursue their desire to be healed, and the way to earn it is to seek and call out to Jesus, which they did. 

It’s not impossible if we continue to persevere and take courage to do our part as students, and with that, we can accomplish finishing whatever requirements we need to do, but to fuel our mind and heart with strength and encouragement, we need to continue to have that desire to seek the presence of the Lord Jesus in our life. To Seek out his presence means that we need him to be with us, our journey  in life is not always easy, whether you are student or teachers or whatever you are, whoever you are, we have this continues,pressure and challenges that we are facing, sometimes it could weaken us, discourage us or put us down,  But by praying and having constant devotion, it is important that we always connect ourselves into the presence of the Lord in order for him to know that we need him to help us, guide us, and lead us in and even encourage us as we face our different challenges in  life

Third, their strong faith in Jesus Christ

Even if they didn’t see what Jesus had been doing, they believed in him. They believed he was the Messiah, the one who would save them from their brokenness and blindness. And their faith showed that the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to respond to them, "According to your faith, let it be done to you." And there they received what they had longed for. 

Strong faith is believing firmly in what you stand for. These two blind men had shown their commendable faith in Jesus Christ, and they were so confident that the Lord Jesus would heal them and give them the desire to see.

We are the ones who have not seen Jesus Christ. We don’t have any chance to speak personally with Him, but we know that his presence is there for us. We believe in Him. We are assured that his loving presence is with us and will always be there to lead us. But our response to that faith is also to show that we truly are confident in the Lord through manifesting his righteousness, love and mercy towards others. Our daily actions and how we interact with our neighbors speak volumes about our faith.

Conclusion

This blindness is not limited to the understanding of just being physically blind, but blindness could mean that we have our own limitations, we have weaknesses, and we are imperfect. With that, we would sometimes feel hopeless or helpless, and our challenges and trials would try to bring us down.

So my brother and sister are Don’t be afraid to recognize or acknowledge that we need help. If we are struggling, there will always be someone who is there willing to help us or lend a hand to us if we just reach out, just like the blind men did when they reached out for help to Jesus. 

Continue to persevere and to have courage. Life is not always easy to deal with, yet we still have to continue struggling in order to survive. If you get down, get up again. If you are failing, do it again, stand up again. No matter what, continue to persevere and have courage, and with that, you may be surprised at what you will accomplish.

And be strong in your faith in Christ; believe that if you pray for guidance and wisdom, the Lord will bless you with that; believe that if you ask for strength and hope, the Lord Jesus will give you that. Just continue to live that faith and manifest the righteousness of that faith in Jesus Christ. For us, he has promised to the blind men that it will also be done to you.

Amen.