Jesus the Messiah Matthew 9:27-34
Matthew is continuing to give us examples of Jesus life and activities that prove he is God on earth. In today’s scripture Jesus heals two blind men and then drives a demon out of another man. These miracles seem straight forward. Only God could accomplish these things. Therefore, Jesus is God. Accepting this as truth we can now look beneath the surface of these line to see the theology Jesus is giving us.
Verse 27, “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’”
In 2 Samuel, God talks with David; “Your house and your kingdom will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16) Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Messiah will be from the lineage of David.
In the beginning of his gospel, Matthew gives Jesus’ lineage. In his humanity Jesus is a descendent of David through his adoption by Joseph and by blood through Mary. The title “Son of David” is more than a statement of physical genealogy. “Son of David” is a Messianic title. When people refer to Jesus in this way, they mean he is the deliverer, the savior, the long-awaited fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. This is the first and very much the most important point. Jesus is not Oden. Jesus is not Zeus. Jesus is not Anubis. Jesus is not a god created to explain things in nature men didn’t understand. Jesus is the creator of the universe, walking in and among his creation. If people do not have a sense of who Jesus is, the rest is beyond them.
Now I say, “a sense of who Jesus is,” because many people hear of and learn of Jesus, and as they become more conscience of him, they can pray for God to give them a deeper and unconditional faith and belief. The point is, we need to know Jesus is real; when we do, then we can approach him.
“Have mercy on us…” Here is the second point. These men know they were in a condition that only Jesus could help them out of, and they asked Jesus to engage with them while they were in the midst of their condition.
Here are two blind men without names, and we know that when someone is not given a name, it allows them to represent all humanity. So, with this in mind, what do these two teach us?
First, we are in the same condition they are. They are blind, unable to see. We are blinded by sin, unable to see the true nature of God. We are blinded by sin and unable to see the life God wants for us or the reward of heaven waiting for us. We are blinded by sin and unable to see what our place is in the next life, that place of torment, forever separated from God.
These men show us that we not only need to know who Jesus is, we need to approach him. True, Jesus is always there, but we are told in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Jesus is always there, but we are given free choice, the ball’s in our court, we need to make the first move.
“Have mercy on us.” We must approach Jesus humbly, knowing our condition from sin, and ask him for his grace and mercy. Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.” We see that the first step to a life of grace is simply making an honest request of Jesus the Messiah.
These men ask Jesus to alleviate their physical condition, but then we have verse 26, “When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him…” I want to make a distinction here. If we know and believe who Jesus is and we ask him to remove our sin, that is instantaneous. But these men are teaching us something else about prayer. These men are asking for help with their physical condition and when it seemed like Jesus didn’t hear, them they followed him.
These two are persistent, and being blind, it probably wasn’t exactly easy for them to follow Jesus. We are shown that for any of us, in the depth of our despair, it may be hard to follow Jesus. I think most people can understand this, “God, if you’re there, why is this happening to me?” In the worst of what life throws at us, at those times it may be hard to see God in our life, that is when we need to seek him out.
I want to propose this; this is not the only time in scripture that it seems Jesus ignores someone at first, only engaging them after they pursue him. There must be a reason.
Here Jesus heard the men but waited to engage. When God doesn’t respond immediately, could it be he’s giving us time to think about our request? “God, I really want a new job, then I can be happy.” Perhaps God doesn’t answer this prayer because even with a new job, you still have the same attitudes. Even with a new job you will still be unhappy. Perhaps God is waiting for you to realize what the real issue is so he can help you with that.
Verses 28 and 29, “’Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ ‘Yes Lord,’ they replied…’According to your faith, let it be done to you.’”
Faith. Faith can be the hardest thing for us to have. I’m talking about that absolute and unshakable belief that God will act.
I remember before Jen had her back surgery, she spent a week in the hospital on morphine because of excruciating pain. I was home one night after visiting her, I felt powerless and afraid, but then the Holy Spirit put in my mind this very truth of faith. I sat there and said, “God, you are our all-powerful creator. Everything is possible for you. I have faith and belief that you will heal Jennifer. I will not doubt it, and I will expect it.” Things didn’t change immediately but within twenty-four hours the right doctor came and diagnosed her and created her treatment plan. Things may not have happened as quickly as I wanted, but from that day I saw God moving things in a direction. And when doubt tried to enter my mind, I prayed harder, “God, I know you are at work; I will not doubt. Send your Spirit to strengthen my resolve in you.”
Now we are at the last part of our reading, verse 32, “While they were going out, a man who was demon possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.”
This man could not talk, he could not articulate his pain, his torment, his grief. He could not express what he needed or how this demon, which was no part of himself, dictated his life.
Again, we have another nameless man. There are things in life that are so traumatizing that people shut down. They live in a perpetual state of shock, unable to reach out for help and support, unable to express, or even understand what they really need. I ask, if you don’t know or you can’t express what is inside you, how can you ask God for help?
In these deep and dark places, Jesus waits for you and he sees your pain, your fear, your trauma, and he works for you; Verse 33, “…the demon was driven out…” In those darkest of times, your soul will cry out. You may not know what to do. You may not see anyway to change those external factors controlling your life, but Jesus does. And when you don’t know what to ask God for, or even how to ask, be reassured because God sent his Holy Spirit to ask for you; Romans 8:26, “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” In our deepest and darkest pit, the Holy Spirit prays for us. What a glorious God we serve. When we are in such despair that we cannot even pray for ourselves, God prays for us.
What a abundance of theology we’ve been given today. We must know who Jesus is, if we don’t believe in his divinity what good is it to approach him. When we do believe he is God on earth then our laments and entreats will be answered.
We must know God has our best interest at heart, always. If our prayers seem not to be answered, we must evaluate what we are asking for. We must examine if what we are praying for is really what we need. And if we see that what we pray for is honest, then we must be persistent, pray often, and know God can do anything through his power.
And be heartened, for when we are at the bottom of despair, unable to know how or what to pray for, God himself prays for us, and whose prayers hold more power to deliver us than God’s prayers.
May the love and peace of our Lord Christ Jesus be with you always,
Amen.