With 10 days to go until we CELEBRATE the most significant event in ALL of human history: Jesus walking out of the grave…
WHAT WAS JESUS DOING?
For the past two weeks, this is the one question we’ve been considering in these DEVOTIONS. And the sole reason this is such an important question to consider is because the answer must shape how we prepare to celebrate ALL that is Easter.
For Jesus, not much changed in terms of ‘what’ He was doing in the days leading up to the cross and empty tomb… TEACHING, HEALING, and SEEKING. That is to say, Jesus finished well… He was faithful to do throughout His ministry what His Heavenly Father had entrusted to Him.
For today, let’s consider Jesus’s FINAL ‘healing’ prior to Jesus entering Jerusalem for Passover week.
TWO BLIND MEN
According to the gospel accounts, Jesus’s final healing involved two blind men on the side of the road. Jesus was leaving Jericho when He encountered these two men who began screaming to get His attention…
“Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Matthew 20:30 (NLT)
The crowd tried to quiet these two blind men, but they shouted even louder in order to get the attention of the Savior passing by. And their screaming, well, it worked!
Jesus did not hear these men screaming His name, rather, Jesus heard these men screaming His title. In other words, the two blind men were well aware of who Jesus was and that’s what caught Jesus’s attention, not just their screaming.
When Jesus made His way to the two blind men, He hit them up with a question that not only changed their lives but might just change ours as well. Here it is…
“When Jesus heard them, he stopped and called, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”
Matthew 20:32 (NLT)
I don’t know about you, but what they want seems relatively obvious… they are blind and it’s a good chance they want to be able to see. Why would Jesus ask two blind men what they want Him to do for them?
Maybe this is true of you of as well, but more often than not for me, I don’t really know what I need. I know what I want but there’s often a rather large chasm between what I need and what I want. My wants often reflect what might ‘feel’ best in the moment but nine times out ten, those wants are not consistent with what my soul needs.
The men respond to Jesus’ question with this request…
“Lord,” they said, “we want to see!”
Matthew 20:33 (NLT)
They WANTED to see, but Jesus knew they NEEDED vision… and not just physical vision, but spiritual vision. Jesus gave them both!
With less than a week to go before Jesus would be nailed to the cross, Jesus wanted these two blind men to see with their own eyes the One they called ‘Lord… Son of David.’
This was Jesus’s final healing prior to the cross and empty tomb… and what a healing it was! The Old Testament proclaimed that the Savior, the Son of David would open the eyes of the blind (see Isaiah 35:5), and this is exactly what Jesus did.
How might you answer Jesus’s question…
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Well, this is what I’m asking for and I’d INVITE you to join me in making this one request of Jesus…
“Jesus, I want to see you… that’s what I NEED more than anything!”
I’m praying that Jesus would NOT only open our eyes to see Him, but let’s ALL be praying that our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and classmates would receive a healing of SPIRITUAL VISION so that no one misses seeing Jesus this Easter.
