Two "Eye-Opening" Miracles

Psalm of the Day: Matthew 21:1-11

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 42:6-9

Isaiah 42:6–9 ESV

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Sermon:

Good Morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Well a few weeks ago I kinda told on myself that I have trouble remember ing to close cabinets in the house. Well today I will tell on myself for something else. I mentioned that when I have forgotten to close one or two or even all the cabinets in the kitchen and I hear from the kitchen a voice: “David I have a question” I am filled with fear and terror knowing I have probably messed something up. On the other hand. When Desiree hears from the Other room a question that starts with “have you seen my...” she is probably filled with the same sort of dread.. or annoyance… one of the tow. It doesn't matter what it is in this specific case. Maybe its keys, wallet, cellphone, other shoe… it could be one of a countless number of things that I cant find, I rely on my wife, for better or worse, to help me locate these things.

And what is usually the case is she usually has to help me locate things that are either 1) hidden in plain view or 2) as Desiree would say “where they have been since we moved into this house…” The point here is that often my wife, because she is so awesome, can often see things that I cannot. We both have eyes, and when I have my glasses on we both see clearly, and yet often I find it the case that thought I can see I don’t see. blame it on ADHD, blame it on me being a guy, whatever it Is it happens like all the time. But it does not happen just to me it turns out. the phenomenon of having eyes and yet not seeing it all throughout scripture.

If I were to ask you what sort of miracle does Jesus do more than any other? what would you say? I mean just in Matthew we have seen so far: Jesu has healed a leper, he has cured paralysis, he has cast out demons, he has calmed the wind and sea, he has raised a woman from the dead. But what type of miracle does Jesus do more than any other? The answer is that he heals blindness. He gives sight to the blind. now the 100,000 question: why might that be the case?

Well on one hand, it is because healing blindness is a particularity messianic miracle. we just read from Isaiah this morning, it was well known that when the messiah came he would give sight to the blind. so partially Jesus healing the blind is a signal, it is a flare or flashing red light that says “this man is the messiah”. but I believe part of the reason that we see so many blind people healed in the ministry of Jesus is that this particular miracle tells us yes something about him, but also something about us.

Today we are actually looking at two miracles today. Matthew 9:27-31. The healing of two blind men, then Matthew 9:32-34 Jesus cast out the demon causing muteness. But before we dive into those, lets begin with a word of prayer

PRAY

AS I said, we will be looking at two miracles this morning, and I think it best, and so we will approach it this morning by looking at them one at a time. the first Matthew 9:27-31

Matthew 9:27–31 ESV

And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

Here is a fairly tight, fairly easy to comprehend miracle of Jesus. Jesus heals two blind men. But in this miracle we have a picture. THE TWO BLIND MEN BECOME A PICTURE OF FAITH

The TWO blind men are a picture of FAITH

what faith can and should look like. What faith does and does not do. What faith means for us, what faith is required of us. These men become a picture of what faith looks like.

If we look carefully I would say there are three sort of markers of faith that we can and should learn form this passage. The first is that faith is marked by WHO we believe IN. These two blind men come up to Jesus and they don’t call him Jesus, they don't call him rabbi, they don't call him teacher, these are all names that we have heard people call jesus before. Instead, these two are the first people i the whole book of Matthew to call jesus “Son of David”

Who was the son of David? well he would be one who was decedent from David. And Matthew has shown us that this is true of Jesus, but this phrase ment something more important than just “a person descended from Jesus. it meant also something more. Because “THE” son of David is one to be looked for that is a descendant of David who fulfills the messianic role. who Specifically fulfilled the role of being the one who would sit on the throne and rule for all time. They were looking for the one who would come and establish fully and completely Gods Kingdom. And though these blind men could not see, they saw clearly that Jesus was that man! Their faith was IN this man, jesus,.passing on from there. and they cry out, have mercy on us Son of David, and when Jesus asks them a question: Do you believe that I am able to do this? they answer “Yes Lord”

their faith is marked by being able to look at Jesus and see in him the Messiah and their Lord. Their savior and the one who rules. The one who can deliver. the one who is mighty and able. When they look to Jesu with eyes of faith, they see all that they need. Their faith is marked, first and foremost, and we talked about this last week, the OBJECT of their faith is key. and the object of their faith is a right thought about who Jesu is. He is son of David. he is Lord.

the second thing their faith is marked by is seen in noting what they ask FOR. they cry out aloud, verse 27 “HAVE MERCY ON US”. It is interesting. These men ask for something that up to now in the healings of Jesu has been a thought, but not explicitly stated. If we go back to the beginning of chapter 9, the paralytic is brought before Jesu and Jesus, says: Your sins are forgiven. Jesus is showing mercy, but the central part of that passage is that Jesus can do that. Jesus will show mercy. But these men ASK for mercy.

Is it possible that they knew that their blindness was the result of some sin? Maybe. That was the prevailing thought of the day and we see sometimes a connection between blindness and sin, just look at Paul being blinded for persecuting the church, for example. And there is a spiritual truth that can be learned form that. But this is not ALWAYS the case. There is a story later where a blind man in brought before Jesus and they ask him: OK Jesus who sinned to cause this man to be born blind, him or his parents? and Jesus answers very clearly, neither, this has happened so God’s power can be shown. So while there is MAYBE a thought that these men think that “well, if he has mercy he will forgive our sins and our sins are what cause our blindness” but that is a pretty huge interpretive leap to make and none of that really is here. Instead we see that they look upon the one they call son of David, their Lord, and realize that what they need, desire, what they are looking for far surpasses JUST their vision being restored. Instead they cast themselves upon this man and plead for MERCY. whatever that mercy looks like form the hand of their Lord, that is what they want! What they want is mercy that flows from the fount of all mercy, what they need is healing and mercy in a complete sense. more than JUST being able to see. Faith marked by who they believe IN, faith marked by what they ask for. but then third we should note. FAITH IS MARKED BY HOW THEY APPROACH THE SAVIOR. Here I would say HUMBLE DETERMINATION.

Jesus is passing on from there, verse 27 and they FOLLOW HIM. they cry out to him, “Have mercy on us son of David” and what is interesting is that Jesus DOES NOT stop then and there to heal them. SO many other times Jesus will stop immediately what he s doing to heal. In this case he does not. In the miracle of the girl brought to life and the woman healed. In both of these there is an immediate response form Jesus. Jesu is walking by, the rule comes to him and jesus says OK we will go to your house. ON THE WAY TO THE HOUSE there is an interruption, and Jesus IMMEDIATELY deals with this woman with the bleeding issue. Right then and there. And then he goes to the house immediately and he heals her. But here these men cry out for healing and he continues on to the house. and the HUMBLE Determination, of these men, who are bowing before their lord, bowing before the son of David, causes them to follow him. They come to him in the house. They cry out in the street, jesus walks by. He goes into the house, they follow him there. They are determined to follow their Lord. Faith I would say, pushes us to action.

And it is not just me who would say that, James, the brother of Jesu would also say that. When he says in James chapters 2 and three that we must have faith AND works. that faith without works is dead. You say that you have faith, that's good! I will show you my faith by my actions. and for these blind men they show their faith by following Jesus. Crying out in the midst of the crowd have mercy on us, publicly proclaiming this man is the SON OF DAVID. then Jesu continues on and they continue following all het way into the house. These men truly had faith. Faith marked by who they believe in: JESUS. faith marked by what they ask for: mercy, they understood their true need. and faith marked by HOW they come. they come with humble determination.

They seek and they seek and they seek. They become a picture of Jesus words: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. they become the picture of so many parables that we will talk about later in Matthew. Where the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field that you will sell EVERYTHING to get a hold of that treasure. They become a picture of one who is devoted, whose full consuming desire is to follow after this one. The son of David, the messiah, Lord, Jesus Chrsit.

It is interesting to note, I would like to make one more point before moving on from this miracle. Notice what Jesus asks them. When we read miracle stories, we cannot miss important clues and thoughts like this. Matthew 9:28. When he had entered the house the blind men came to him and Jesus DID NOT say to them: Do you believe that I WILL do this” Jesus did not ask these men: “do you believe that i am GOING to do this?” we read the words of the Lord. verse 28: Jesus said to them: “do you believe that I am able to do this”?

This is the question at the heart of faith. It is is not a question of WILL jesus do this. I have faith in the God who can. I have faith in the God who is able. The one who has power to. The sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. I believe he is ABLE to do this. I cry out in humble determination, with faith and hope that he will. The faith of these men is described here as a faith that JESUS IS ABLE to to this. Hope and trust falls in the realm of knowing who it is they have faith in.

This is the same sort of thought that would drive someone like Job to say: even if he should slay me I will still praise him. It is the type of faith like shadrach meshack and abendigo show when they tell the king: Or god can deliver us from this furnace, but even if he does not I will still never bow to any other false God. It is the type of faith that says, no matter what I face, no matter what trail may come, no matter what tribulation comes my way, no matter what situation, no matter what sickness, n matter what THING may come into my life god is still good, and strong and sovereign and able and I will still serve him.

Do you believe that I am able to do this? Surely he can! Surely Jesus CAN heal these blind men. He raised a girl from the dead, he calmed the wind and sea, he has has cast out demons, healed paralytic, driven out leprosy. SURELY HE CAN DO THIS! and that my friend is enough for me.

Simply put, though these men are blind, they see clearly. They see because of faith. Truly, though the physical eyes were darkened, the spiritual eyes of thee men beheld the truth. And the truth that they saw brought life, restoration and healing to them. Their spiritual eyes were opened. As w keep that thought in mind we can turn to our next picture. Verses 32-34 Jesus heals the man who is mute.

Matthew 9:32–34 ESV

As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

As a note, the healing of this mute man is the last in this section of miracles. If you were paying attention there was a sort of trilogy of trilogies of healing, starting right after the Sermon on the mount, this is the ninth in a row. And the actual miracle is really short sweet and to the point.

Jesus is walking, a demon oppressed man is there. he was mute. (side note, the word here mute often means mute AND DEAF) which ties these together in terms of senses being restored, and also makes sense because often those two things go together.). but this man is brought to Jesus Matthew tells us that he is this way because f a demon, this is not always the case, but this time it is. Not every sickness is a demon oppression, not every sickness is a demon out to get you. But in this case it is. SO Jesus casts out the demon, and this man who was mute, who could not speak begins to speak.

And the Crowds marvel, the pharisees doubt and here is the point. In this story we also have blind men. hey are so blind that they cannot see the truth. They are TOO BLIND TO SEE THE SAVIOR. and so the TOO BLIND MEN, the MEN TOO BLIND TO SEE JESUS AND WHO HE IS BECOME A PICTURE OF FAITHLESSNESS!

The TOO blind men are a picture of FAITHLESSNESS

This then is the real issue, and why Matthew has chosen to place these two narratives ext to each other. They teach us a valuable lesson.

In order to see Jesus we must be able to look upon him with eyes of faith. The greatest miracle in all the miracles that Jesu does is that he opens spiritual eyes to see him, for if he does not we will walk out whole live spend out whole lives in blind misery, not seeing the light of the world. The light that came to give life. The light was the life of man, John chapter 1.

There are two groups in this narrative that show s the problems of faithlessness. Once again we have, in verse 33, another appearance of Matthews most common group: the crowds. To refresh our memory, the crowds in Matthew almost always, almost universally represent those who will will follow Jesu but who will NOT see, know, serve, love or have faith in Jesus. And the crowds, they DON’T see. they don’t see the FULL truth. Jesu has healed the blind, he has cast out demons. this man is the Messiah. they blind men saw that and they called him son of David: this man is he. The crowds go around saying: “this is crazy. Never seen anything like this before. WOW, that's pretty cool. I am glad that man got his demon cast out. you sure don't see that every day”. This crowd does not see the full truth. that the one who is casting out this demon deserves all glory, praise honor, love, devotion and service. they just do not see it. they see the miracle. but not the truth.

there is however, a more tragic portion of this narrative. the crowds DON’T see the truth the pharisees WON’T see the truth. The Pharisees KNEW that curing the blind was a messianic sign. the Pharisees KNEW that the things Jesus is claiming, the things Jesus is doing lead you to only one true conclusion. This man is the son of David, the son of God the one with all authority. All the miracles up to now are painting one picture and diving us to but one conclusion: Jesus has authority over everything. It is good fir us to hear this so lets recount. He has authority over sickness. He has authority over death. he has authority over the demons. he has authority the earth. he has authority over people. he has the authority to forgive sins. all the miracles up to this are painting a picture of Jesus authority and the pharisees HATE it. they will not have it. that is the picture that is being painted, the Jesu they are being confronted with. and so instead of believing what should have been clear in front of them they WONT see the truth, they, in fact, refuse to. and so they attribute Jesus power to anything else. They were sure that they were right and Jesus was wrong, and nothing could be allowed to interfere with that basic conviction. And this conviction drives them to commit here what s the highest forms of blasphemy. They tribute the works of God to the works of demons. they attribute the hand of God in casting out the demon, in delivering this man, they attribute these good gift of God to the work of evil. They are, in no small way, calling God himself evil. this is blasphemy. it is an accursed state to be in. and these pharisees are TOO BLIND to see the truth that is right in front of them. They WILL NOT see it.

The crowd they are tragically blind because they just cant see it The truth is right there, they should be able to say: a follow up sentence. “Never before has anything like this been seen in Isreal, because NEVER BEFORE HAS THE MESSIAH COME!” but they don’t get there because they cant see. but the pharisees are in a worse boat. They WON’T. they refuse and this then is the tragedy.

I was thinking about this this week. you will often hear, or maybe you engage in this thought exercise. and it is interesting. Paul tells us that when the fullness of time had come. at the perfect time. God sent forth his son. and so in God’s perfect timing the perfect time was some 2000 years ago. but what if. it is always fun to play what if games. what if jesus had come today. And usually that thinking goes like this. we contemplate social media, and global news coverage, and that sort of thing and think: there is NO WAY that more people would not believe if Jesu came today. But this miracle teaches us that is not the case. if Jesu came today and was casting out demons and healing blind men and it ended up on the news and your Facebook feed you know what would happen? The crowd would STILL NOT SEE. their spiritual blindness would prevent them from seeing the truth that they must devote their whole lives to him.

If Jesu came today and all his miracles were posted on social media fr God and the whole world to see you know what would happen? there would still be those who would REFUSE to see. they would look and say: man this guy is doing alot of stuff, he is casiting out demons he is healing the sick, calming storms and that is crazy, but I am not gonna follow him because I don’t serve anyone! because the issue now which is the same issue it was then s that if we are spiritually blind we will never see the truth. and so we must, as the blind men in the healing before, we must cry out, have mercy on us, son of David. And then with that mustard seed of faith, we follow after him and we will be healed.

When we are saved the scales fall off our spiritual eyes we will see Jesus as he is./ We move from death t life and we see truly our savior enthroned in heaven, seated on the throne the one who is worthy and able to pen the scroll. the one can save. the one who can deliver. the one who intercedes forever on our behalf. the one who is our LORD. we see him clearly. don’t be too blind to see your savior. Lets PRAY!