From Matthew 20:29-34 / Seeing through Blind Eyes

Note first: That in this case, Jesus was not the initiator.

Often, people with needs imagine everyone should simply recognize them and respond as they might desire. Many a person harbors inward hurt – especially against the Church – because others have not perceived nor responded to their distress, even though they’ve not made that distress known to any. Love does not bestow magical clairvoyance. And even here, our prayers are to be open pleas regarding our needs. Yes, to God’s glory, He in fact already knows our need. And still, the pattern is for us to seek Him out in regard to them, and not to presume He simply ought to know and act as we would desire.

Note second: Jesus did not presume to know what they wanted. He asked them. He does not respond like a machine, but in pity and in an attitude of personal care. While we might think their blindness was the obvious need, who knows what else may have been the case. Might there be an even worse malady, or perhaps someone else they would petition for? But He stops to ask. As He does with us. He waits to hear our hearts and minds. He give us His tender, personal attention.

Note 3rd: Jesus being sent to serve others, did not mean He was sent to PLEASE people, but to act in their best interest before God. A governess or a tutor serves the children assigned to them, but they do so at the behest of and to fulfill the desire of the one who hires them – the parent. Christ serves us in carrying out the Father’s desire for us, even when those desires are not what we think would please us most. Thus such service takes contemplation. Meeting people’s needs is not always the same as meeting people’s wants.

Pastors, hear this well.

Note 4th: The necessary element of compassion for how The Fall has affected people’s lives – and addressing that directly. And how compassionate our Savior is regarding all the ways the Fall has impacted us.

What a great encouragement to prayer this account is.

Note fifth: That Jesus is never too busy, never too preoccupied to hear us when we pray. Nor does He fail to hear us because of where we are. These men were unable to go to Him, But He was passing by. He always is. And despite the chaos of the “great crowd” and the rebukes of that crowd to stop pestering Jesus – perhaps interrupting His teaching – He heard. And stopped. And responded.

Note sixth: Jesus is not offended that their prayer centered on their own perceived need at the moment. He did not rebuke them that they did not ask for greater, grander, more spiritual things. They cried out, out of their need. And so do we. And no doubt, there were better, more important things they could have asked for. But this is where they were. This is what filled their hearts at the moment. And Jesus, in His tenderness and compassion meets the need of the moment as they were experiencing it. He is so good and gracious and overflowing with compassion toward us – in all of our needs, great and small.

As they followed Him after their healing, no doubt they learned to pray for many other things far beyond their mere physical needs. But this is where they began. And so with us. We grow in grace in time and the focus of our prayers can and will shift. But we ought never to forget how He meets us where we are, even as He designs to take us beyond where we are in time. We must learn to never be ashamed of the smallest need, but to cast ALL of our cares upon Him. For He cares for us.