by Rose Murdock

35. And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:

36. And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

37. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

38. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

39. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

40. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,

41. Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?  And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

42. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

43. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. Luke 18:35-43

Picture this, Jesus and the crowd is walking down the road and this blind man is begging along the side of the road.  Jesus has a crowd of people around Him, both in front of Him and behind Him.  The blind man hears the noise of the crowd and asks what is going on.  Someone tells him it’s Jesus passing by and he begins to cry out for mercy.

The people who ‘went before’ or the people who were in front of Jesus told the beggar to be quiet.  All they saw was a beggar begging for a handout.  You see, they didn’t recognize his cry as a cry of faith to be healed.  The just heard the cry of a beggar wanting a handout.  Those who go before Jesus, those who are in front of Him instead of following Him, lack compassion and perception.  They don’t see beyond what they can see in the natural.  If we get out in front of Jesus we can’t keep our eyes on Him and we run into this danger.  You’ve got to keep Jesus in a position in your life where you can always see Him.  You want to be always watching Jesus.  If you’re out in front of Him you can’t.  And then your lack of perception will cause you to hear the cry of faith as a beggar’s cry and your lack of compassion will try and silence it.

The Lord stood and called the blind man to Him.  When Jesus hears a cry of faith, not a cry of complaint, or of self-pity, not a beggars cry, but when He hears a cry of faith He will call us near and ask us what it is we want.  When the man stood before Jesus, He asked him what He wanted him to do for him.  Notice the man didn’t say, "Jesus, I know you’ve got to have a lot of money.  You could give me a nice donation that would catch me up on my bills and I could go to begging part time instead of full time.  Jesus if you would just give me a nice handout I would really appreciate it."  No!  He said he wanted to receive his sight.  He wanted to see.  He knew what his real need was.  His true need was not a handout but to receive his sight.

But let’s take that one step further.  The purpose of him receiving his sight was not just so he could get a respectable job and earn money either.  Notice he didn’t say, "Jesus, I want to receive my sight so I can quit being a beggar.  I want to have a respectable job.  I want people to quit spitting on me and telling me to shut up.  I want to make a lot of money and raise my social status in life.  I want to have some respect in this community!"  No!  He didn’t say that either.

This blind man saw that his true need was not a handout, but his true need was not just money either.  He needed to see, not so he could make more money than he was making as a beggar but he needed to see so he could follow Jesus.  He needed to see so he could keep Jesus in his sight!

The blind man didn’t want to follow Jesus as a blind man.  He didn’t want to be a burden on the ministry.  And he didn’t want to have to take another person’s word for it about what Jesus was doing.  He wanted to see Jesus for himself.  He wanted to keep Jesus in his own sight.  After Jesus healed him he didn’t stay in that community and get a respectable job, he followed Jesus!  He wanted to become a productive part of Jesus’ ministry.

Notice that Jesus didn’t even ask the man why he wanted to be healed.  He just asked him what he wanted Him to do for him.  He didn’t say, "O.K. you have the right motive, you want to follow me, I can heal you."  No!  Jesus healed because it’s the Father’s will for people to be healed.  He doesn’t withhold good from us.  He went about doing good and healing all.  This man determined in his own heart that he wanted to follow Jesus.  His response to His goodness was worship.  He wanted to keep his newly healed eyes on Jesus!

Why do we need to keep Jesus in our sight?  Look at what Jesus said about Himself:

"…Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." John 5:19

Jesus did what He saw the Father do.  Jesus kept the Father in His sight.  Jesus said in John 8:29 that He always did what pleased the Father.  We need to keep Jesus in our sight, just like He kept the Father in His sight so we can do the works that Jesus did, which are the works of the Father.  So we can be like Him!  Jesus Himself said that, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (John 14:12).

We are members of the Jesus Christ Evangelistic Association here on earth today.  If you are a member of the body of Christ than you are a part of His ministry.  Do you desire to be a productive member of His ministry?  If you have something that is keeping that from happening then God wants to do a miracle in your life.  But don’t settle for less than His best.  Don’t just settle for a handout that will make you a little more comfortable in your current misery.  And don’t just settle for a miracle so that you can raise your worldly status, so people will respect you, but receive that miracle so you can follow Jesus, be like Him and be a productive part of His ministry in the earth today!  You too can do the will of the Father through Jesus Christ.  If you have the faith, He will do a miracle to make that happen in your life!

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