Saturday 26 November 2011

Background

This passage is a brilliant example of Jesus and his completepower, as well as his complete compassion for the men involved. Ittells us that these blind men are not on their own - there is alsoa large crowd of people passing around them as Jesus goes past. Wecan recognise the situation where they cry out for help from Jesus,but the crowd don't consider their problems worthy enough for Jesusto be concerned. Whether Jesus hears them shout, or notices thecrowd rebuke them, or simply senses that they are there and inneed, he ignores the crowd's protests and asks the men what theyare hoping for. They respond in a fairly general way with therequest to have their eyes opened, and Jesus takes this in theliteral sense, giving them sight, which they then use to followJesus with the rest of the crowd.

It's a great story, partly because of its simplicity: men cry out,Jesus hears their requests, and does exactly what they ask. No needfor further discussion then? Well, perhaps not, but I think we canlearn something by again putting ourselves in one of the threepossible roles in this drama. We can think of the men, who are sodesperate and in need that they lose all inhibitions and won't beshouted down. Also, we can consider the crowd, who believe thatthey understand what Jesus wants without ever engaging with him.And finally, Jesus himself, who in plain terms, asks for clarity ofthe request, and deals with it equally straightforwardly.

This gives us one negative, and two positive examples:

• These men who are suffering know that it is only God himselfwho can help them, and so they do everything they can to speak toGod. They don't worry about how they look, or about finding othersolutions; they head straight for the top.
• The crowd assume that they understand it all, but miss thepoint entirely.
• Jesus never assumes anything about someone, but listens andthen acts.

For me, these are real lessons in prayer; examples of whatto do, and what not to do, and how we can be expected to be dealtwith; being open to Jesus who always listens. On this occasion themen are granted their request, but even when we are not given whatwe hope for, we must be aware that Jesus has listened above allother noise, and made the correct decision.

To Ponder

What do you hope for when you pray?

Are we interceding before God with the correctexpectations? If not, what do you think our expectations shouldbe?