Faith to Go Further
“And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Luke 18:40-41
The story of the blind beggar sitting by the road on the way to Jerichoused to puzzle me. Here was a man shouting and yelling to get the attention of Jesus. He heard the noise of a multitude and asked what was going on. When he found out that Jesus was passing by, he yelled out, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” Jesus heard him, stopped, and said something that sounds a little unnecessary; namely, “What do you will me to do to you?” I can almost hear the disciples saying, “What do you mean what does he will?”
Now in a similar situation involving two blind men nearCapernaumwhich is recorded in Matthew 5: 27-30, Jesus did not ask them what they wanted but if they believed he was able to do what they wanted. Why did Jesus “assume” what it was they wanted but ask the solo blind man what it was he willed or wished? Incidentally, the word Jesus used for “will” or “wish” was not a “wistful wish” but a wish with some teeth in it; it was the same word (theto) that Pilate used when he asked the crowd what did they “will” or “wish” him to do with Jesus.
There is another interesting difference in the two stories. In the case of the two blind men, Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you”; however, in the case of the solo blind man, Jesus said, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” There were also different outcomes in these two cases. The two blind men departed and went their way spreading Jesus’ fame. The solo blind man followed Jesus and glorified God.
When Jesus told the man his faith had “saved” him, the Greek word used by Luke was “sozo” which has a wide variety of applications. “Sozo” is used of physical and temporal deliverance from danger and suffering; of spiritual and eternal salvation granted to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; of the present experience of God’s power to deliver from the bondage of sin; of the future deliverance of saints at the second coming of Jesus Christ; of the future deliverance of Israel; and, of all the blessings bestowed by God on men in Christ. “Sozo” can be a very targeted and temporal or a very broad and eternal.
In the case of the two blind men, Jesus could see their “want” was limited to their sight. That was as far as their faith went and that was what they got. In the case of the solo blind man, Jesus could see a deeper hunger and a greater need in him than the need for physical sight. In both cases the men had addressed him as “Jesus thou son of David” but only in the case of the solo blind man was there a willingness to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, receive the Giver with the gift, the Son with the kingdom, and eternal life with physical healing. We don’t know what happened to the two blind men but we do know the solo blind man received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
There is an instructive story told of a modern street beggar inIndiawho had withered legs. One day he was completely healed by the prayer of a native street evangelist. He joined a local Christian Community but soon found that life as a beggar was much easier than life as an unskilled worker in a despised minority. Quietly and inconspicuously, he returned to sitting at his old post on the street and before long his legs returned to their formerly withered condition. God does not deliver us to make our life easier; He delivers us to make our life eternal.
By John Cathcart
www.wme.org
World Missionary Evangelism 