In Matthew chapter 20 we see Jesus has departed fromJericho headed to Jerusalem with a great multitude of people followingHim. It’s not long before they come upontwo blind men sitting by the road. They hear a crowd coming in their directionand they understand that it is Jesus. This was their day; these two men were inthe right place at the right time. They began to cry out saying “Have mercy onus, O Lord, thou Son of David.” That is when they are criticized and told tokeep quiet. They cried out more saying the same thing in hope of getting Jesus’attention. Now what I don’t understand is why this crowd doesn’t want Jesus tohave anything to do with these blind men. Could it be that these men didn’t really meet their standards? They couldhave been dirty. We already know they were loud maybe to the point that theywere embarrassing to this fine group of men that were following Jesus. Had theyforgotten what Jesus had just said?
Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son ofman came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life aransom for many. I wonder what Jesus meant by a ransom for many? Did itinclude blind men that may have been dirty and loud? I know what you are goingto say; you were going to say, yes, Jesus is interested in these blind men.Sure He was but this crowd sure wasn’t. Just let them stay blind was theirattitude. You say how awful and I agree fully! It is an awful thing not to helpothers when we can. You know what, it happens in our day and right in ourChurches. Right after I was saved I began working in the bus ministry; I lovedit. I would go where no one else would go. I remember one night talking to ayoung boy about riding my bus; he took me to meet his mom and dad and they weredrunk as could be. They agreed to let him ride my bus. The next morning I pullthat bus up to his house and blew the horn and nothing. No one opened the door,no little boy running out to meet the bus; nothing. I got out of the bus andwent and beat on the door and in a few minutes his dad opened the door. Irefreshed his memory and told him I was here to pick up his son. He told methat he was still in the bed but if I wanted too I could go back and wake him.I walked down the hall to his room and when I saw him I almost cried. There hewas sleeping on the floor with a blanket wrapped around him. I reached down andwoke him up. When his eyes opened and he saw me he smiled. I told him to getdressed and I would be back in a few minutes to get him. When I returned he waswaiting on me, his cloths were wrinkled and miss matched but his smile was fromear to ear. Off we went Church, but when we arrived he was not met with thesame joy that I had. Mothers and dads made sure their child had nothing to dowith him. Can I tell you that he picked up on that quick and that was the lasttime he ever came to Church; can you blame him? This is the way those blind menwere being treated. I am afraid many have forgotten what they were before theLord found them maybe they thought they were good sinners. What’s that? Is thatjust telling small lies, stealing little things, not using too many cuss wordsand not gossiping too much? That is ridiculous. There are those that will nothave anything to do with sex offenders, alcoholics, those who abuse drugs, differentcolor, different nationality, poor or broke. The list goes on and on and youcan fill in the blanks. Jesus didn’t listen to the crowd. He stopped, stoodstill and asked those two men what will ye that I shall do unto you. Jesus did what the crowd didn’t want to do. Hehad compassion on them and touched their eyes and they received their sightimmediately. Here is what I like, thosetwo men after receiving their sight decided to get up and follow Jesus. Wonderwhat that good crowd of people thought then? Who is in your crowd or what crowddo you identity yourself with? If you follow Jesus there are going to be anassortment of different kinds of people. There will be some people who have aterrible past and others that as far as most people are concerned were fairlygood people. May I remind you both kinds were on their way to a devil’s hellfor without Jesus we’ll never see. Can I say, just like those two blind men I’mjust happy to be in the crowd.
