Day 504: A deeper blindness - Luke 18 vs 31 - 43

31 And taking the twelve, Jesus said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and  everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32-33 For he will be  delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spat upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36-39 And hearing a crowd going by, he enquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”  And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  40-43  And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Luke 18:31-43 English Standard Version

Luke was a careful writer and I think it was no accident that he noticed God's hand in the healing of a blind man near Jericho coming so soon after what we read in vs 31-34, especially vs 34. Even after some years of being with Jesus day after day, and despite having been brought up with the teachings of the Old Testament, what does vs 34 tell us was the condition of the twelve closest disciples of Jesus?

It seems to me they were in a state of spiritual blindness. It's true that they had experienced flashes of insight about Jesus, such as when Jesus asked them who they thought He was, and Peter responded by saying “the Messiah of God.” (Luke 9:20) But they had still not connected all the dots of what had been written about 'the Son of Man' by the prophets. They didn't realize, as Jesus did, what awaited Him in Jerusalem. On that point, how wonderful that, despite knowing what awaited Him there, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem and finish the work the Father had entrusted to Him – including the cross.

And so it was that, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus heard the cries of a blind man begging for mercy. And while the crowd told the blind man that 'Jesus of Nazareth' was passing by, the blind man cried out 'Jesus,  Son of David', have mercy on me! He seemed to perceive something some of the others didn't. And Jesus had the man brought to Him and asked him a question which was surely more for the crowd's sake than for His own. The man wanted to recover his sight. In his case it was physical sight. But for the crowd, and even for Jesus' disciples, the deeper need was for spiritual sight. Remember that when Jesus explained His coming death and resurrection to the twelve, Luke says that: “This saying was hidden from them.”

In Psalm 119:18 the writer prays to God and says: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” That is something that all of us need to pray regularly. The prophets spoke of the Messiah, yet many of the Jews in Jesus' day didn't recognize Him. The Bible has been read in many Churches for many centuries, yet many who heard it being read 'understood none of these things. It's message was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said'. There is a deeper blindness for which we need God's mercy. Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18). May we always ask God to open the eyes of our understanding whenever we read the words He spoke through His prophets and apostles, and through His beloved Son. “Lord, let me recover my sight.”