Matthew 9:27-38Moved With Compassion

(Mat 9:27-28 KJV) And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. {28} And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

INSIGHT: This is probably Peter’s house in Capernaum.

NOTE: The blind men came to Him.

Over the past weeks we have seen every kind of person COMING TO Jesus in their need. (Man on stretcher/Centurion/Demoniac/Ruler of synagogue/sickly woman)

KEY INSIGHT: Throughout the Gospels there are six or seven accounts of Jesus healing blind people.

It’s interesting to note how those who were physically blind served as a rebuke to the spiritual blindness of the religious leaders of Israel

Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Here are the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes

With perfect faculty of PHYSICAL sight

The Messiah is right their in front of their eyes -

Yet they are unable to recognize who in fact Jesus is.

While they were incapable of seeing Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, they were also losing their authority with the people.

Jesus was big news among the afflicted.

It would seem that the blind were particularly sensitive to the identity of Jesus!

Daily - as they would sit begging - their ears would prick up when they heard conversations within their own little society - which consisted of the lame and the blind and the afflicted

With their heightened sense of hearing they would hear the voices of their old friends saying, “Oh what a beautiful day.”

And a blind guy would recognize the voice of his blind friend and ask, “How would you know what a beautiful day looks like? Blind people can’t see.”

And his friend says, “I’m not blind anymore - Jesus of Nazareth has given me sight!”

These who were afflicted knew that when the Messiah came He would

Open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.

That He would heal the lame.

And as they began to hear these reports of Jesus their hearts were stirred

And it was with that very insight that these two blind men are crying out.

We KNOW this because they in speaking to Jesus they use Messianic title, “Thou Son of David.”

They know who He is.

They’re calling to Him.

With the help of someone they are COMING to Jesus!

“Where is He now?”

“He’s in the house.”

And they’re saying, “Well take us there. We got Him trapped now. Let’s get in there.”

They enter the house and Jesus says, “What do you want?”

And they say, “That we might see.”

And Jesus says, “Do you believe that I’m able to do this?”

And they say, “Yes, Lord.”

(Mat 9:29-30 KJV) Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. {30} And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

There’s a challenging command!

Verse 31 is what we expect.

(Mat 9:31 KJV) But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

Again - as we go through these events it is important to take note of the VARIETY of ways that Jesus chose to HEAL.

We have seen Him respond to the faith of some men who brought their crippled friend to be healed.

We have seen Him respond out of His own compassion as a leper says, “I know you’re able if you want to.”

We saw Him respond to - even marvel at - the faith of a centurion who was not even present.

The daughter of Jairus has no faith…. Because she’s dead.

All of these circumstances are different.

We would love to put God in a box so we can figure out a formula as to how He does things.

There is some natural bent within us that NEEDS to QUANTIFY and FORMULATE…. Find some METHODOLOGY… So that faith won’t be a hard thing for us!

So that we can rub the magic lamp three times and He’ll have to respond because we understand the rules.

And none of that is in the scripture.

You can’t paint Him into a corner….

C.S. Lewis - In his Chronicles of Narania…. Says this of Aslan (a lion who is a picture of Jesus)

He is not a tame Lion!

It is remarkable to see how the broken and blind… the downcast and outcast in Israel could SEE the nature of Jesus and COME to Him!

They HEARD the reports of

The blind people receiving sight… The lame walking… The lepers cleansed…

And they understood that this was the work of the Messiah!

Things haven’t changed in 2,000 years!

People are still drawn to Jesus when they see and hear of what Jesus has done in your life.

Many of us used to be blind….. blinded by

Drugs or alcohol, greed or pride

And then relatives and friends saw something change in our lives.

At first they’re startled and don’t know what to do and say, “Well just wait. It will be flying saucers and extra terrestrials next.”

But then as time goes by they see the change….. they see a life that’s been put back together again.

They see your marriage healed.

They see addictions gone and a new master passion in it’s place.

They see lives change and then THEY realize that Jesus is real.

Jesus is still working miracles…. Still opening the eyes of the blind…. Still giving the ability to hear what we could never hear before.

He’s enabled us to walk when before we walked in darkness….. couldn’t walk at all.

He’s the same today and you and I are living epistles.

He has great testimony through us.

(Mat 9:32-33 KJV) As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. {33} And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

INSIGHT: Now the Pharisees and Scribes believed (by tradition) that if you were possessed by a demon and that you were deaf and dumb -

You couldn’t be delivered because you couldn’t hear and you couldn’t respond as they tried to minister to you and cast the demon out.

So that’s why those who witnessed this said, “That people marveled and said we’ve never seen this before.”

Because of their own religious tradition they didn’t believe this thing could be done.

(Mat 9:34-35 KJV) But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. {35} And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

They can’t

Deny that Jesus opened the eyes of the blind.

Standing there would be those who not long ago were blind.

They can’t

Deny the power of Jesus to cleanse lepers

Because the standing there with perfect-baby-soft skin were those who were once lepers.

So what they have to do then is attribute these things to something else.

INTERESTING: I have often heard conversations that go something like this -

A guy’s not saved and he’s treating his wife so badly.

And yet people will say, “But he’s such a nice guy.”

And yet when they talk about you as a Christian - if you just mess up and do one little thing - you’re the worst criminal in the world.

That’s exactly what they did to our Lord.

Jesus said, “If they persecuted me they will persecute you.”

John 15:20-21 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

You have to understand that if

You’re not living in fornication or taking drugs

You’re not living in compromise

Then the way the devil comes to you is through the tongue.

The tongue is a very powerful force in the body of Christ.

The sowing of discord and the tearing down of other individuals.

Here the same is applied to Jesus.

They can’t explain away the fruit of His ministry.

So now they have to attribute it to the power of the highest ranked demonic being!

KEY OBSERVATION: Notice how Jesus responded to their criticism.

Matt 9: 35 “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

He just kept on being about His Father’s business

BY THE WAY - That’s a good way to respond to your critics.

Keep on doing the will of God.

Keep your life involved in the PROCLAMATION and EXPLANATION the the Word of God.

Keep your life involved in SHARING the Good News

Keep MAKING YOURSELF AVAILABLE to be used by God

Because Satan’s great goal in attacking you is to get you to QUIT!

(Mat 9:36-38 KJV) “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them

9 consonants/5 vowels Splagchnizomai - splangkh-nid'-zom-ahee

= to have the bowels yearn

CRUCIAL OBSERVATION: THIS was the response of Jesus to this multitude.

CRUCIAL QUESTION: WHAT was it about that crowd that made Him literally want to throw up?

READ ON!

because they fainted

The idea is that they were actually falling down.

They must have followed Him so long they were getting tired.

But they were also just plain worn out by the lifeless legalism and hypocrisy of religion

and were scattered abroad

= Thrown down violently

The picture is that of a lone sheep being violently lung to the ground by a predator!

It would be a word used speaking of rape.

THAT is exactly the picture of lives being wasted by the god of this world…

Peter tells us the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour.

We are surrounded by a generation of boys/girls… young men/women…. THAT have been scattered….

Violently thrown down… raped by MTV / VH1 / SONY-VIACOM, etc, etc.

Middle school kids

losing their virginity…. having abortions…. Dying of overdoses…. Teen suicides… Teen prostitues

Not just youth… but adults

Raped by materialism / hedonism

as sheep having no shepherd.

NOTE WITH ME: Here the descendants of Abraham…. the flock of God… and they were in their present condition because shepherd’s of Israel had failed them!

The shepherd’s of God’s flock weren’t leading and feeding the flock of God.

This multitude could not find in the religious system of Israel what their souls were searching for.

BUT they were finding in Jesus.

That which they longed for so deep within their hearts.

Matt 9:37-38 Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.”

He says to the guys,

“now look the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few so why don’t you guys do me a favor.

Go and pray to the Lord of the harvest that he’ll bring laborers into the harvest.”

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS

So they go and pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest and Jesus comes and says,

“Hey since you guys are so burdened about it I’ll just send you.”

And they end up being sent….. That is how Chapter 10 begins!

I believe that once you go in the prayer closet God can talk to you about who needs to go and who doesn’t.

Good idea huh?

THAT is why the devil would like to keep the Church from praying!

We are surrounded by a tremendous harvest.

People are scattered, people are mixed up, people are confused.

There’s a hunger that is there, but they’re confused.

Confused concerning God.

Confused many times by the religious systems.

Jesus is MOVED with compassion for them.

He wants to MOVE US to that same compassion

And Jesus said, “Pray the Lord of harvest will send forth laborers.”

It made Jesus ill to see this multitude in such a state BECAUSE Jesus knows that the GREATEST NEED of a sheep is to have a shepherd.

LOOK AT THAT IN DEPTH NEXT SUNDAY