Friday, August 3, 2012

Friday, August 3rd

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 2 Chronicles 32-33.
Today's scripture focus is Matthew 9:27-37.


Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they replied.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

The Workers Are Few

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.


The healing of the blind and mute seems to be somewhat an analogy of our spiritual blindness and salvation.

First we need to recognize our spiritual blindness and know our need (which these blind men obviously did).  Then we need to call out to Jesus, recognizing Him as the Saviour and the only one who can heal our spiritual blindness (as the blind men did when they called out to Him, calling Him the Son of David, or Messiah).  After recognizing our need and recognizing that Jesus is the only one that can fill that need, we need to act on that in faith and believe (as the blind men did).   Often immediately after salvation we are weak (partially due to Satan's attacks and partially due to our spiritually immaturity) and act out in disobedience, sometimes even out of spiritual zeal (as the blind men did when they couldn't help but spread the Word about Jesus).  But our spiritual sincerity will be revealed when we bring others to Jesus (like the blind men did with their demon-possessed mute friend).

This passage also shows us that no matter how overwhelming the evidence, there will always be those who simply refuse to believe the truth, but rather believe a lie out of their own self-righteousness or pride.

In the last section we see Jesus' example in how we are to minister to those around us, or on the flip side, how we are to grow in our faith.

Jesus taught in the synagogues - this was a place where people went to learn about Scriptures, about doctrine, about God.  We also should purposefully learn - we need to go to a Bible preaching church, we need to engage in Bible studies in groups and on our own, we need to have a passage to learn the Word.  And then also, to teach it.  We need to strengthen our own faith and encourage each other and hold each other accountable to develop spiritual maturity.

Jesus also preached the good news - this refers more to preaching on the streets, spreading the good news to the unsaved around us, and is evangelistic in approach, instead of teaching those who are already saved. We need to not become so immersed in learning, encouraging, teaching and growing, that we forget to share the gospel with those in need.

Jesus also healed the sick, having compassion on them.  Now, obviously we can't heal people miraculously like Jesus did, but we can help people heal both by pointing them to Jesus, and by compassionately ministering to their physical and emotional needs.


Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 10:1-16
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Nahum

1 comment:

Miriam said...

I like the last 3 verses of this passage. I think our culture today is harassed and helpless as well, in many ways. Our church had VBS last week and there were a number of children who came that do not normally attend our church. Some attend other churches in town, but some just came because they live nearby and it's free. Our prayer is that seeds will have been planted that will take root.
Whether they grow now or years from now, Lord, let those seeds take root! Amen.