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Matthew 15:29-31 (vv. 29-39)
Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)[Matthew] has already given us a good many stories of remarkable healings which Jesus performed. Why lengthen the book still further by adding these ones?
Matthew hopes that his readers will carry in their minds, as he undoubtedly did in his, many of the key prophetic texts from Israel’s scriptures, the Old Testament. There are several texts that speak in beautiful poetry of the great time to come when God will rescue Israel from all its troubles. Here is one of the best known; Matthew intends us to “see” the picture he is drawing in three dimensions by looking “through” his text and others like it:
Isaiah 35:2-6
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
A. Orendorff
What do we really believe Jesus can do? I mean, really?
This question isn’t so much about debating whether or not we, as Jesus’ followers today, should expect miraculous healing. It’s more about getting honest about who we think Jesus really is. Most of us, when we get right down to it, don’t really expect all that much out of Jesus. By and large, our “Christian dream” is little more than a baptized version of the “American dream.” We want pretty much what everyone else wants, only with a spiritual-kicker tacked on at the end.
Matthew’s Jesus, however, the Jesus of Scripture, is about, as Paul said, “bringing life out of death.” Jesus is about getting “the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others” at his feet and doing for them what none of us can do for ourselves.
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1 comment:
It sounds like a root cause of my shallow prayer life.
If I imagine Jesus won't do something, I won't really expect him not to do it.
If I expect him not to do it, I won't pray vigorously for it. I also won't be very disappointed when he doesn't deliver, I'll just chalk it up to "that's how he rolls". The best way to keep from being disappointed in someone is not to get your hopes up. After all, who wants to come face-to-face with their own disappointment with God?
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