Mercy Precedes

Matthew 20:30-34

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

Jesus, says Matthew, was deeply moved. . . . He touched them, and they saw. And . . . they followed him. . . . They have left one life behind, and have begun new one. It can happen to anyone who asks Jesus for something and finds Jesus’ searching question coming straight back at them, piercing through the outer crust and finding the real request bubbling up underneath.

And when that real request is really met, the only possible result is real discipleship. Following Jesus will be costly. But if he’s already given you everything you really wanted, what else is there to do? (64-65).

A. Orendorff

For most of us, the natural response to encountering the gospel records of Jesus’ powerful “acts of mercy” is to immediately jump to interpersonal application. In the closing verses of Matthew 20, the pressing question would therefore be: How can I be Jesus to the beggars? However, before we move to interpersonal application, we must first question deal with the personal: How can I be a beggar to Jesus?

Notice that the beggars do not follow Jesus until after he has healed them. Jesus loves them—he has “pity” on them, as Matthew says—prior to their conversion. What moves them to “follow Jesus”—to become self-forsaking disciples—is Jesus’ miraculous act of kindness. With flattery, the blind men ask for money: “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” What the get is restoration.

Surprisingly, there is no call to discipleship, no hint in the text that Jesus asks anything of them, only that they ask something of Jesus. Grace precedes commitment and even acts contrary to what the beggars think they need. And yet, grace also transforms. It gives, asking nothing in return, and in that giving grace changes its recipient.