Come with me to the edge of Jericho where Jesus had attracted a large crowd again. Most don’t see the furrowed brows of Jesus. He is just a few days away from Jerusalem and the week that will change history forever.
Two blind men are sitting beside the road, their open hands hoping someone will put a coin in them. Their lives depend on begging. They have no other way to sustain themselves. They hear crowd noise and turn a hopeful ear toward the group.
This will be a good day for begging, they think.
Then, someone says, “Jesus,” and their hearts skip a beat.
The Healer. Here?
They shout a unison cry that comes from a deep place of unmet need.
Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!
It is a raw and obnoxious cry and the crowd tries to silence these indigents. But these two understand this is a moment like no other and they repeat their cry louder.
This time Jesus stops, and the crowd circle the blind men and Jesus.
What do you want me to do for you?
There it is, the question that no one has asked. The chance to go for bust.
They waste no words or time.
We want our sight.
With compassion they had never experienced, Jesus touched their eyes and they received the sight their hearts had already grasped.
Is it really that simple? Ask and like some exceptional illusionist, the buried hope emerges?
Yes and no.
You don’t start with the hope or the want; you start by asking for mercy.
A request for mercy isn’t about adding something you want to your life. Asking for mercy assumes a deeper need. Some grief or wound still festers. Some broken dream still haunts. Some shame strangles.
This cry for mercy brought Jesus to the blind men. This cry for mercy made the two men vulnerable like never before. They slumped in need and their inability to meet it.
I learned early in my journey with Lisa’s needs, that my first prayer was a cry for mercy. And when I cried it, what I asked for changed. I didn’t want a temporary fix to some hard place. I wanted something restrung in my soul. Asking for mercy clarified what I asked for next. When Jesus asked, What do you want me to do for you, I was able to answer.
It’s as if we’ve been given three wishes and suddenly only one is necessary. We know what needs to change inside so that we can do whatever we are called to do in the complicated situation we face. We hold nothing back, not the impossible request or anything that might sound insignificant to someone else.
The cry for mercy is the prayer God listens for. It is usually the prayer that God has been waiting to answer. It is the request that unlocks the resources that have our name on them and are ready to be delivered.
Back to the scene with Jesus and the blind men. Jesus showed them mercy by supplying their very greatest need. They didn't need another coin for their begging. They needed sight to make begging unnecessary.
Practice the prayer of asking for mercy. It is the prayer that makes you ready to answer the question Jesus will ask when He knows it’s time for you to answer it:
What do you want me to do for you?
Then, the answer to that question will come from your soul and the healing Jesus gives there will take you farther into wholeness than anything else could.
Sharing the journey.
Debbie