Some thoughts on a Blind Beggar:

Luke 18:41

“What do you want me to do for you?”

He could have passed him by.  He could have acted as though He didn’t hear his cries among the deafening crowd.  He could have pointed to His busy schedule, His important agenda...for He was on his way to save all of mankind.  He could have easily disregarded him.  In fact, He could have even tried to silence him like all the rest had done.

A blind beggar was all that he was; just a poor man with nothing to offer the world.  Day by day he lived, ignored by the steps he heard walking by and scorned by the faces he would never see.  But today was different.  Today he heard a crowd, he heard joy, and he heard celebration.  “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by”, they answered him, hoping he might then cease from bothering them. 

Jesus of Nazareth.  Just the sound of the name filled the blind beggar with an indescribable hope.  Jesus of Nazareth.  He had heard so much about this man, this prophet, this teacher, this friend.  He had heard the stories of love, of compassion, of healing and mercy.  Maybe He would be different, the blind beggar hoped.  Maybe He would not be like the others who day by day walked by him with only pity to offer and ridicule to heap. Jesus of Nazareth.  “Son of David”, he heard himself crying with the depth of his being, “Have mercy on me”.  Over and over again he cried out, his loud voice echoing of desperation, “Have mercy on me”. 

And through his cries and tears...he felt a gentle hand upon his face.  He heard a voice so close he could feel his breath as he spoke words of life into his suffering, “What do you want me to do for you?”.   

The Almighty had put everything aside to reach down and hear the cry of a poor beggar.  The one who was disregarded by all was now in the presence of the loving power of a Savior.  Jesus had come to listen, to hear, and to understand.  Jesus had come to melt away the crowd and allow this blind beggar to take all of him in that moment- his healing, his worth, and his very life.  And in that intimate moment, Jesus overcame the title of friend, prophet and teacher....for he became his Lord, “Lord, I want to see”. 

And the same face of Jesus is so near to us: His loving hands, His gentle voice, reaching over the noise of the crowds in our life- and giving us every part of his attention, all that He is. 

And when we cry out to him, there immediately comes that intimate moment in our lives: to let him go by, or to call him Lord.  The choice to receive healing, or to choose to continue to live in death.  The chance to open our eyes and face our beautiful Savior, or to go on with a mask of darkness covering our blinded eyes.  

“Immediately, he received sight, and followed Jesus, praising God.”   

May we also be the recipients of sight.