It is hard to believe that another summer has come and gone. As quick as it started, it ended. Kids are back in school and all those pools that were filled all summer long are now just giant pools of water, stagnant and unused. I don’t know about you, but my kids love the pool. They could swim in it every day, all day. Swim, play, jump there is just no end to playing in a pool of water. They have always been this way. I can remember when both of them were learning to swim and how often they would stand at the edge of pool and be so scared to jump in because they didn’t know if they would drown. They were afraid to sink and even more than that, afraid that nobody would catch them. No matter how good of a swimmer I am, no matter how close I got my kids were originally hesitant to jump in. Jesus found this kind of faith all through Israel, even at times with the disciples. In the book of Matthew, we find a story of Jesus walking from town to town, preaching, healing, and helping people. Matthew 9 recounts Jesus healing a woman and raising a little girl to life. As He walks away from there, going to another house, two blind men begin to follow Him around. Starting in verse 27 we see them saying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” These men are following Jesus due to their circumstances. They are blind and understand that they need God’s mercy. They follow Jesus into the house, persistent that their external needs be met. Jesus asks them a question, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They answer yes, and Jesus touches their eyes and they are healed. Now this might seem like an interesting question. Wouldn’t the answer to this question be a resounding YES! Is someone going to say to Jesus… “I need you to heal me, but I don’t believe you can or will.” Think about our own lives though. Do we come to Jesus because we expect God to take care of our issues or because we walk in faith that He is the only one capable and able to heal. We see a little bit of their motivation as the story ends in v. 31. “They went away and spread his fame through all that district.” For these blind men, they are walking in faith in Jesus, not just in the desire to get what they want. I want my son to jump into the pool because he trusts me. I want him to understand the depth of my love for him is so deep that no matter how far away I seem if he will put his faith in me and jump, he won’t sink, and I will catch him. Today as a church and as individuals Jesus asks us - Do you believe that I am able to do what I have promised I will do? Do you believe that I am able to make the sorrow go away? Do you believe that I am able to heal and forgive? Do you believe that the neighbor or co-worker that you have that is unlikeable - even they can come to Jesus? Where is our faith at today? Three things we see from this passage that we can apply as we put our faith and hope wholly in Jesus. 1. Pray as if there is no other option. These men approached Jesus with a desperation and desire to be different. Do we pray like this? Do we pray as if all the world depended on it? 2. Jesus is the only hope for our lives, our disappointments, our sin, and our death. They men understood that only by running to Jesus would they be healed. Do we? What else am I running to? 3. As we trust in Jesus, we seek to make Him famous. The passage ends with Jesus’ name being shared all over the district. Is that how I respond to Jesus? Is that how I show my belief in Him? If I believe that He can do this, how should that change the way I interact with others.

 

And now as Paul prays in Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

 

     

Love God, Love People

Pastor Jeff