“Have Mercy!”

(Matthew 20:29-34)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

May 3, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 20:29-34

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

32 Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”

33 “Lord,” they said to him, “open our eyes.” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed him.

Introductory Comments:

Thank you, Dirck, for leading us in worship. By the way, today is Dirck’s birthday, so be sure and send him a message to let him know how much you appreciate him.

It’s a joy to worship through music. Now, let’s worship through the Word of God. 

Before we do, let’s pray together and ask God to bless us. 

(prayer)

There are two types of people in this world: those who don’t mind asking for help and those who refuse to ask for help. Some of you know what I’m talking about. There are some people who refuse to ask for help under any circumstances. They could have one leg on fire, be surrounded by rattlesnakes, while up to their chin in rising quicksand and still refuse to ask for help. Raise your hand if someone in the room with you is like that. I see a lot of hands out there (just kidding). 

Well, there are other types of people who don’t mind asking for help. In today’s passage we’re going to hear from two men who knew that they needed help and they knew that Jesus could help them. 

We’re going to see how Jesus responded to these men and how that applies to us. We’re going to discover three gifts that Jesus had for these two men and that He has for us as well. 

First, . . .

I. Jesus has mercy for you (vv. 29-31) [on screen]

Jesus and His apostles are on their way to Jerusalem, and they’ve left Jericho. As we know from our study of Matthew, where Jesus went, people gathered and followed Him. Here, there is a large crowd following Him. So, these men, although they were blind, were aware that something was going on and they were aware that Jesus was there. 

It’s important to realize that life for blind people is much different today. There are resources, organizations, and advances in today’s culture that are able to assist visually impaired people in a lot of ways. However, blind people in Jesus’ day were often unable to receive any kind of genuine help and as a result, it left them in desperate situations. 

These two men needed help and they knew that they needed help. They needed mercy from Jesus and they knew that Jesus had mercy for them. 

Let’s check out the passage. Look at verses 29-31:

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

These two blind men knew that Jesus was there. They couldn’t see Him, but they knew He was there from the crowds, and probably the commotion, that surrounded Him. 

In order to capture Jesus’ attention, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

They couldn’t see Jesus, but they knew that Jesus would see them if they could capture His attention so they yelled out for Him. 

As they are yelling Him, they are declaring Him “Son of David.” This title, Son of David, is used to indicate that they know that Jesus is the Messiah. The Messiah would be the Son of David. They knew that the Messiah would be able to help people, so they cried out to Him. They were saying, “We know you are the