James and John Make a Request & A Blind Man's Sight Was Restored

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

January 8, 2020

James and John Make a Request & A Blind Man's Sight Was Restored

Page 206-207

Matthew 20:20-28, 29b-30;

Mark 10:35-45 

Luke 18:35-43

Jesus has been teaching his disciples about the principles of leadership from a Kingdom of God, servant-leader perspective. They still didn’t understand, as evidenced by James and John jockeying for a favored position. Just in case we are tempted to shake our heads at James and John and chastise them for being so crass, our text for today includes the story of Jesus healing the blind man.

The blind man called out, “Lord, Son of David,” a reverent Messianic title for Jesus. How did the crowd respond? The crowd told him to ‘Shut Up!’, but Jesus responded, “What do you want me to do for you?” The Gospel is asking us to choose which camp we will join:

Jesus’ camp of servants

(The sign over the camp says, “Lord, Son of David”),

or will we camp

with the crowd?

(The sign over this camp says, ‘Shut Up!’)

Whenever I am prone to put my needs, convenience, or desires ahead of others, I am shouting to the world that I am camping out with the “Shut Ups.”

We all have blind spots in our lives, places where we are still caught up in self-centeredness. The blind man believed Jesus was the Messiah; that’s why he called out to Jesus as Son of David. He knew Jesus could heal his condition. Jesus affirmed his faith, and the man left his blindness behind him as he followed Jesus to Jerusalem. We can do the same!

My Takeaway: Each day, our first step as a follower of Jesus begins with these words:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.