Now what is he going to do? He has no job skills. He has no work history. He can't read. The only thing he's ever known was sitting around collecting disability. He's learned to live off the system. Now what? Who's gonna hire this guy? Minutes before he was sitting along side of the road to Jericho is his familiar spot blind and begging. Now, he can miraculously see.
You have to hand it to him, he was good at begging. Even though he couldn't see, he knew how to get peoples attention. Nothing was wrong with his lungs. According to text he could be loud and irritating. He must have learned that persistence pays off. He got Jesus' attention with his technique.
Jesus is walking along the road with His normal posse as He heads to Jericho. The blind beggar starts into his routine. The entourage's crowd control team, couldn't shut the guy up. He just got louder and more obnoxious. Now Jesus is used to people pressing Him and shouting at Him. But this guy is so pushy that Jesus finally stops and asks the man, what he wants.
The request was simple by the blind beggar. I want to see. Had he really thought this through? If he gets his sight back, he can't sit along the road anymore and beg. He'll be thrust into the work force with no background in work. Had he considered that? If Jesus does give him his sight, things are really going to change.
And just as requested, Jesus gave the man sight instantly. "Your faith has healed you," Jesus said. Okay, his faith healed him. But will his faith get him a job, a place to live, put food on the table? He can't go back to the old way of life. He's made such a big deal about his healing that everyone knows he's not blind anymore. He's got to step up to the plate. No more sympathy. No more mooching.
It takes faith to be healed. But it takes even greater faith to go forward from the healing. People cry out to God for healing, to be saved, and sincerely believe God can do that for them. The problem comes with what do I do now that I'm saved, that I've been delivered. A lot of people want to grab the sunglasses and cup and go back to the roadside. Can't go there. Not if you truly want to be healed.
The point of healing is to make your life better. You have to move on into a world that you've never experienced. You get your sight, you're expected to go to work. If you weren't planning on going forward, why ask for healing? Healing demands a new direction and higher expectations. God loves us just as we are. But once He's touches our lives, He doesn't expect us to stay that way. He wants us to grow and develop and become productive in the Kingdom of God.
My guess is that the blind beggar with no job experience or skill set would have made a good used camel salesman. His persistence gained him his sight. His experience in begging along the road, probably gave him a good insight into people. He couldn't read parchments, but he could read people. And he especially knew the person of Jesus. That encounter changed his life forever.
God, following you isn't easy. As you bring deliverance to us, you create new opportunities and challenges for us. I need challenged to grow. I need you constantly moving me forward. I want my faith not only to make me well, but to help me grow as a person being formed into the image of your son.
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