[AI translation] Our story is about two blind men who, once on the road, probably begging, perhaps aware from a noise that Jesus was approaching, began to cry out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David" (Matthew 9:27). As if nothing had happened, Jesus went on his way, entering a house, but the two blind men, not wanting to miss the long-awaited opportunity, stumbled after him with great difficulty, groping, with the help of others, longing, hoping, excited, even blindly, to find Jesus. When the Lord sees the great striving of these two miserable men, "Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I can do this'" (v. 28). Let us pause here for a moment, for this is where the great tension in this story begins. Imagine ourselves in the situation of these blind men! Perhaps these people are blind from birth, they cannot imagine what it is to see, to see the sunshine, the meadow of flowers, the blue sky, the human soul reflected in the eyes that look at them, they can only imagine, as the opposite of the misery of blindness, that it must be something great: to see! A whole new world, hitherto hidden, would open up before them, if this eternal darkness were once dispelled, if their eyes were once opened! But what if they saw and now they don't? That's terrible too! And now, behold, someone stands before them and asks them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" Can you believe that what you thought was absolutely impossible, hopeless, impossible for you to see, I can do?It is not so easy to answer this with a sincere, heartfelt yes! Because common sense begins to protest, and says: it's all foolishness, I know it's impossible, that it can't be! Human reason and experience come forward and argue: since the world was made, such a thing has never happened to a blind man. Many have tried this, but no one has ever succeeded. Doubt rises, and he sighs: 'Don't stir up my imagination, don't colour my hopeless desires, for if I fail now, the more painful will be the next disappointment! All around me, people are curious, worried or already gloating: what will happen here, perhaps the failure of this Jesus will be revealed now! Do you feel the severe test that Jesus is putting these two blind men to with this question: 'Do you believe that I can do this'? A whole world outside and a whole world within is murmuring, proving, reasoning, inferring that it is impossible, madness, cannot be true - and yet the two blind men quietly answer, "Yes, Lord!" This is faith! This is "Yes, Lord!": this is true faith! Where common sense proves "No", where millennia of experience, the compelling force of external and internal circumstances all prove "No": there faith dares to say "Yes!"
And this faith, this faith that blindly says yes to Christ, can only accept the miracle. Jesus says to the two blind men, "Let it be to you according to your faith" (v. 29). And so it was, as they believed, what they believed happened to them, they received from Jesus a gift of such magnitude that what they could receive from him by faith became an experiential reality in their bodies, what had previously been a reality of faith in their souls. And here this order is very important: faith must come first, and only then can the miracle be experienced: so it is not faith that builds on the miracle, but the miracle on faith. No one should expect a divine miracle in his life if he cannot blindly believe. For faith is the reality of things hoped for, that is, the reality of things not yet fulfilled, but only hoped for - and the conviction of things not seen, that is, such certainty as the apprehension of things visible and tangible (cf. Hebrews 11:1). And only if first by faith has the thing become reality and conviction: then, only then, is it fulfilled and becomes visible reality! This is the meaning of Jesus' saying: 'Let it be to you according to your faith'!
Once, two good friends were invited to a deserted little plot of land near Lake Balaton, while picking peaches. The owner of the plot told them they could take as many as they wanted. One went with a small bag, the other with a huge basket with ears. When they saw the bountiful harvest, one of them was sorry he had been so modest and lazy. But, as he had brought few pots, he could take few home with him, and the other, with his basket well weighed, threw it over his shoulder and clasped it in his hand, almost crushed, but happily carried the blushing blessing home.
Somehow it is as if our faith is a vessel into which Jesus puts the blessings we ask Him for in prayer. Our Lord is an infinitely rich God, He has an inexhaustible abundance of blessings, and we ask Him for them. And He would love to give it, but He has nothing to put it in. So insignificantly small is our faith, this vessel we hold before us, that we can only take up and carry away with it tiny crumbs. That is why our lives are so poor in miracles. That is why such miracles do not happen today. Our faith can't take it. If we would dare to put more faith under the flood of heavenly powers, we could receive much more wonderful help and riches.
Let us not think that Jesus does not perform miracles today. Yes, He does now, but only where there is faith that can accept it, that can grasp it. Only we have become accustomed to believe. We, people today, are too grown up, too smart to believe blindly. We always calculate first, reason, weigh, weigh, strain, and if all this human operation makes the desired result probable, then we say that now we believe! Of course, nothing wonderful or divine ever happens in our lives after that. That's why our whole life is so materially bound, dry, barren, boring or tedious. For God's miraculous power to be poured out, there is always a prerequisite: what Jesus asked, "Do you believe that I can do it?" If so, may it be to you according to your faith!
Do you know what the greatest miracle is? The cross of Jesus Christ, the forgiving grace of his death, and the power of his blood to cleanse from sin. That the invisible Christ becomes as real, His living presence as convincing to a soul as any visible experiential reality. The indwelling of Christ in the heart of a man transforms his thinking, his feelings, his actions, his speech, his heart, so that he himself is astonished to see himself literally born again, changed, his whole being changed. You may call it conversion or revival or rebirth, but the point is that something wonderful, but a real, great inner transformation has taken place in man.
We hear so much about this miracle and why is it that it has not yet happened in reality in your life? Perhaps it is because you are always subjecting your mind and not your faith to the flood of the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ! You want to understand and not believe! And your mind does not fit in, because to speak of the cross is a stumbling block and foolishness to the human mind. For it does not even enter your mind that you, a decent, honest, good, serious man, are a sinner, living in damnation, and therefore dying in damnation without redemption - how then can you understand the great mystery of Christ's redemptive death? Try for once to put aside your reason, not to care that you do not understand the mystery of redemption - but simply to support what little faith you have, and you will see how God will fill you with the good news of salvation!
Think now of Christ crucified, hanging between heaven and earth on the cross: on the one hand, all earthly sin (and therefore your sin) was lifted up in Him to heaven; on the other hand, the full severity of God's wrath was brought down on Him and in Him all earthly sin (and therefore your sin) to earth. In His holy person, exalted between heaven and earth, divine justice has touched and judged human sin, including yours. Do you want to see Him, your Savior? Do you long to receive forgiveness of sin by free grace, for His merit? Do you long to be free at last from some cursed passion, from your sin, to be renewed in body and soul by the regenerating power of Christ? Do you want to be different from what you are now, more spiritually whole, more truthful, more honest, more pure, more holy?
'Well,' says Jesus, 'there is one great prerequisite for all this, and that is, do you believe that I can do it? So, do you believe that Jesus can do it, that the power of his death and resurrection can finally become a happy reality in your life? If you believe this, in spite of all the reasoning of your intellect, in spite of all your failed experiences so far: then the miracle has already happened to you! Do you dare to believe that Jesus loves you so much that he thought it worthwhile to take the condemnation for you, just to free you from it? Dare you believe that he has the power to forgive your sins, that he can give you a new heart, that he can fill you with his Holy Spirit?
Let us understand Jesus' question well! It does not sound like this: Do you believe that you can do it? It is not whether you feel in yourself enough strength to commit and live a Christ-following life, but he is asking: Dare you believe that I, Jesus Christ, to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, can do it? Dare you believe that you are redeemed? Only believe, but believe completely, believe now, now that Jesus is here? You will receive as much of His redeeming power as you draw from it now by faith. For it is true of you, now, in this too, that it may be to you according to your faith!
This greatest miracle is then followed by a series of further miracles in the believer's life. Whoever once dares to step on the invisible ground of faith, miracles will always happen in his life, things that cannot be understood or explained by human reasoning will become reality, not only in spiritual but also in physical, physical, material terms. Whoever has experienced the greatest miracle, the miracle of salvation, can then build his whole earthly life on the most solid, though invisible, foundation: the promises of God and prayer. For the redeemed man has a great patron, Jesus Christ, and a great capital, the immense riches of the Lord. The believer must take seriously that Jesus can do the impossible. The redeemed man is allowed, as in the previous parable, to carry a large basket to receive the Lord's wonderful help, and when he runs out of blessings, whether it be bread or clothing or any material or spiritual matter, he is always allowed to come again. The man who belongs to Christ dares to make the most mundane and material problem a matter of faith, and to ask the Lord in faith for the solution.
"Do you believe that I can do this?" asks Jesus now, and waits for the answer. If you want your eyes to be opened to see great, majestic, incomprehensible miracles, answer, "I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24).
Amen
Date: 4 July 1948.
Lesson
Mt 9,27-34