Stuck

In Luke 18, as we follow Jesus through the days of Luke's narrative, he finds himself going through Jericho.  As he and the crowds walk along they pass a blind man sitting by the road.  This man is doing the only thing he can to survive.  He's begging.  He's stuck.  There is nothing else he can do, no place else he can go.  

Like many of us he found himself with few options.  He was probably bitter and discouraged. He may have given up hope.  But he still had to eat, so there he sat with hat in hand, begging for mercy, a gift, a kindness.

When the crowd passes, something that I am sure rarely happened on that road, he asked what was happening.  When he was told Jesus was in the crowd the blind man begged for the one thing he needed most, God's mercy. 

He cried out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!" I'm sure, if we had heard it, it would have been a desperate cry for help.  The crowds told him to hush, be quiet, don't bother Jesus, but that only made him more desperate, "JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!" 

Jesus heard him, told the crowd to bring him forward and in this simple story we see the plea of each of our hearts....it's this-  Lord, see me.  See my needs. Listen to my prayer. Stop for a moment and help me.

In the midst of this encounter is a question that made me smile.  Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"  I'm sure Jesus was smiling too as he asked it.  The blind man blurted out, "I want to see!"  And in the moment that followed his blindness was gone.  The crowd, who only moments before had told him to hush, now welcomed him to their ranks as they followed Jesus together.

He was stuck.  He needed help.  The crowds took no pity on him, but he wasn't in need of pity, he needed mercy and so he cried out.  There is much more to say about the depth of this story, but for these thoughts I would invite you into this simple story as a blind man yourself, stuck on the side of the road, without hope and purpose.  Some might give you a little pity with a coin, but what you need is mercy and only one can give that.

Andre Crouch had a wonderful song with these lyrics, "Mercy's what we need, in times like these. Won't you have Mercy please?" If you find yourself stuck today maybe what you need most is a bit of God's sweet mercy.  All you have to do is ask.