Matthew 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52, and Luke 18:35-43
And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. (Luke 18:43b) Two years ago we read these three passages on three consecutive days, and on the second day, Mark’s version, I commented on the crowd’s reaction to Bartimaeus begging Jesus to be healed. See the second link below. What I had not seen back then was the third day, Luke’s version, where the crowd had a third reaction beyond rebuke and encouragement – that they gave praise to God when they saw Bartimaeus healed. Their reaction is a bit short of the blind man (men?) immediately following Jesus, but nonetheless is a really positive response.
They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” (Matthew 20:33) In addition to “Your will be done”, maybe this quotation from the two blind men should be an additional part of our prayer response to decisions that need to be made. Yes, we want what God wants, but it’s more helpful for our faith if we can see His preferred outcome from His perspective. And even though we may not see His perspective at decision time, we need to continue to watch His outcome unfolding so that our eyes can be opened to His work. For example, let’s look at our last two U.S. presidential elections. Do we really believe Romans 13:1? Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Christians are divided between Trump and Biden support. Those who support Biden need to look backward from Trump’s victory in 2016 and his four years in office to see God’s will unfolding during that time. Likewise, Trump supporters need to look forward from Biden’s 2020 victory to see where God’s hand is on his administration. Neither side agrees with everything that their preferred “leader” has done or will do, but in the end God sees and allows both good and evil, and it’s His call, not ours, to mourn or to rejoice. Lord, let our eyes be opened.
See also: August 21 / Matt. 20:29-34; August 22 / Mark 10:46-52; August 23 / Luke 18:35-42