January 5, 2000
_Editor's note:
___Beginning with this issue, Bible study lessons will be printed one week in advance. For example, this week's lessons are for a week from Sunday—Jan. 16.
FAMILY BIBLE SERIES:
Genuine faith means obedience
whatever the job
___Matthew 9:18-38
___By Stacy Conner
___First Baptist Church, Muleshoe
___"Pssst! Do you want to know a secret?"
___"Sure!"
___"Now, you can't tell anyone. Okay? You can't even tell your best friend."
___A conversation like that one almost always leads to one thing. The secret will be spread. Something in our human nature propels us to pass along information that is not commonly held by everyone.
___In the later half of the ninth chapter of Matthew a series of miracle stories is retold.
___The first is the healing of a synagogue leader whose daughter has died. The leader bows before Jesus asking that he come and restore her life. As Jesus prepares to follow the ruler to his home, a woman suffering from a menstrual hemorrhage touches Jesus, hoping to be healed. Jesus affirms her faith, and she is healed. Jesus makes his way to the ruler's home and raises the synagogue leader's daughter from the dead.
___The third miracle story is one that captures my attention. Two blind men are following Jesus and calling out to him asking that he have mercy upon them. When Jesus enters a house, the two blind men follow him inside and answer Jesus' question of faith affirmatively. They are healed. But, from inside the house, where no one outside this trio has seen the healing, Jesus "warned them sternly," (30) not to tell anyone.
___Why?
___Is Jesus trying to keep his identity secret? Probably not. Jesus speaks to the synagogue ruler in public and enters this home in public. Jesus does not warn the woman to keep her healing private.
___On a more practical note, how can two men who were previously blind hide the fact they now have their vision restored?
___The admonition is not to tell anyone about the restoration of their sight, but how could they be expected to continue to act as if they were blind?
___This question should be examined through the lense of obedience, not the miraculous. For Matthew, the essence of discipleship is obedience to Jesus' word. The wise man is one who hears Jesus' words and puts them into practice (Matthew 7:24).
___Living out the Great Commission means the followers of Jesus would be obedient to the command of Jesus. That command is to go throughout the world making disciples in all nations.
___The two formerly blind men are representative of a people who call Jesus, "Lord" but do not follow his instruction. Jesus' command seemed illogical and impractical. But faith often means taking chances or risking the sensible.
___Genuine faith means following Christ and obeying his word wherever and whatever that may be.
___"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
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