Daily Devotional for Sunday, April 19
The Healing by Jesus
“And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me,” Luke 18:37, 38.
A blind man near Jericho heard the commotion of a crowd and asked what was going on. When the people told him it was Jesus passing by, the man excitedly cried out, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me!” (verse 38).
Three times in Luke, we find this phrase “have mercy.” The rich man in Luke 16 begged Abraham to have mercy on him and send Lazarus with a drop of water to cool his tongue. In life, Lazarus was too unclean for even his scraps, but torment changes one’s perspective. In Luke 17, ten lepers begged Jesus to have mercy on them, and He healed them. In Luke 18, the blind man called out the same thing: “have mercy!”
It is interesting to note the references to sight in the first two mercy pleas. “And in hell, [the rich man] lift up his eyes…and seeth Abraham afar off” (Luke 16:23). “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back” (Luke 17:15). They could see; the blind man could not. But his blindness did not stop him from calling out for mercy, too. As soon as he heard Jesus’ name, he called out to the Messiah—Son of David—twice.
These “have mercy” passages are great to read with Exodus 33 where God met with Moses in the Tabernacle and spoke to him face to face “as a man speaketh unto his friend” (verse 11). Moses found grace in His sight, and God knew him by name. His goodness passed before Moses, and He said, “[I] will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy,” (verse 19).
Jesus showed the blind man mercy, gave him his sight, and saved him because of his faith. He could see his Savior at last! He and all who saw it glorified God.
THOUGHT
“Mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:30).
Kelli Reynolds