According to Your Faith Text: Matthew 9:27-31
Introduction: The Collision of Two Darknesses
We live in a world that is going blind, and it is a blindness of its own choosing. Our secular, materialist age prides itself on its clear-sightedness, its rationality, its supposed enlightenment. But in reality, it is a world stumbling about in the dark, having deliberately put out its own eyes. They have rejected the light of nature, the light of conscience, and most importantly, the light of Scripture. And so they grope at midday as in the night, calling good evil and evil good, putting darkness for light and light for darkness. This is the spiritual blindness that the Apostle Paul speaks of, where the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4).
Into this profound spiritual darkness, the Gospel of Matthew shines a piercing light. And in our text today, we see a collision of two kinds of darkness. We have the physical darkness of two blind men, a tragic consequence of the fall. But more importantly, we see their condition as an icon, a living parable of the spiritual condition of every man outside of Christ. Their physical blindness is a picture of our natural spiritual blindness. But there is a crucial difference. These blind men knew they were blind. Our world does not. These blind men knew where to go for light. Our world insists it is the light.
This passage is therefore a story of radical confrontation. It is not a sentimental account of a kindly healer. It is a display of royal power. It is an invasion of the kingdom of light into the kingdom of darkness. And the hinge upon which the entire encounter turns is one word: faith. Not a vague, sentimental faith in faith itself, but a robust, doctrinally-grounded faith in the person and identity of Jesus Christ. What we see here is the fundamental pattern of salvation: the blind cry out to the King, the King questions their faith, and upon their confession, He grants them sight. This is the gospel in miniature.
The Text
And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
And when He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.”
And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows about this!”
But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.
(Matthew 9:27-31 LSB)
The Cry of Desperate Doctrine (v. 27)
The scene opens with an act of dogged, desperate pursuit.
"And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!'" (Matthew 9:27)
Notice first that they followed Him. This was no small feat for two blind men in a moving crowd. It speaks of a tenacity born of desperation. They were not passive; they were active. They were not waiting for Jesus to stumble over them; they were hunting Him down. This is an essential posture of true faith. It is not a lazy, take-it-or-leave-it affair. It is a holy desperation that says, "I must have Christ."
But their cry is the most significant part. It is packed with theology. They do not cry out, "Great healer, help us!" or "Miracle worker, notice us!" They cry, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" This is not just a cry for help; it is a creedal confession. The title "Son of David" was a well-understood Messianic title. It was a direct appeal to the covenant God made with King David, promising that a descendant would sit on his throne forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16). To call Jesus "Son of David" was to declare that He was the long-awaited King, the Messiah of Israel. These blind men, in their physical darkness, saw more clearly than the Pharisees in their robed hypocrisy. The spiritually blind religious leaders would later challenge Jesus on this very point, but these physically blind beggars get the doctrine right from the outset.
They also cry for mercy, not payment. They are not demanding their due. They are not claiming some inherent right to be healed. They understand their position before the King. They are beggars, not litigants. They are appealing to His grace, His covenant faithfulness, His royal prerogative to show favor. This is the grammar of all true prayer. We do not come to God with demands based on our performance; we come as beggars, pleading for mercy, on the basis of who He is.
The Searching Question (v. 28)
Jesus does not heal them on the street. He continues on and enters a house, and the blind men follow Him in. This tests their persistence. He is drawing them out, making them demonstrate the reality of their desire.
"And when He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord.'" (Matthew 9:28 LSB)
Once inside, away from the clamor of the crowd, Jesus asks the crucial question. He does not ask, "Do you want to see?" The answer to that is obvious. He asks, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" He presses them on the object and the nature of their faith. It is one thing to cry out a title in the street; it is another to confess it face to face. Jesus is not interested in shallow emotionalism. He is after a bedrock conviction in His personal power and authority.
He is asking, "Do you believe that I, the one standing before you, have the authority of the Messianic King to reverse the curse of the fall in your own bodies? Do you believe I have the power to do what only God can do?" This question pushes past a general belief in God's power to a specific trust in Jesus' power. Our faith must be personal. It must be particular. It must be faith in Christ.
Their answer is simple, direct, and profound: "Yes, Lord." The word "Lord" here is an affirmation of His sovereignty and deity. They have already confessed Him as the Messianic King ("Son of David"), and now they confess Him as sovereign Lord. This is the good confession. This is the foundation upon which the miracle will be built.
The Touch of Sovereign Grace (v. 29-30a)
Upon their confession, Jesus acts. His action is both a conduit and a confirmation of their faith.
"Then He touched their eyes, saying, 'It shall be done to you according to your faith.' And their eyes were opened." (Genesis 9:29-30a LSB)
Jesus touches them. This is significant. He could have healed them with a word from a distance, as He did with the centurion's servant. But here, the incarnate Lord makes physical contact. This is a picture of the intimacy of salvation. He does not save us from afar. He enters into our brokenness, into our mess, and touches us. He is not ashamed of our infirmity.
His words are astounding: "It shall be done to you according to your faith." Let us be very clear about what this means and what it does not mean. This is not a blank check, as the health-and-wealth charlatans would have you believe. This is not the power of positive thinking. Their faith was not the efficient cause of the miracle; Christ's power was. Their faith was the instrument, the channel, through which Christ's power flowed. Faith is the empty hand that receives the gift. It is not the gift itself. But Jesus honors the channel. He links the result directly to their belief to teach them, and us, that He operates in response to faith.
And the result is instantaneous and complete: "And their eyes were opened." The King has spoken, the curse is reversed, and light floods in. This is a creative act, a foretaste of the final restoration when all things will be made new. Every miracle is a trailer for the New Heavens and the New Earth.
The Strange Command and Joyful Disobedience (v. 30b-31)
What follows the miracle is, to our modern sensibilities, perplexing. Jesus issues a stern warning.
"And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, 'See that no one knows about this!' But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land." (Matthew 9:30b-31 LSB)
Why would Jesus command silence? Was He not interested in publicity? We must understand that Jesus was on a specific timetable, a divine mission that was to culminate at the cross in Jerusalem. He was not trying to start a political revolution based on His miracles. The crowds were fickle and had a worldly conception of the Messiah. They wanted a king who would throw off the Romans and bring material prosperity. Jesus' command was a strategic move to keep His true mission, which was spiritual and sacrificial, from being derailed by popular, political messianism. He was managing the revelation of His identity until the appointed time.
But the men, overwhelmed with a joy that we can scarcely imagine, disobeyed. They became the first evangelists in that region. Now, we must not praise their disobedience. Jesus' command was authoritative. But we can understand their impulse. When you have been delivered from a lifelong darkness, when the Son of David has personally touched you and brought you into the light, silence is not an easy option. Their disobedience was not born of rebellion, but of an irrepressible, overflowing gratitude. Their theology might have been weak on the point of Christ's timetable, but their doxology was strong.
Conclusion: From Blind Beggars to Sighted Sons
This story is our story. Every one of us, by nature, is born blind. We are spiritually sightless, unable to see the glory of God in the face of Christ. We are sitting by the roadside of life, begging for scraps of meaning and pleasure in a world of darkness.
But the gospel announces that the King is passing by. And like these men, we must cry out to Him. Our cry must be theological. We must know who He is: the Son of David, the promised King. And we must know who we are: beggars in need of mercy. We cannot appeal to our own goodness or our own efforts.
And when we cry out, He will stop. He will ask us the same question: "Do you believe that I am able to do this? Do you believe I can forgive your sins, break the power of your addictions, give you a new heart, and grant you eternal life?" And our only sane response is the one these men gave: "Yes, Lord."
When we make that good confession, He touches us. Through the power of His Spirit, He performs the great miracle of regeneration. He says to us, "According to your faith be it done to you," and our spiritual eyes are opened. For the first time, we see. We see the holiness of God, the ugliness of our sin, and the stunning beauty of our Savior. God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, shines in our hearts.
And once your eyes are opened, you cannot be silent. You may not always get the timing right, and your methods might sometimes be clumsy, but a heart that has been truly touched by the King cannot help but speak of His glory. We were blind, but now we see. And that is news worth spreading throughout all the land.