Matthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up… The point of the answer sent by our Lord to John is usually thought to be the proof he was giving of his Divine power; he was opening the eyes of the blind; he was making the lame walk; he was cleansing the lepers; he was unstopping the ears of the deaf; he was raising the dead. Must he not, then, be the Messiah? Nicodemus properly argued, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a Teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." And yet it may be that this was not our Lord's precise point. Indeed, John knew all about these miracles, and it was because he could not make up his mind about them that he sent the inquiry. It may be that our Lord fixed the attention of the messengers on the kinds of persons for whom he was working, and the character of the work he was doing for them. And we can see that just this would be the most suggestive and helpful answer for John. It would show him that Jesus was Messiah in a spiritual sense. "It might seem, at first sight, as if the thing that would make fitting impression on John was the display of Divine power in these miracles of healing and restoration. It would seem as if John would be bound to argue that he must be Divine who could do such mighty works. But that is only the surface-teaching of the miracles. The prominent thing in our Lord's response is his pointing out who it is gets the benefit of his work; it is as if he had said, "See all you can, but be sure to notice and to tell John this - it is the blind who are being blessed; it is the lame, it is the lepers, it is the deaf, who are being blessed; it is the poor who are being savingly blessed." It is as if the Lord had said, "Be sure and point out to John the character of my work; that will be an all-sufficient answer to his question." Jesus worked for those who were sufferers because of sin. He came to be "God saving men from their sins." Jesus did not touch national disabilities, social struggles, class weaknesses, or political contentions; these things formed no sphere for him. Where sin had been, there he went. Where sin was, there he came. What sin had done, that he strove to remedy. So the suffering made for him a sphere. The ignorant, the poor, the perishing, were ready for his gospel. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. |
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