Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, ‘Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!’ Jesus stood still and called them, saying, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, let our eyes be opened.’ Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.

- Matthew 20:29-34

As Jesus leaves Jericho, a large crowd is following him. And the cry is heard, a great shout - "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The great plea to the Lord goes out. But at this time, it's different from the plea we heard from two blind men earlier in Matthew's gospel. This time, among the Jews, Jesus is addressed as "Lord." My study bible note the two titles in this appeal, "Lord" and "Son of David." "Lord" is the common name for God. "Son of David," which we've heard before in this gospel, is a title connected to the expectation of the Messiah. As Jesus walks toward his Passion, this plea, phrased in this way, is a herald of the arrival of the messianic age. This is Jesus' last miracle before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we remember on Palm Sunday.

In the gospel of Mark, this story is known as the story of Bartimaeus the blind man. The story also appears in the book of Luke, only Jesus is approaching Jericho, rather than leaving. Here in Matthew, as in the earlier healing in the same gospel noted above, there are two blind men who cry out to Jesus as he is passing through Jericho. We recall the associations with Jericho, its naming as a point of reference for the Promised Land as told by God to Moses, and the return of the Israelites to the Promised Land when they were led by Moses' successor, Joshua. And then there's the famous story about how its walls came down with a shout.

So, armed with these associations with Jericho, we understand the "entry" into a long-expected messianic age as Jesus is in the final stage of his journey to Jerusalem. The great shout that brought down the walls for the Israelites under Joshua is replaced with a new cry for entry into a spiritual kingdom, a renewed and deepened promise: "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

As I have mentioned many times in these commentaries, nowhere is the phrase "Lord have mercy" more frequently encountered than in prayer and worship, both formal and personal. We pray for entry into this spiritual kingdom, as a way of establishing relationship with the Lord. We ask for what we want in this place of promise by using these words as petition. The words here in the original Greek for "have mercy on us" are those used in the liturgy still said from ancient times, ελεησον ημας. In Greek, the root for "mercy" (ελεος) is the same as the word for olive oil. In ancient times, this oil was the base for all healing balms, and in the fullness of our understanding of God's mercy we have to understand mercy ultimately as healing - as the antidote for whatever it is that ails us, for whatever we need spiritually, mentally, physically, on all levels of our existence. This is what we do when we pray for mercy.

In our story, the blind men sitting by the road call to Jesus with this cry for mercy. My study bible notes that Jesus knows beforehand what they want -- and what we want. Jesus uses the phrase that he does so often when encounters those who wish to ask something from him: "What do you want me to do for you?" As in the great shout by Joshua and his men, they are insistent, and shouting loudly - and ever louder as the crowds tell them to be quiet. They tell Jesus, "Lord, let our eyes be opened." And, we're told, "moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him." This passage teaches us about prayer, and our need to come to the Lord with our own specific prayer, and not to give up. But I also think there's a deeper and more important meaning here about what we pray for. We all pray to have our eyes opened to this promised land, this kingdom which can only be seen with spiritual sight. If anything is to be taken from this passage, it is that we must pray to have our eyes opened to this kingdom that we are promised, so that we know where we are and where we are going. We do not want to be as those whom Jesus called the blind led by the blind. So the next time you pray for mercy, or hear the phrase "Lord have mercy on us," remember the importance of praying that our eyes might be opened, praying for spiritual sight to see the things of the kingdom, and not to be a part of the blind leading the blind.

Jesus asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" For what do you pray, and insist, in prayer? What walls need to come down for you to realize a promise? Sometimes those walls are within us, that keep us from seeing what a promise is worth. What gift is worthy of this insistence?