the perfect prayer

hey all, gotta keep this newly-revived blog moving so i shall post (:

Passage – Luke 18: 35 – 43

As He drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd go by, He inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Verses 35 – 38)

Years ago, I wrote lyrics to a song about the Lord’s prayer. The title was “The Perfect Prayer”, because Jesus Himself spoke it. But there is at least one other perfect prayer in the gospels. It is extremely short, containing just five words: “Son of David, have mercy.”

Once again, you must see the story with a first-century perspective. Everyone believed that the man was blind because he had sinned, and sinners do not deserve anything. When you understand this, you begin to see that the disciples were justified in trying to shut the man up. Jesus should not have had time for such people.

The blind man’s stubborn persistence in crying out to Jesus is what makes me love this man so much. I believe it’s why Jesus also seems to have been delighted with him. He sits there forsaken, in his own dark world, crying out for a gift he knows he doesn’t deserve. He cries out for mercy, for hesed. His cry is the perfect prayer, because it is the simplest request for what is most critical. It is a plaintive cry for a piece of God’s own heart.

Look at the end of Luke’s gospel. Jesus goes to Jerusalem. The cross is awaiting him there. Only one chapter before (17:11 – 19), we read the story of the 10 lepers. Their cry, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,” was almost identical to the blind man’s cry. Jesus had told the 10 to go and show themselves to the priests. While they were running back, they discovered they were healed. Only one, a Samaritan, turned and ran back to Jesus, “praising God”. Jesus told the lone leper exactly what he told the blind man, “Your faith has made you well” – the faith to ask for something he knew he did not deserve, believing in the nature of the One from whom he was asking.

Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem and the Passion. There on the cross He will perfectly demonstrate what the hesed of God looks like: that God so much longs to lavish his mercy on us that He will sacrifice His only Son, an unimaginable alternative.

To those of us who have a right to expect nothing, Jesus offers everything. The doorway to an infinite store of mercy can be opened by five simple words, “Son of David, have mercy.”

Responding - How have I experienced hesed this day?

Following - God longs to show you mercy if you call on Him.

- Michael Card, RBC Ministries

see you all tmr,
rebecca