“And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Luke 18:38-39 (KJV)
There is something powerful about the cry of a person who has reached a place where they know that only Jesus can help them. This man had a situation that had become part of his identity. He was blind, he was sitting by the roadside, and every day he depended on what people were willing to give him. He could not change his situation by himself. He could not simply get up and walk into a better life. But on this particular day, something was different. Jesus was passing by.
Thinking about the song: What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear. Life does come with its own shares of joys, and pain, but one thing that remains constant is the Love of Christ, that never changes, that never leaves the room. It does not matter how far we drift away, He is ready to encompass us with His Love.
Scripture sets a scene of a man, that has been in a sickly situation and he gets to know that Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of the Living God is passing by and can get help. He had probably heard about Jesus before. He had heard the stories. He had heard what Jesus had done for others. Perhaps he had heard about the blind receiving their sight, the sick being healed, the broken being restored, and the hopeless finding hope. But hearing about Jesus and encountering Jesus are two different things. And now, Jesus was passing right where he was.
I am here to tell you, there’s no situation that is too hard for the Lord, nothing is too hard for Him.
The man could not see Jesus, but he could hear Him. He could not see the crowd, but he could hear the movement. He could not see where Jesus was, but somehow he recognized that his opportunity had arrived. And when he discovered that Jesus was passing by, he cried out, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Notice what he asked for. He did not begin by telling Jesus everything that had happened to him. He did not present a long explanation. He did not try to convince Jesus that he deserved a miracle. He simply cried for mercy.
“Son of David, have mercy on me.”
There are moments in life when our prayers become very simple. There are moments when we do not have the strength for long explanations.
There are moments when all we can say is, “Lord, have mercy on me.” And I want someone reading this to know that God hears even that prayer.
Sometimes all you have left is a cry.
Sometimes you have prayed every prayer you know how to pray. Sometimes you have exhausted your own strength. Sometimes you have tried every door, every option, every possible solution, and you have arrived at that place where you can only lift your voice and say, “Jesus, have mercy on me.”
And mercy means that God does not deal with us according to what our situation says we deserve. Mercy says that our failure is not greater than His grace. Mercy says that our weakness does not frighten Him. Mercy says that our past does not cancel our future. Mercy says that even when we have wandered far from Him, the door of His presence is still open.
But there was something else happening in this story. The people around him told him to be quiet. “And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace.” Isn’t that interesting? Jesus was coming closer, and the voices around him were telling him to become quieter.
There will be moments when you have to decide which voice you are going to listen to. The crowd said, “Be quiet.” His circumstances had already said, “You will remain this way.” His blindness had said, “You cannot see.” His position by the roadside had said, “This is where your life ends.”
But somewhere within him, faith said, “Jesus is passing by.”
And the Bible says that he cried so much the more. He did not become quieter because someone told him to stop. He became louder because he knew that Jesus was near. “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”
There are prayers you have to pray through the noise. There are prayers you have to keep praying when circumstances tell you nothing is changing. There are prayers you have to keep praying when people do not understand why you still have hope. There are prayers you have to keep praying because something within you knows that Jesus is still passing by.
Do not allow the voice of your circumstances to become louder than the voice of your faith.
The man knew something the crowd perhaps did not understand. If Jesus was passing by, this was not the moment to remain silent. And then Jesus stood still. What a powerful thought. The cry of a man who could not see Jesus caused Jesus to stop. The crowd was moving, Jesus was moving, life was moving, but Jesus stopped for one man’s cry. That is the heart of Christ.
He is not so busy that He cannot hear you. He is not so far away that your prayer cannot reach Him. He is not so occupied with the needs of others that He cannot attend to yours. The same Jesus who stopped for Bartimaeus still hears the cries of His children.
Perhaps you have been wondering whether God sees you. Perhaps you have been asking whether He remembers your situation. Perhaps you have prayed and waited and wondered why nothing seems to be changing.
Cry again. Pray again. Call upon the name of Jesus again.
Not because repetition forces God’s hand, but because faith refuses to surrender its confidence in God.
“Son of David, have mercy on me.” And Jesus asked him, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” Jesus knew what the man needed, yet He asked him to say it. There is something deeply personal about bringing our need before the Lord. Jesus wants us to come to Him. He wants us to speak to Him. He wants us to acknowledge our dependence upon Him. And the man said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” He knew what he wanted. He wanted to see. And Jesus said unto him, “Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.”
Immediately, he received his sight. The situation that had defined him for years was changed by an encounter with Jesus.
This is why I want to remind you today: Jesus is still Jesus.
The situation may be different, the world may be different, the circumstances may be different, but His power has not changed. His mercy has not changed. His love has not changed. His ability to restore has not changed. There is no situation that is too hard for the Lord. Nothing is too hard for Him.
And even when He does not answer in the way we expected, He remains God. His love remains constant. His presence remains faithful. His mercy remains available.
So today, wherever you are, whatever you are carrying, whatever has caused you to sit by the roadside of life and believe that this is where your story ends, I want you to hear this: Jesus is passing by.
Lift your voice. “Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Let that be your prayer. Let that be your cry. Let that be your declaration of faith.
You may not be able to see the answer yet, but you can still call upon the One who holds the answer. You may not know what tomorrow will bring, but you know who holds tomorrow. You may not understand what God is doing, but you can still trust who God is.
