AS JESUS was coming out of the house where he had raised to life the
young girl, two blind men met him; for the news of his return to
Capernaum had gone abroad, and these two men, eager to obtain their
sight, at once set out to find Jesus. They followed Jesus on the street,
crying out aloud:
"Have mercy on us, O Son of David!"
You know that Jesus came from the family of which David had been the
head long before. All the people looked for him, as sprung from David,
to take David's throne, and like David, become king over all the land.
The people who believed that Jesus was to be king often called him "Son
of David."
These two blind men followed Jesus, crying to him, until he went into
the house where he was staying, which may have been the house where
Simon Peter lived. The blind men came into the house after Jesus. He
said to them:
"Do you believe that I can do this which you desire?"
They answered him, "Yes, Lord, we believe that you can."
Then Jesus placed his hands upon their eyes, first on one man and then
on the other. As he touched their eyes, he said to them, "As you
believe, let it be done to you."
At once their eyes were opened and they could see. Jesus spoke to them
very strongly, and gave them special orders, saying, "See that nobody
knows of this."
He did not wish always to have crowds around seeking for miracles of
healing, for he felt that he had a greater work to do in preaching to
the souls of men than in curing their bodies. But these men went away
and told all whom they met what a wonderful thing Jesus had done for
them. It was not strange that they should speak of it, even though he
had forbidden them, for all who had known them before as blind men saw
the great change in their looks, now that they could see, and asked them
how it had come to pass; so that it was not easy to avoid telling people
about it. But wherever it was told, people who had any disease, or were
blind, or deaf and dumb, or lame, were filled with desire to find Jesus
and be made well.
Soon after these two men left Jesus, cured of their blindness, another
man was brought to Jesus. This was a dumb man, in whom lived an evil
spirit. Jesus always cast out the evil spirits, without waiting to be
asked, whenever he found them ruling over men. He spoke to this evil
spirit, and it left the man. Then all at once the man began to speak,
for it was the evil spirit in him that had made him dumb. All the people
wondered, and said to one another:
"Such power as this has never before been seen in the land of Israel!"
But the scribes and Pharisees, who were enemies of Jesus, said again, as
they had said before:
"This man casts out the evil spirits, because Satan, the prince of the
evil spirits, helps him."
Twelve Preachers Sent Out