Low Expectations

And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. Matthew 15:29-30.

This is one of those passages that we just skim over while we are reading. It is one of a few summaries of mass miracles that Jesus worked. It’s as if even Matthew has gotten a bit bored with the topic, but not quite. The summaries fit into larger contexts and serve to remind us of the fact that Jesus is the promised redeemer (see Isaiah 35, particularly verses 5 & 6, compare Matthew 11:7-15).

What strikes me about this particular summary is the fact that the crowds are surprised Jesus healed those who were brought to him (the multitude wondered). Presumably they brought him the lame, the blind, the mute (dumb), and the maimed for just such a result. It teaches us that faith is rarely found without a (large) share of doubt. The multitudes didn’t really trust Jesus to work genuine miracles. They probably thought he would give them some inspirational mumbo jumbo and sleight of hand and send them on their way. They were used to magicians and wonder workers, they were not used to him who caused the speechless to speak, who made the maimed whole, who caused the lame to leap for joy, and opened the eyes of the blind that they may see. Here was he who was sent by the God of Israel.

There are lessons here for us as well. As I mentioned above, it teaches us that our faith is often marred by a great deal of doubt. How many times does that lack of trust cause us to, as it were, stay home and not seek the Lord’s mercy. Think of your prayer life. We often struggle with prayer because we lack faith in the results. We don’t really believe that the Lord is interested in our burdens and struggles. Low expectations in prayer is an affront to the Lord’s liberality. If we don’t have faith, prayer will do us little good. We’ll never ask or seek, and so we will never find:

Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth: and he that seeketh findeth: and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:7-11.