Become what you believe.

As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, “Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!” When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them,

“Do you really believe I can do this?”

They said, “Why, yes, Master!”

He touched their eyes and said, “Become what you believe.”

It happened.

They saw.

-Matthew 9:27-29

I have to tell you, I’ve never really thought about this passage very much. In fact, I’ve barely spent any time ruminating on it. Yet, as I read through the book of Matthew yet again, for the first time I’m drawn to this story in particular. Why?

Here, we have Jesus and His disciples travelling through His hometown. He’s been doing ministry all throughout the region, and right before we meet the two blind men, we see Jesus healing the woman with the issue of blood (vv. 18-22) and resurrecting the city official’s daughter (vv. 23-26) — both of these miracles are two of my most favorites, and they showcase Jesus’s heart and compassion for women especially.

Yet, right after these two healings, we see Jesus being followed by a couple of blind men. And they’re crying out to Jesus, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” A few things stand out to me:

1. Jesus LEFT the house He was staying in…and the men followed Him.

2. Jesus RETURNED to the house He was staying in… and the men followed Him.

These men followed Jesus relentlessly all day, crying for His intercession and healing.

But Jesus waited to heal them until He got back home. Why is that? And did Jesus interact with the men throughout the day, or did He ignore them?

Even more peculiar is Jesus’s question as He (finally?) acknowledges the two blind men: “Do you really think I can do this?”

These men are better than me. I would’ve been floored by this question. (“What do you mean ‘do I really believe you can do this?’ I’ve literally followed you ALL DAY begging for you to fix me! Why would I follow you if I didn’t think you could do it?!”

And yet, I wonder… maybe I have been these blind men. There have been times where I’ve certainly felt like I’m in the dark. I’ve certainly wandered, aimlessly, hoping Jesus will give me some sort of direction, something concrete to hold on to. And you know what? Jesus has kept me waiting. Waiting for a resolution, an answer, a path.

The men answer Jesus by affirming they believe He can heal them, and Jesus says something sort of weird; “Become what you believe.”

Maybe, in our darkest moments, in our wandering periods, in our places of deep disorientation, we may have faith Jesus will eventually show up, but it’s a desperate kind of hope, the kind that is wanting a way out of the darkness and the pain and the suffering. And instead of hoping Jesus can do something FOR me in the darkness, maybe Jesus wants me to believe He’s walking WITH me in the darkness. Maybe Jesus is letting me walk around blind so that I may become what I claim I believe: actually faithful. Because there’s a difference between faith that someone will do something for me, and faith in that person themselves. (Case in point: I put my faith in doctors’ abilities to treat my wounds, but I don’t actually know them well enough to have faith in them as individuals. Or, another example, I can have faith in my professors’ abilities to grade my work objectively as they’re professionals, but it’s hard to have faith in them, personally, because I don’t really know them on a personal level.)

Faith in someone depends on actually knowing them.

So maybe becoming what we believe entails not treating Jesus like a wish-granting genie, but like a friend who walks alongside us in our pain because we know, without a doubt, that He understands and is sympathetic to our hardships. Maybe, becoming what I believe means not just giving lip-service that I love Jesus, but in actually knowing Jesus personally and loving Him as a result of that personal relationship.

This begs the question: has the church fallen into the trap of wandering after Jesus, asking for Jesus to do stuff for us, without actually focusing on loving Jesus and recognising that He’s already walking with us? Have we become blind to the presence of Jesus in pursuit of what Jesus can do for us?

May we become what we believe: true friends of Christ, those who know Him and love Him and are known and loved by Him.