he life of Christ is painted differently in each of the four gospels. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are arranged differently and each contains some material that is unique to the individual book. For example, the gospel of Luke is chronological (Luke 1:3-4), but the gospel of Matthew is arranged topically. By comparing Matthew to Luke and Mark, we discover that Matthew has grouped most of the events in a different order so that he could paint a unique picture of Jesus as the Messiah (Matt. 1:1). Forty-two percent of Matthew is unique and cannot be found in the other three books. The material that is unique to Mark, Luke, and John is 7 percent, 59 percent, and 92 percent, respectively. Any study of the life of Christ that focuses on only one book will miss a lot of information from the other gospels. Therefore, in this study series of the Life of Christ, we are harmonizing all of the gospels. That is, we are putting all of the accounts from the four gospels in chronological order so that we can gain a better understanding of the life of Christ. For example, in Matthew 12:22-45, we discovered that the Pharisees had accused Jesus of performing miracles and wonders by demonic power. In response, Jesus had warned them not to commit the unpardonable sin. Now if we reorder the accounts in Matthew, we discover that Matthew 9:27-34 actually occurs chronologically after Matthew 12:22-45 even though it appears earlier in the book. This is an important point. That is, Matthew 12:22-45 has already occurred before this study which is about Matthew 9:27-34.

Background. When the Pharisees had blasphemed claiming that Jesus was not performing His miracles and wonders by the Holy Spirit, Jesus rebuked them and warned them of the consequences. Later Jesus surprised the crowd by telling them that anyone who does the will of God is His mother, brother, or sister (Matt. 12:46-50). Jesus’ point was that those who are in opposition do not belong to God’s family. Those who believe will honor, respect, obey, and follow God. Then Jesus shared the kingdom parables (Matt. 13). After escaping the crowds, He calmed a sea storm in order to rescue the disciples (Matt. 8:23-27). Next, Jesus expelled “legions” of demons from two men (Matt. 8:28-34), healed a woman with a flow of blood, and raised Jairus’ daughter (Matt. 9:18-26).

On the pulpit of a great church, the Church of the Open Door, formerly located in downtown Los Angeles, California in the United States of America, there was a sign in the pulpit that preachers of the Christian faith saw when they approached to preach. The sign read, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” The message was that the congregation was not interested in “seeing” the speaker, nor were they interested in just an intellectual study of the Bible. That is also the goal of our studies. So far, we have seen Jesus in our studies. We have discovered God. He came and walked among us for a brief period of time. His name was Jesus and His actions proved His deity. This study is another glimpse of His majesty, grace, and power, and it occurred in the ancient city of Capernaum.

Two Blind Men. This study begins in the gospel of Matthew after Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead and left his home. We are told that two blind men started following Jesus when He left the house.

These men called Jesus “Son of David.” The expression was a Jewish term which referred to the Messiah. Earlier, Jesus had declared that He was the Messiah to the woman at the well.

The same message was communicated in a synagogue in Nazareth on a Sabbath morning (Luke 4:16-22). On that occasion, the people became angry because they did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus had quoted Isa. 6:2, a passage that spoke of the Messiah, and then told them that He was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Isaiah 35:5-6 also described the Messiah,

Jesus had quoted this passage to John the Baptist’s disciples as proof that He was the promised one - the Messiah (Matt. 11:5). Somehow these two blind men had discovered, knew, and believed that Jesus was their Messiah. They believed because of the testimony of others!