Matthew 20:29-21:17 – New Eyes and Old Evil

Here again, as we are moving into a new section of Matthew’s Gospel as seen through the lens of the Lord’s Prayer, is a brief outline of our study thus far. We have seen that,

• Matthew 1-2 details God’s hand in history helping us pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,”
• Matthew 3-7 introduces us to the kingdom of heaven helping us pray, “Your kingdom come,”
• Matthew 8-9 shows Jesus healing the sick and calling his disciples helping us pray, “Your will be done,”
• Matthew 10-14:12 introduces the twelve disciples preaching and healing helping us pray, “on earth as it is in heaven,”
• Matthew 14:13-17 show us the many ways the Father provides helping pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,”
• Matthew 18 emphasizes forgiveness helping us better pray, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,”
• And Matthew 19-20 reveals many temptations for which pray, “And lead us not into temptation.”

If you have even a basic knowledge of the Lord’s Prayer, you will know the next petition is “but deliver us from evil.” You may even, along with a great many people, have the notion that this petition is focused primarily upon Satan and his works, but I’m not so sure that is the best way to interpret this passage. While there are a number of translations that read “but deliver us from the evil one,” most translations read “but deliver us from evil.” The solution to this potential inconsistency is found in our grade school grammar lessons.

I must admit that I’m not the best at grammar, especially Greek grammar, but I have mostly learned the difference between a noun and an adjective, and in Matthew 6:14 poneros, the word under question here that means “evil,” is used as an adjective. This means that the word “evil” (poneros) in the petition “deliver us from evil,” is a description or an attribute rather than a specific entity as it would be if it were a noun. Poneros, as an adjective, has a range of meanings including the following: evil causing labor, toil, pain, or sorrow; malignant evil, such as what is morally or ethically evil; physical evil such as disease or loss of worth; moral evil such as wicked persons, or evil spirits (Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, pg 380). This definition doesn’t preclude poneros from including the devil or Satan, but they are only one part of a list of other evils, not the sole evil from which we are praying that the Father delivers us.

It may be helpful, before moving on any further, to clarify a subtle nuance to the definition of “evil.” If we take the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas together, we will find that evil is, generally speaking, something that is not the way it ought to be, whether physically or morally. For example, physical evil would be a broken natural state of affairs such as a fractured or cancer-filled bone, pandemics, tsunamis wiping out large populations, or the Pittsburgh Steelers. On the other hand, moral evil is a broken moral standard such as adultery, murder, lies, worshipping idols, or denying the truth of God’s Word. This definition, though elucidated by non-Biblical authors, seems to fit quite neatly and easily with the Biblical use of the word evil.

I realize the previous may seem like an unnecessary academic discussion, but knowing that evil is an adjective and knowing a general definition for the word provides some very practical ramifications for how we understand this petition of the Lord’s Prayer. If poneros was a noun, the primary focus of this petition would be Satan, but since poneros is an adjective, the focus shifts to a larger definition of evil regardless of its origins: whether from the material universe, from others, from ourselves, or from the Devil.

Thus, evil, rather than being some dark hooded creature with horns and a pitchfork, is much more part of our world than we might wish to admit. This certainly doesn’t mean that Satan isn’t part of evil and isn’t active in our world, he is, but it does mean that we need to pay attention to the evil that comes from places other than the prince of darkness. James helps us shift our eyes to a different source of evil when he wrote, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Jas. 1:14-15). The Greek word translated as desire is the word epithymia, which means an evil desire or lust. Satan may be actively tempting us, but evil comes from within each of us, not from him.

This should mean that when we pray “and deliver us from evil” we are praying for the Father to keep us from all sorts of evil: certainly, evil from Satan’s lies and deceit, but also evil arising from natural disasters, the evil residing within us, and evil arising from other people’s wickedness. Praying for the Father to keep us from dark and evil creatures lurking in the shadowy recesses of the forsaken parts of the earth is important, but such is not the primary intent of this petition. The more immediate meaning is, oddly enough, one we do not wish to admit: we need to be delivered from that evil residing in the human heart, whether our’s or another’s.

With most of the academic portion of the post now behind us, let’s move on to the next verses in Matthew. Matthew, as he has so often done before, begins this new section with reference to great crowds following Jesus and a miracle he performed (Matt. 4:25; 8:1; 14:14; 15:30; 19:2; 20:29). Matthew writes,

29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

Matthew 20:29-34

If you step back and look at the whole of Matthew’s Gospel you will see a pattern to the appearances of miracles. Matthew 8-9 have, depending on how you count them, between nine and twelve miracles lumped together, Matthew 14-17 places seven miracles closely together, but this miracle in Matthew 20 stands alone. We can either come to the conclusion that Jesus only did miracles at certain points in his ministry, diminishing their number as he got closer to his crucifixion, or we can draw the conclusion that Matthew organized them in such a way as to make a point. If we pay close attention to both the type of healing that occurred and some of the details of the miracle, we might be able to draw a reasonable conclusion.

First, this is not the only time Matthew records Jesus healing two blind men. If you recall, Jesus healed two blind men in Matthew 9:27-32, but in that episode, after Jesus told them not to tell anyone about it, they went away and “spread his fame through all the district.” I’m sure they were grateful for what Jesus had done for them, but the point to which we need to pay attention is the fact that they left Jesus. In the current miracle (Matt. 20) however, the blind men followed Jesus after they were healed. Following Jesus might seem like a natural response to being healed by Jesus, but according to Matthew’s Gospel, this is the first and only miracle where those who had been healed actually followed Jesus.

We should not overlook the possibility that the two blind men followed Jesus because there was already a crowd following Jesus into Jerusalem, but this does not mean there isn’t something more we can learn from their choice. The first healing of two blind men in Matthew 9 is in the middle of a series of episodes and discussions regarding what it means to follow Jesus (see posts for Matthew 8-9), but ironically those blind men did not follow him. It seems reasonable to say that if this miracle actually begins a new section of Matthew’s Gospel helping us better understand how to better pray “deliver us from evil” these two blind men are a model for those of us wanting to be protected from evil. Jesus can open our eyes to the surrounding world, but if we wish to have the sight to see evil lying in wait for us along the narrow and difficult path, we must continue to stay in the presence of our Lord. Jesus did not, thus, merely open their physical eyes, but he also opened their spiritual eyes.

Secondly, we should note that these two men cried out to Jesus a couple of times before Jesus recognized them. In every other miracle, save two, Jesus immediately responds to those requesting Jesus’s help. Oddly enough, the first exception to this is found in the previous miracle involving the two blind men; they called out to him in the street, but it wasn’t until Jesus was in a house that he actually acknowledged them (Matt. 9:27-28). The second exception involved the Canaanite woman who had to cry out a number of times before Jesus reluctantly spoke with her (Matt. 15:21-28). Thirdly, these men, like the Canaanite woman, were rebuked by others as they were trying to get Jesus’s attention (Matt. 15:23). And finally, these two blind men referred to Jesus as the Son of David, something only mentioned in two previous miracles: the healing of the two blind men (Matt. 9:27) and the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:22).

Given all of this, it seems possible that Matthew placed this episode of Jesus healing the two blind men here, with its similarities to the two previously mentioned miracles, for the purpose of telling Jesus’s followers about the need for persistence in praying this petition, “deliver us from evil.” Furthermore, I wonder if Matthew is also telling Jesus’s disciples that only Jesus, the Lord, the Son of David, and the promised Messiah, is able to open their eyes to both the physical and spiritual realities of the surrounding world. We have all followed in the footsteps of Eve who thought she could discover wisdom on her own by observing nature instead of listening to God (Gen. 3:6). We still think our observations, intuitions, and conclusions trump the truth, God’s revelations, and God’s Spirit; but when we rely on ourselves we are blind. Unless Jesus opens our eyes to the world surrounding us, we will most certainly draw the wrong conclusions and most certainly fall into the arms of evil. A case in point can be found in the very next passage where Matthew writes,

Matthew 21:1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5  “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Matthew 21:1-11

We are all most likely fairly familiar with this passage and the subtext underlying this passage. Jesus told his disciples to get a donkey and colt for him to ride as he entered Jerusalem. The crowds, like the blind men, heralded Jesus as the Son of David and threw their cloaks and some palm leaves on the ground as he rode the colt and donkey, signs from the Old Testament that a king was coming. Everyone knew Jesus’s name and everyone knew from where Jesus had come. Everyone expected him to come as a king. But everyone was wrong. The Israelites’ expectations did not line up with God’s revelations. The Israelites certainly knew Psalm 2 and were hoping for the coming Messiah to be a king ruling with a rod of iron (Psa. 2:9), but they apparently ignored Isaiah who told them the coming Messiah would be like a lamb led to slaughter (Isa. 53:7). But the full import of this mistake is not really seen until we read these next words of Matthew’s Gospel:

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

Matthew 21:12-13

The mistake the crowds made when they welcomed Jesus with palm leaves and cries of exultation was in thinking that the evil from which they were to be delivered was the evil of Roman rule. I understand their mistake because ever since they had returned from exile, Israel had been, with the exception of a few years under the Maccabees, a conquered nation. They read Psalm 2 and were expecting a king — the Messiah — to return them to a place of glory by conquering the evil rulers who had bound them. But the evil which Jesus came to conquer was not found in the palace but in the temple.

We don’t have to read very far into Judges or Samuel to know that since the first day Israel occupied the Promised Land, they strayed from God’s rule. This continued even throughout the time of the kings and the split kingdom: there were no kings in the north of whom it was said, “they did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” and only eight out of nineteen kings in the south we worthy of such a phrase. Israel’s history is filled with war, battling evil at the gates and often overcoming it, but the evil which they were not so adept at handling was the evil within, and this didn’t change much even after the exile. Ezra and Nehemiah may have started the ball rolling in the right direction when they rebuilt the temple and the walls and reinstated proper worship, but it wasn’t too long before Israel’s focus on the laws of God turned into a rigid structure ruled by pharisaical leaders interpreting the law in ways that benefited themselves, as you can see in the previous passage: the temple was no longer a place to meet God, rather it became a place to make money.

This may seem like an odd connection, but when I read of Jesus overturning the tables, I think of the following Old Testament passage,

10 And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, 11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

II Kings 21:10-15

Manasseh, of all the kings of Israel, was the only one to build altars to foreign gods in the actual Temple of God. Many kings rebuilt the high places, rebuilt altars to Baal, and built Asherah poles, some even offered their children as sacrifices, but it was the fact that Manasseh erected altars to foreign gods in the Temple that the God promised to wipe out the northern kingdom “as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.” Manasseh turned the temple from a place to meet the God of Israel to a place to worship foreign gods, and this same evil, in a very real sense, was happening during Jesus’s time. Jesus knew that the greatest evil in the land was not the Roman rule, it was that Israel had desecrated the temple of God. Jesus destroyed the god of commerce that had been erected in the true place of worship. Following his outburst, Matthew tells us that Jesus did what should have been going on in the Temple all along. Matthew writes,

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”

Matthew 21:14-16

After kicking out the money changers, Jesus began healing the blind and the lame, returning the Temple to its original purpose: a place of worship and healing. Jesus’s actions did not go unnoticed by the Pharisees who rebuked those who were calling Jesus the Son of David. They knew what such praise meant; they knew this was a claim that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But there is another group of people who noticed Jesus’s work and that is the children. The adults in this story seem to be conspicuously absent. The adults appeared as a crowd before he entered the Temple and overturned the tables, but the only adults appearing in this story afterward are those being healed and the indignant Pharisees. I wonder where the adults went. Perhaps there were adults in the temple with the children, but Matthew records neither their presence nor their praise.

Notice that Jesus, as he often does, defends the children against the adults. Remember that Jesus said unless we become like little children we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. It always seems to be the children who see the truth of the matter. Just as it was a child who saw that the emperor was naked, so also was it the children who recognized Jesus for who he is. Evil, as insidious and pervasive as it is, seems to simply not affect the children: they followed Jesus into the temple, they saw Jesus heal the lame and the blind, they knew Jesus for who he was, and they praised Jesus. If only we adults were more like children.

In what appears to be an anti-climatic conclusion to this episode, Matthew writes,

17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

Matthew 21:17

Instead of setting up a throne in Jerusalem, Jesus left the city and returned to Bethany. There doesn’t seem to be much ado from the crowds upon his exit. I wonder if many people followed him out of the city. I also wonder if the road was still strewn with palm branches. Jesus rode into the city on a colt and donkey while crowds cried out for a king, but Jesus walked out of the city knowing that even though he had opened the eyes of the two blind men the people were still blind with regard to his true purpose: the forgiveness of sin and the eradication of evil from our hearts

I don’t know what happened to the two blind men from the beginning of this chapter after they followed Jesus into Jerusalem. As part of the crowds hailing Jesus as the coming king, I wonder if they expected to see Jesus remove the Romans from power or if they had eyes to see Jesus’s real purpose. I wonder if they followed Jesus all the way to the temple and saw him overturning the tables of the money changers. If they had, I wonder if they, along with the little children, still called him the Son of David. They had their eyes opened, but did they really see? Did they see the true sources of evil in their world, or were they only focused on the evil residing somewhere out there doing something very bad?

Even though we have the benefit of seeing the entire picture of Jesus’s life and purpose, something the two blind men could not see, I wonder if we have eyes to see the real sources of evil. Have we asked Jesus to open our eyes to see the true evil in this world or are we relying on our own senses and intuitions? And even if we have, we must be vigilant and persistent in our prayer to the Father that he opens our eyes and that he delivers us from evil.

• Click HERE to go to the page containing all the posts for this study on The Lord’s Prayer and Matthew’s Gospel