As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging. Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv35, 39 Christ showeth by a visible miracle, that he is…
Christ showeth by a visible miracle, that he is the light of the world.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv35–36 35 And it came to pass, that as he…
35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:
Ver. 35. See Mat 20:29; Mar 10:46.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv35–36 This blind man was Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,…
This blind man was Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, as Mark tells us, Mar 10:46. Matthew mentions two, the other two evangelists but one, as being more famous, either upon his own or his father’s account.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v35 This chapter concludes with the recital of a famous…
This chapter concludes with the recital of a famous miracle wrought by our Saviour upon a blind man, whom St. Mark calls Bartimeus.
Where we have observable, 1. The blind man’s faith in acknowledging Christ to be the Messiah; for so much the title of Son of David did import.
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Observe, 2. His fervency as well as his faith: he cried to Christ for the mercy of of healing, Have mercy on me, thou Son of David. A true sense of want, either bodily or spiritual, will cause a soul to cry of Christ with earnestness and importunity.
Observe, 3. The great compassion and condescension of Christ towards this blind man : He stood still, he called him, and enlightened his eyes.
Observe, 4. Before Christ would restore the blind man to sight, he must sensibly complain of the want of sight, and cry unto him for it. Christ knows all his creatures’ wants, but takes no notice of them, till they make them known to him by prayer.
Observe, 5. How much Christ magnifies faith, what he attributes to it, and how he rewards the least exercise of it: Jesus said, thy faith hath saved thee. Christ himself was the efficient cause of the blind man’s healing, but he exerted his divine power upon the exercise of the blind man’s faith; and accordingly says, Thy faith hath saved thee.
Note, 6. In what way and manner the blind man does express his thankfulness to Christ for his recovered sight: He followed him, glorifiying God. Mercy received from Christ is then well improved when it engages us to follow Christ; this should be the effect of all salvations wrought for us. He praises God best, that serves him most. The life of thankfulness consists in the thankfulness of the life.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v35 Christ came not only to bring light to a…
Christ came not only to bring light to a dark world, and so to set before us the objects we are to have in view, but also to give sight to blind souls, and by healing the organ to enable them to view those objects. As a token of this, he cured many of their bodily blindness: we have now an account of one to whom he gave sight near Jericho. Mark gives us an account of one, and names him, whom he cured as he went out of Jericho, Mar 10:46. Matthew speaks of two whom he cured as they departed from Jericho, Mat 20:30. Luke says it was en tō engizein auton - when he was near to Jericho, which might be when he was going out of it as well as when he was coming into it. Observe,
I. This poor blind man sat by the wayside, begging, Luk 18:35. It seems, he was not only blind, but poor, had nothing to subsist on, nor any relations to maintain him; the fitter emblem of the world of mankind which Christ came to heal and save; they are therefore wretched and miserable, for they are both poor and blind, Rev 3:17. He sat begging, for he was blind, and could not work for his living. Note, Those ought to be relieved by charity whom the providence of God has any way disabled to get their own bread. Such objects of charity by the way-side ought not to be overlooked by us. Christ here cast a favourable eye upon a common beggar, and, though there are cheats among such, yet they must not therefore be all thought such.
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II. Hearing the noise of a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant, Luk 18:36. This we had not before. It teaches us that it is good to be inquisitive, and that those who are so some time or other find the benefit of it. Those who want their sight should make so much the better use of their hearing, and, when they cannot see with their own eyes, should, by asking questions, make use of other people's eyes. So this blind man did, and by that means came to understand that Jesus of Nazareth passed by, Luk 18:37. It is good being in Christ's way; and, when we have an opportunity of applying ourselves to him, not to let it slip.
III. His prayer has in it a great deal both of faith and fervency: Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me, Luk 18:38. He owns Christ to be the Son of David, the Messiah promised; he believes him to be Jesus, a Saviour; he believes he is able to help and succour him, and earnestly begs his favour: "Have mercy on me, pardon my sin, pity my misery." Christ is a merciful king; those that apply themselves to him as the Son of David shall find him so, and ask enough for themselves when they pray, Have mercy on us; for Christ's mercy includes all.
IV. Those who are in good earnest for Christ's favours and blessings will not be put by from the pursuit of them, though they meet with opposition and rebuke. They who went along chid him as troublesome to the Master, noisy and impertinent, and bade him hold his peace; but he went on with his petition, nay, the check given him was but as a dam to a full stream, which makes it swell so much the more; he cried the louder, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Those who would speed in prayer must be importunate in prayer. This history, in the close of the chapter, intimates the same thing with the parable in the beginning of the chapter, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.
V. Christ encourages poor beggars, whom men frown upon, and invites them to come to him, and is ready to entertain them, and bid them welcome: He commanded him to be brought to him. Note, Christ has more tenderness and compassion for distressed supplicants than any of his followers have. Though Christ was upon his journey, yet he stopped and stood, and commanded him to be brought to him. Those who had checked him must now lend him their hands to lead him to Christ.
VI. Though Christ knows all our wants, he will know them from us (Luk 18:41): What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? By spreading our case before God, with a particular representation of our wants and burdens, we teach ourselves to value the mercy we are in pursuit of; and it is necessary that we should, else we are not fit to receive it. This man poured out his soul before Christ, when he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. Thus particular should we be in prayer, upon particular occasions.
VII. The prayer of faith, guided by Christ's encouraging promises, and grounded on them, shall not be in vain; nay, it shall not only receive an answer of peace, but of honour (Luk 18:42); Christ said, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. True faith will produce fervency in prayer, and both together will fetch in abundance of the fruits of Christ's favour; and they are then doubly comfortable when they come in that way, when we are saved by faith.
VIII. The grace of Christ ought to be thankfully acknowledged, to the glory of God, Luk 18:43. 1. The poor beggar himself, that had his sight restored, followed Christ, glorifying God. Christ made it his business to glorify his Father; and those whom he healed pleased him best when they praised God, as those shall please God best who praise Christ and do him honour; for, in confessing that he is Lord, we give glory to God the Father. It is for the glory of God if we follow Christ, as those will do whose eyes are opened. 2. The people that saw it could not forbear giving praise to God, who had given such power to the Son of Man, and by him had conferred such favours on the sons of men. Note, We must give praise to God for his mercies to others as well as for mercies to ourselves.
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv35–41 And hearing the multitude pass by,.... Their "voice", as…
And hearing the multitude pass by,.... Their "voice", as the Syriac version expresses it; the noise of their feet, and especially of their tongues;
he asked what it meant? what was the meaning of this concourse of people, and of this clamorous noise; or, as the Syriac version reads, "who it should be?" what person of note was passing by, that there was such a multitude after him? to which the answer best agrees.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v35 Matt. xx, 29; Mark x, 46.
Matt. xx, 29; Mark x, 46.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv35, 40 Verse 35. A certain blind man] Bartimeus. See this…
Verse 35. A certain blind man] Bartimeus. See this transaction explained at large, on Mt 20:29-34, and Mr 10:46, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v35 Luk 18:35-43. A certain blind man, &c. — Of…
Luk 18:35-43. A certain blind man, &c. — Of the miracle here recorded, see on Mat 20:29-34; Mar 10:46-52.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v35 See this passage explained in the notes at Mat…
See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 20:29-34.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v35 This blind man is, according to some interpreters, different…
This blind man is, according to some interpreters, different from the other two whom Jesus Christ cured as he was going out of Jericho. (Bible de Vence) --- See Matthew xx. 29. and Mark x. 46. et dein.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv38–41 BLIND MAN HEALED. (Luk 18:35-43)
BLIND MAN HEALED. (Luk 18:35-43)
son of David, &c.--(See on Mat 12:23).
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Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v35 § 108. JESUS RESTORES SIGHT TO THE BLIND NEAR…
§ 108. JESUS RESTORES SIGHT TO THE BLIND NEAR JERICHO, Luk_18:35-43.
See notes on Mat_20:29-34; Mar_10:46-52.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 35-43. Bartimaeus healed at Jericho.
35-43. Bartimaeus healed at Jericho.
35. as he was come nigh unto Jericho] This would be a week before our Lord’s death—on the evening of Thursday, Nisan 7, or the morning of Friday, Nisan 8. St Mark (Mar_10:46) and St Matthew (Mat_20:29) say that this miracle took place as He was leaving Jericho. With simple and truthful writers like the Evangelists, we may feel sure that some good reason underlies the obvious apparent discrepancy which would however in any case be unimportant. Possibly it may arise from the two Jerichos—the old town on the ancient site, and the new semi-Herodian town which had sprung up at a little distance from it. And, as Chrysostom says, such discrepancies have their own value as a marked proof of the mutual independence of the Evangelists.
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a certain blind man] St Matthew (Mat_20:30), as in the case of the Gadarene demoniac, mentions two blind men; and in any case a blind man would hardly have been sitting quite alone. The name of Bartimaeus is only preserved by St Mark.
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 39, 41, 42 (35) As he was come nigh unto Jericho.—Better, as…
(35) As he was come nigh unto Jericho.—Better, as He was coming nigh. See Notes on Mat_20:29-34; Mar_10:46-52. St. Luke, for some reason, passes over the ambitious request of the sons of Zebedee. He agrees with St. Mark, and not with St. Matthew, as to there being one blind man, and as to the miracle being wrought on the approach to Jericho, not on the departure from it.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 And it came to pass; that as he was…
And it came to pass; that as he was come nigh unto Jericho. Jericho was once called "the City of Palms," afterwards "the City of Perfumes." It was about eighteen miles from Jerusalem. In the Herodian times it became a popular resort, owing to the affection the great Herod entertained for it. Its palm-groves and balsam-gardens were a present from Antony to Cleopatra. Herod the Great bought them from her, and made it one of his royal cities, and adorned it with many stately buildings, and eventually died there, it is now a miserable village. A certain blind man sat by the wayside begging. An apparent discrepancy exists in the three accounts given of this act of our Lord. St. Luke speaks of one blind man who was healed as our Lord was entering the town. St. Matthew and St. Mark mention that the miracle took place as our Lord was leaving the place, and St. Matthew mentions that two blind men received their sight at the bidding of Jesus. Several solutions of this little difficulty have been proposed. Perhaps the most probable is that the sufferers were sitting near the town gates as the Lord entered. They, hearing who was passing by, eagerly called to him for help. Surrounded by the crowd, he probably did not hear the cry, or possibly wished to test the earnestness of their faith by allowing them to wait. They follow him through the place, and in the open space outside the city they attract his attention, and he heals them. Or, in the words of Dr. Morrison, "the case seems to have begun as he entered into the city, but it culminated in all likelihood as he departed." A later explanation, apparently preferred by Godet and Farrar, is that, as Josephus and Eusebius distinguish between the old and the new Jericho the old town on the ancient site, and the new Herodian town which had sprung up at a little distance from it the blind man might, according to some traditions, have been healed as Jesus was leaving old Jericho; according to others, as he was entering the new town. The fact of St. Mark and Luke only mentioning one blind man is easily explained. There was one evidently (as we shall suggest further on), a well-known character in Christian story Bartimaeus. Two of the evangelists recorded his cure, as being of special interest to the Church, leaving the second among the numberless unrecorded miracles of healing of Jesus. A certain blind man. St. Mark names him Bartimaeus. It may be inferred that, as St. Mark specially names him, this man was well known in early Christian story. We know that after the cure he joined the company as one of the followers of Jesus.
Vers. 35-43. Bartimaeus.
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Here are two noises suggestive of the human life with which we are all familiar. There is the tramp, tramp, tramp, of the swaying multitude, the din of the many minds, many experiences, many mouths, all moving in obedience to a common impulse. Men and women, when they become mere units of a crowd, forget for the time their personal histories, They are swept on by the current, sharing and adding to its excitement. There is nothing more unaccountable sometimes than the impulses which are communicated from person to person, and pass by infection to the multitude. Different days have their different idols. Those who are shouting themselves hoarse with their hosannahs at Jericho will shout themselves hoarse with the cry, "Away with him! Crucify him!" at Jerusalem. Oh, fickle popularity! The Lord knew what the applause of the crowd was worth. The children crying in the temple were far more to him than the loud voice and the tremendous enthusiasm of the thousands who had swelled the triumph of the entry into the city of David. But through that tumult, in the midst of that noise, there is another that which always reaches the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Only one voice, at most two voices, shrill and clamorous the voice of misery and want and prayer! Had he not heard that same voice in highest heaven? Had it not pierced through the praises of angel and archangel, of cherubim and seraphim the cry of a sinful and weary world? A little one only in the system of the universe, but the least in need has a special way of access to the Eternal Love. Far off the great Shepherd hears the bleat of the sheep that has strayed into the wilderness. He who heard the sigh of the world from the excellent glory will not turn from the piteous pleading of the poor and needy. God"s tenderness individualizes. "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
I REGARD THIS POOR MAN. Perhaps we shall realize that he is our near kinsman.
1. He has been sitting by the wayside begging. And what are we all but beggars at the world"s wayside? Even the mind most richly endowed, the heart most wealthy in love and imagination, needs "the life more and fuller." Is there no begging from heaven? no consciousness of a fountain of living waters? This Bartimaeus, taking his place day by day on the thoroughfare and asking an alms, is only too faithful a picture of me, wanting, desiring, and, alas! too often trying to satisfy my soul with some dole of happiness or excitement thrown to me a beggar all the while, blind.
2. What is this? An unusual bustle and din. What does it mean? We can imagine the question addressed, with only a languid interest, to some person at hand a languor which vanishes when the answer is given, "It is Jesus of Nazareth who is passing by." Ah! the newness of cry, sign of newness of life! What and how he had heard of this Jesus we know not; but he had heard enough to open the gates of the soul. The one argument is need, the one reasoning, "I am here; he is there. Son of David, have mercy on me!" It is the great hour of a human life when speech is begun between the soul and heaven. Such speech arrests the love of God in the way. "We enter heaven by prayer.
3. Those around bid the one who cries hold his local. So speak the many to the one in earnest. Notice how often in the Gospels the disciples are represented as keeping back from Christ instead of helping to him (see ver. 15). They did not know the heart of God. And men do not know it still. There is often a "send away" in the minds of even the well-disposed. Earnestness meets discouragements where it leasts expects them. Cry on, thou who hast felt the breath of the passing Saviour. If those about thee are unsympathetic, throw thyself the more on thy Lord; the more they protest, cry thou the more, "Son of God, they will not take me up. Father and mother even forsake me. Thou, thou only art my hope. Make no tarrying, O my God.
II THINK OF THE SAVIOUR, IN WHOM THE LIVING GOD IS REVEALED.
1. There is the Christ-commandment. "Bring him hither to me." It is the commandment to an often misunderstanding and misinterpreting Church. Christ has much to bear at the hand of the world; he has much also to bear at the hand of his Church. How frequently those who are his repel rather than attract, send away rather than bring! "Bring there. is no gainsaying this charge. Instantly the tone of the multitude changes. Now it is, "Rise, be of good comfort; he calleth thee." And what alacrity in the Bartimaeus-obedience! The old tattered garment connected with the past time of, it may have been, a sinful life is thrown away. There is no stopping to inquire how the blind can reach that blessed presence. He has called. In the call there is the pledge of a sufficient grace. O mirror of Divine condescension! O word, preparing for work, of power! "The blind, the poor, bring to me!
2. There is the Christ-question. "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?" The question is put when the presence is reached. The presence is the help to the answer. Now, the great underlying want is expressed, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." Is it not the prayer of the human heart when the quickening presence of God is realized? It is to prepare for the revelation that the will is gently besieged. He cannot force; he can only draw. Stooping to thee, the person thou art, and as thou art, the word of grace and truth is, "What wilt thou?
3. And then the Christ-action. "He touched the eyes," says St. Matthew, "Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee," says St. Luke. His faith had been a trust in the dark. He could not make the light, but he could call for it. And he had called, he had pressed to Christ, awfully in earnest, unboundedly confident. The faith saved through what it did. It brought him to the Lord; and that is salvation. The first use of the new sight was to behold the Deliverer. The first face that wrote its image in the heart was the face of God in Christ. Saved, whole, because that face was formed in the heart of hearts, never more to fade from it. "I was blind; now I see." "Go thy way," says the Lord. "Nay, dearest Master, where thou goest I will go. Where thou dwellest I will dwell. Thy way is mine. Mine the new song which thou hast given. Thou hast touched my eyes"And in that light of life I"ll walk Till travelling days are done.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v35 A certain blind man sat by the wayside
Luk_18:35-43
A certain blind man sat by the wayside
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The blind mans pertinacity and cure
This teaches us--
I.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE IMMEDIATE SEIZING OF OPPORTUNITIES.
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PERTINACITY, IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE SOUL.
III. THE ROOT OF THIS PROMPTNESS OF ACTION--OF THIS UNDAUNTED PERTINACITY--WAS FAITH.
IV. THE RESTORED SIGHT IS USED IN FOLLOWING CHRIST, AND IN GLORIFYING GOD. (Anon.)
Blind Bartimeus
I. HINDRANCES WHICH BESET US IN COMING TO CHRIST FOR MERCY.
1. Our own blindness.
2. Impediments that others cast in the way.
II. ACTIONS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR OUR COMING TO CHRIST.
1. Jesus stood still.
2. On Jesus showing Himself favourable, then at once did multitude.
3. In eagerness to go to Jesus, man left garment behind (Mar_10:50). Must cast off custom and habit of sin. Then, going to the Saviour will be easy, and prayer will be heard and answered.
III. BLESSING RECEIVED; EFFECT PRODUCED.
1. What the poor man willed, the Lord granted.
2. A new follower.
Application:
1. Let no worldly hindrances debar from Christ.
2. Many encouragements to go. Go.
3. Having gone, truly, wholly--surely follow Him.
(Clergymans Magazine.)
The souls crisis
I. Now, looking stedfastly that this may be the case, I wish to speak very pointedly to you about two or three things. First, when Jesus passed by the blind man it was to that man A DAY OF HOPE. It was an hour of hope to that blind man, and if Jesus passes by now this is an hour of hope to you. But, does He pass by? I answer--Yes. There are different respects in which this may be interpreted of our Lords conduct. In a certain sense He has been passing by some of you ever since you began to discern right from wrong. More especially is is a time of Christs passing by when the gospel is preached with power.
II. Secondly, as it was a time of hope to that poor blind man, so was it especially A TIME OF ACTIVITY. You that anxiously desire salvation, regard attentively these words. A man cannot be saved by what he does; salvation is in Christ, yet no man is saved except as he seeks earnestly after Christ.
1. This man listened attentively.
2. He inquired with eagerness what it meant.
3. When this man had asked the question, and had been told in reply that Jesus of Nazareth passed by, notice what he did next, he began to pray. His cry was a prayer, and his prayer was a cry.
4. After this man had thus pleaded, it is noteworthy that Jesus stood still and called him. That much-prized, though all patched and filthy garment, he threw right away; it might have made him a minute or two slower, so off he threw it, and away he flung it. Ah! and it is a great mercy when a poor soul feels that it can throw away anything and everything to get to Christ.
5. Once more. When this man had come to Jesus, and Jesus said to him, What wilt thou that 1 should do unto thee? the man returned a straightforward and intelligent answer, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
6. Still, I cannot withhold one other remark. That which really brought salvation to this blind man was his faith, for Christ says, Thy faith hath saved thee. Now, here is the greatest point of all--faith! Faith; for work without faith is of little worth. Faith is the great saving grace; it is the real life-germ.
III. It was also AN HOUR OF CRISIS.
IV. Lastly, remember that this hour of Jesus passing by is AN HOUR THAT WILL SOON BE GONE. Did you notice that word, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The passing Christ recognized
As people do not recognize that Christ passeth near to them when they are in health, even so they do not see as they ought His hand in their sickness. An invalid lamented to a lady who came to see her, that she had abused her health before it was taken from her. The friend replied, I hope that now you will take care not to abuse your sickness. Assuredly we abuse our sickness when we do not see the hand of God in it, and do not allow Jesus of Nazareth, who passeth by our bed, to bring us nearer to Himself. (E. J. Hardy, M. A.)
Enthusiasm rebuked
Blind Bartimeus has to encounter obstructionists; the unsympathizing crowd interfered to silence the man. Hold thy peace, Bartimeus; have done with all this frenzied excitement; Christ has other things to do than listen to thee! So long ago was it a settled matter that a man may get excited about anything in the wide world except about Christ! You are quite at liberty to get excited about the latest war news, about politics, about the race-course, about the money-market, about anything you like, save the interests of your soul. Yes; these highly respect able people of eighteen hundred years ago have left a numerous progeny. There are always plenty of persons ready to give good advice to seeking souls, or to young Christians, after this fashion: Keep quiet, my friend; dont get excited; hush! dont make a noise about such things; whatever you do, keep calm, and dont make a fuss. I observe that the devil has his own fire-brigade, who are always ready with their hose--waiting to throw cold water on any little flame that the Holy Spirit kindles, and to offer sedatives to any startled sinner who is beginning to be in earnest about his soul. These excellent people will tell you that it is all right and proper to be religious, to be earnest up to a certain point, but you must be careful not to go beyond this. When you come to inquire what this point is, you make the astonishing discovery that it is just the point at which religion begins to do one any real good! Be earnest, so long as your earnestness does not bring you salvation; be pious, so long as your piety fails to reveal the living God to your heart; but be sure and stop short of receiving Gods gift of everlasting life, or you will be going too far! (W. M. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
The blind sister
A year ago last winter an affecting scene occurred in the streets of Baltimore. Two little sisters were looking through a large store window at the toys within, and trying to describe what they saw to a little blind sister who was with them. They were exhausting their feeble powers of description to bring home to the mind of their blind companion what they saw, although she listened greedily. But, after all, they failed to present anything more than an imperfect representation. The gentleman who saw the circumstance said that it was extremely touching, that they tried hard to describe the collection in the store, but they could not do it. That is just like our trying to tell you of Christ.
Opening the eyes of faith
By merely opening my eyes all the glories of light burst upon me. I take in at a glance the human face or the stretch of magnificent scenery. I gaze across the vast ocean, or, looking up through the night, I grasp millions of worlds and embrace infinitude. What an amazing result from merely opening the eyes and looking up! How often, too, a single incident, the meeting of a particular friend or the encountering of some difficulty or danger, or the gaining of a little information, colours the whole of a mans subsequent life--indeed, gives him an entirely different direction and turn. His whole attitude is altered by what occupied but a moment. It is, then, quite in accordance with Gods arrangement and mans world that great things should depend on very simple matters. And the belief that Jesus is the Son of God, though a simple thing, though not a complex, laborious, lengthened operation, is yet the very act most fitted to open the soul for God. It is not labour that is required for the reception of God. It is the feeling of emptiness, and desire to receive. It is trust in God, the belief in His great love. No labour will enable a man to behold the light of the sun or the multitude of the stars, but opening his eyes will. Opening the eyes to Gods great love in Christ, receiving that marvellous display of Gods inmost heart, that opens the heart, that brings into true accord with God, that gives a wholly different outlook on the world, that alters a mans entire attitude. (J. Leckie, D. D.)
The cure of blind Bartimeus
Let us therefore review THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE HISTORY BEFORE US--arid endeavour to derive SOME USEFUL ADMONITIONS FROM IT. One of the characters of our Saviours miracles was publicity. Impostors require secrecy and darkness. Thus He recovered this man before a multitude in the highway, and close to the city of Jericho. Several of our Saviours miracles seem to have been unintentional. Thus it is said, As He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men, that were lepers, who stood afar off. Thus again we read, that when He came nigh to the gate of the city of Nain, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And so here: It came to pass, that as He was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging. You may ask then, Was His finding these objects accidental or designed? Unquestionably, designed. He was not taken by surprise. He saw the end from the beginning. His plan was formed; and He was working all things after the counsel of His own will. Our Saviour is acquainted with all our sins, but He requires us to confess them; He understands all our wants, but He commands us to acknowledge them; He is always graciously affected towards our case, but He would have us properly affected with it ourselves. He knew the desire of this man, but He would know it from him himself; and therefore, when he was come near, He asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? So here: as soon as Bartimeus received sight from the Lord Jesus, he followed Him in the way, glorifying God. We may view this two ways. It was first an evidence of the reality and perfection of the cure. In other cases where human skill has removed blindness by couching, the restored orbs cannot be immediately used; light is admitted into them by degrees; the man cannot measure distances, nor judge with accuracy; and he is not fit to be left to himself. But it is said our Lord did all things well. His manner distinguished him--the man saw at once clearly; and was able to conduct himself. Secondly, it was an improvement of the greatness of the mercy. I can never, says he, discharge my obligations to such a gracious and almighty Friend. But let me devote myself to His service--let me continually ask, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
From the narrative thus explained, I would take occasion to bring forward four admonitions.
1. BE PERSUADED THAT YOU ARE ALL SPIRITUALLY IN THE CONDITION OF BARTIMEUS--and that without Divine illumination, you are no more qualified for the concerns of the moral world than a blind man is for those of the natural world.
2. BE PERSUADED THAT, WITH REGARD TO THE REMOVAL OF THIS BLINDNESS, YOU ARE IN AS HOPEFUL A CONDITION AS THIS POOR MAN. In all these miracles our blessed Lord holds Himself forth as the all-sufficient helper of sinners.
3. BE PERSUADED TO IMITATE THE IMPORTUNITY OF THIS BLIND BEGGAR, IN CRYING FOR MERCY. And especially let your importunity, like this poor mans, appear with regard to two things. First, like him, seize the present moment. Let not the opportunity afforded you be lost by delay. Secondly, like him, be not silenced by discouragement and opposition.
4. If He has healed you!--if you can say, One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. LIKE BARTIMEUS, BE CAREFUL TO FOLLOW THE SAVIOUR. This is the best way to evidence your cure. This is also the best way to improve your deliverance. Thus you will show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. Follow Him, then, as an imitator of His example. (W. Jay.)
What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?--
A worshipper questioned
All who come to church should come not to keep up an ancient form, do a duty, discharge an obligation, but to meet with Christ. And we do meet with Him (Mat_18:20). And He asks of each the question in the text. Three classes of replies.
1. The reply of some is, Let us alone--leave us. Diogenes wished Alexander, as the greatest favour he could bestow, to stand out of my sunshine. Christ stands between some men and what they imagine to be sunshine.
(1) How ungrateful is such a reply. What pain and grief it must give Him who died to save us.
(2) How mad it is. If we could succeed we should have destroyed our only hope--broken the only bridge by which we might return.
2. The reply of others is, Lull our consciences to rest. They want ease, but not holiness, pardon without change of heart.
(1) How vain is such a search. Christs offers are always coupled with requirements ( Mat_11:28-30; Mat_5:8).
(2) How utterly worthless it would be. It would be a sham, and we should know it and despise 2:3. The reply of others is, Cleanse, purify, renew us. Like this man they ask for sight. Like the leper they ask to be made clean. They cry in their doubts and fears, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. And such never come in vain. Christ meets with them, and though they touch but the hem of His garment, grants, their requests Luk_4:18). (J. Ogle.)
Blindness and the blind
Much as blind people lose by not having the use of their eyes, they have often made themselves not only useful, but even distinguished. Professor Sanderson, of Cambridge, England, lost his sight when only a year old, but became a great mathematician. Dr. Blackwood was master of Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, and a poet of no mean degree. Dr. Henry Moyes was skilled in geometry, optics, and astronomy, and he could judge very accurately of the size of any room in which he happened to be by the effects of his voice. John Metcalf, an Englishman, was employed first as a wagoner, and afterwards became a surveyor of highways. By the help of a long staff, he would traverse the most difficult mountain roads, and was able to do more than many men accomplish with their eyes open. William Metcalf laid out roads and built bridges. Euler, the mathematician, was blind. John Gough, who was an accurate botanist and zoologist, was also blind. Lord Cranbourne, blind from his childhood, published, a history of France for the young. Huber, who has written such an interesting book about bees, was blind. Homer was blind. The same was true of Ossian and Milton. Zisca, the famous Bohemian general, performed great acts of valour after the loss of his sight. The Rev. J. Crosse, vicar of Bradford, England, was blind, but as he knew the Church service by heart, he was able to conduct public worship with impressiveness and solemnity, only requiring the help of another person to read the lessons for him. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Spiritual blindness and sight
To be vain is to be blind, and to persist in blindness, and in the ignorance of ones blindness, and to refuse the opportunities of sight. To be worldly is to be blind; to grope among the dusty ways, the opaque and earthly objects of this lower sphere, contented with their darkness, or expecting light to shine out from it--is to be grossly blind. To be without religion, to look not up above for cheering and guiding light, to seek not the rays of that eternal Sun, which alone can warm and invigorate the soul--that is to be blind. But to be humble is to see. To feel that we are ignorant, that we are weak, that we are poor, and that the darkness within needs illumination from the Light above, and to pray for that illumination is to have our eyes opened, and to see. To receive Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, to go to Him for the precept and example, the doctrine and direction which we so much need, and which we can obtain from no one but from Him who was sent to us from the Father of lights, is to be cured of our blindness, and to receive our sight. To follow His blessed steps, to write His instructions on the tables of our hearts, to shun all allurements and pass over all obstacles which interfere with the duty of discipleship, is to walk as children of the light and of the day. (F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v35 35–43. As he drew nigh to Jericho. This was…
35–43. As he drew nigh to Jericho. This was on his last journey to Jerusalem, a little more than a week before the crucifixion. Matthew and Mark also give accounts of the healing of the blind beggar. See notes on Matt. 20:29–34. Compare Mark 10:46–52. Matthew says there were two blind beggars. “If there were two there certainly was one.” Luke and Mark only name the one who was most active and earnest. Mark says his name was Bartimæus. For a description of Jericho see note on Matt. 20:29.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v35 Luk_18:35. As he drew nigh to Jericho.—St. Matthew speaks…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_18:35. As he drew nigh to Jericho.—St. Matthew speaks of two blind men cured as Jesus departed from Jericho (Luk_20:29 ff.); St. Mark of one blind man named Bartimæus (evidently the man here mentioned) healed as Jesus went out of Jericho. So far as the numbers are concerned, no special difficulty need be felt. The second and third evangelists simply record one case of healing in which there were details of exceptional interest. But, so far as the place of healing is concerned, there is a discrepancy which no harmonist can solve. If, however, we knew all the circumstances of the case, the discrepancy might disappear. It might turn out that there was an old and a new town at Jericho, and that departing from the one corresponded to entering the other. This conjecture is highly improbable, but is possible. Meantime the discrepancy exists, and is a testimony to the fact that the narratives of the evangelists are independent of each other.
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Luk_18:39. Rebuked him.—Not because he addressed Jesus as “Son of David,” but because they thought his cries would be wearisome and annoying to our Lord.
Luk_18:41. What wilt thou?—The question seems a strange one. What else could the blind man wish for in preference to the gift of sight? We need to remember that with sight would come the call to work for his livelihood—a prospect which did not, however, deter Bartimæus from asking the boon.
Luk_18:43. Gave praise to God.—St. Luke frequently concludes narratives of miracles in this way (cf. chaps. Luk_13:17, Luk_9:43, Luk_5:26). “He, of the three evangelists, takes most notice of the glory given to God on account of the miraculous acts of the Lord Jesus” (Alford).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_18:35-43
Bartimæus.—The blind man, Bartimæus (Mark), is seated by the wayside. That is his usual place—begging his usual occupation. But another idea fills his mind to-day. He has heard much of Jesus of Nazareth. The country is filled with the rumour that He is on His way to Jerusalem to be crowned King of the Jews. To the blind man it has, somehow, become clear that this is the Christ promised to the Fathers. He is prepared to confess his faith in Him, for he has a great boon to ask of Him. He has taken up his usual place since early morn, and is watching anxiously for the first sign of Christ’s coming, when he hears the sound of a multitude approaching. He asks the bystanders, or the first comers, “what it meant.” They answer and tell him, “Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.” Now, then, his great opportunity has come. He lifts up his voice, in the words of that most eloquent and simple prayer he has prepared, and he repeats the prayer till the time of answer came: “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Note what obstacles this man’s faith overcame.
I. His circumstances.—He was but a poor blind man, a customary object of charity. He who was passing by was a great Teacher, a Prophet of the people, reputed to be the Messiah, and probably the future King of Israel. Moreover, He was in the heart of a procession, engaged in teaching, and much engrossed in this momentous crisis of His public life. But Bartimæus was not to be hindered by any of these things. As to the difference in rank between himself and Jesus, he made nothing of it, or rather he made an encouragement of it. When He heard the name, Jesus of Nazareth! his heart leaped up within him. “This is the very person I want to meet. I am poor; He is the friend of the poor. I am blind; He is the healer of the blind. I am a despised and forgotten waif by the roadside; He is the King of Israel, the gatherer of outcasts—the Healer of the broken-hearted, the One who remembers the forgotten.” If, then, any one is hindered from coming to Christ by considerations of environment, be this the answer of faith. The worse your circumstances, the more need you have of Christ, the more evident is it that you are of those to whom He is offered, and for whom He is intended. When He is nigh, let no argument find place in your heart that the time is unsuitable, or that there may be a more convenient season.
II. The desire of worldly advantage.—Here was a great procession coming. In an ordinary case Bartimæus would, doubtless, have laid himself out to make a harvest of the passing caravan. On this occasion he made up his mind to forego that altogether. He weighed the two things, and he said to himself, “No, no alms to-day; I will direct my whole efforts to getting a cure from Jesus of Nazareth.” He did not attempt both things, but deliberately sacrificed the alms-getting for the eyesight. Doubtless he would have been a fool to do otherwise. Yet that is the folly men are committing every day, and not the thoughtless alone among men. Those who have some glimpse of the priceless value of spiritual light and peace, yet let year after year leave them as it found them, because they are too busy in the world to seek salvation, or too much afraid of losing present advantage to set aside its claims, even for a season, and “count their cost” of their immortal nature. Jesus and his multitudes are passing by while some of us are busy gathering pennies by the wayside. A soul in earnest, a soul prepared for the Master’s grace, will hold it of such urgent moment that everything must stand aside till this great question is settled.
III. The opposition of Others.—We are not told what were the motives of the crowd in trying to silence Bartimæus. Perhaps the vulgar notion that it was improper for a common beggar like him to take up the time and attention of Jesus; perhaps that, with all their popular enthusiasm for Jesus, they were not pleased at the blind man for the boldness of his expression that Jesus was the Christ. It is not easy to conceive any obstacle in the way of the spiritually anxious more stumbling than this, when the professed, and sometimes even the real followers of Christ, object to the ardour of their expressions, or the evident feeling they show. “This is going too far. It is extravagance. It disturbs the Church.” The real meaning is, it puts us about, it suggests an uncomfortable suspicion that we are not in earnest, when we see some spirit-stirred ones counting all things loss to win Christ, and overturning the cold, formal decency of the Church with their new-born fervour. As soon as the cry, with its unusual title and its imploring tones, meets the Saviour’s ears, He comes to a standstill, and commands the blind man to be brought to Him. This is how Christ finds those that inquire after Him. We know that He is found of those who seek Him not, surprises those that look not for Him, singles out for search those that had forgotten Him. How certainly then, as this story shows, is He the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. It was a moment of rare triumph for Jesus. He is attended by a joyful crowd. But He turns—how characteristically!—from the happy throng to the one miserable man who needs His help. The pertinacious vitality of faith had proved itself in this instance, and it met, according to Christ’s method, with an instant and abundant reward. It was proved, not only by the blind man’s firm conviction of Jesus’ Messiahship, but by his irrepressible expression of it, by his conquest of the obstacles put in his way, by his joyous alacrity when Jesus called him, by his prompt application of Christ’s offered grace to his most particular need. And now, as all the Evangelists add, the proof was crowned by the first use he made of the new gift of sight. “He followed Jesus in the way.” From this conduct the Lord received honour, both direct and indirect, for all the people, when they saw it, swelled His praises. These two forms of service to Christ re-act upon each other. If all who know about Him were to profess Him, there would be much increase of spiritual life in the Church. If all who profess Christ were to experience what they profess, there would be much increase of spiritual heat. If all who have experienced Christ were to live up to their experience of His mercy, the Church would be like a mass of molten metal in the midst of a cold world—the world, indeed, would be set on fire, and the whole earth would be filled with His glory.—Laidlaw.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_18:35-43
Luk_18:35-43. Bartimæus.—The story of Bartimæus shows us a man in difficulties, and exhibits his conduct when face to face with the three powers of life:
1. Self.
2. The world.
3. God. We shall see what the world did for him, what he did for himself, and what Divine love did for him.
I. The world.—The world gave him pity and alms, but it could not give him sight. He wanted power; it could only give compassion. He wanted eyes; it could only give a dole. Its gifts made him feel his dependence most keenly.
II. What Bartimæus did for himself.—He was self-reliant. He would not be silenced. He is heedless of the crowd. The more opposition, the more endeavour. But he is also single-minded. He must run no risk of failure in reaching Christ. He throws aside his long robe. It might impede his progress. What was raiment, compared with the dowry of eyesight?
III. What Christ did for him.—The best human efforts cannot achieve everything. Man and the world are not the only factors of life. Before Christ the demeanour of Bartimæus is changed. He stands as one who waits. What he needs must be waited for. The man of independence is to learn dependence. And Christ acts towards him with love—love that shows sensibility, decision, judgment, and capability. He is quick to discern need, decisive in His command, deliberate in His dealing, and powerful in His gift.—Carpenter.
I. The situation (Luk_18:35-39).
II. The cure (Luk_18:40-42).
III. The effect produced (Luk_18:43).
A Wayside Miracle.
I. The beggar’s need.
II. The beggar’s cry.
III. The beggar’s urgency.
IV. Jesus’ response.—
1. The same cry can reach Him still.
2. He will listen, and help us.—Watson.
A Confession of Faith.
Luk_18:38.
I. A confession of faith in Jesus as able to give sight.
II. A confession of faith in Him as Messiah, at whose coming the eyes of the blind should be opened.
Luk_18:39. “Rebuked him.”—The blind man saw Jesus with the eye of faith, and prayed to Him as his Saviour; while the world, who could see His person, saw Him not. And yet the blind world, which did not see Jesus, rebuked the blind man, who saw and worshipped Him; but he was nothing daunted by the rebuke, but cried to Him the more earnestly. Thus the blind recovered sight, and they who saw were blind.
Luk_18:41. Vague Prayers.—Poor Bartimæus had no difficulty in answering Christ’s question. He could not for an instant mistake or forget the nature of his want. He cried to Jesus for mercy, when he heard that He was passing by, because he felt a particular want, and believed that Jesus only could supply it. He felt that this was his only chance, and a fastly fleeting one. And so, on Christ’s approach and direct inquiry, he was ready with a direct and unhesitating answer. Faith was supplemented here by an accurate knowledge of the heart’s plague and sorrow; and He who waited for this avowal said at once in reply, “Receive thy sight; thy faith hath saved thee.” We often kneel in the Divine Presence, as this man did, and call to the Saviour for mercy. Were He to cross-examine us as to the meaning of our words, would our answer be ready? Does each heart know its own bitterness so well as to be able at once to ask for the boon we specially need? Or is there unreality, is there vagueness in our language, when we pray?
I. In our confession of sin, do we use vague and unreal words, not meaning them? Let us practice ourselves in meaning something by our confessions of sin. This exercise, and its accompaniment of seeking forgiveness, are an indispensable part of all worship. It has respect to time past, the ineffaceable, irretrievable past.
II. But the other part of prayer has respect rather to the future.—“To obtain mercy” that is one thing: “to find grace to help in time of need”—that is the other. Even more in the latter case is there the risk of vagueness and unreality in our prayers. The petitions which we seem to bring to the throne of grace may be neutralised by our inability to answer the searching inquiry of our Lord, “What wilt thou that I shall do for thee?” The very endeavour to bring something definite, something real, something learned by experience and examination, whenever we profess to approach God’s mercy-seat with words of prayer on our lips, will help to give point and meaning to our worship. Then will the question of the text sound in our ears with less of reproof than of encouragement.—Vaughan.
Luk_18:42. “Thy faith.”—In replying to the request of the blind man, Jesus says, “Thy faith,” and not “My power,” in order to impress upon him the value of that moral act, and that certainly in view of the still more important spiritual miracle yet to be wrought in him.
Luk_18:43. “Followed Him.”—All that he cared for was seeing; all that he cared to see was Christ.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v35 Mat 20:29-34; Luk 18:35-43; Mar 10:46-52. “And they are…
THE BLIND MEN AT JERICHO
Mat 20:29-34; Luk 18:35-43; Mar 10:46-52. “And they are coming into Jericho. And He and His disciples and a great multitude going out from Jericho, blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, was sitting by the wayside begging. And hearing that it is Jesus the Nazarene, began to cry out, and to say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me! And many continued to rebuke him, that he must keep silent; and he continued to cry out much more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!
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And Jesus, standing, said that he should be called. And they called the blind man, saying to Him, Take courage, arise; He calls you. And laying aside his cloak, rising, lie came to Jesus. And responding, Jesus says to him, What do you wish that I shall do to you? And the blind man said to Him, Master, that I may look up. Jesus said to him, Go, thy faith hath saved thee; and immediately he looked up, and follows Jesus in the way.” As you see, Matthew, Luke, and Mark all give this narrative. However, it is pertinent to observe that Matthew says He healed two blind men as He came out from Jericho, while Luke speaks of but one, whom He healed as He was coming into Jericho; Mark alone giving us the name of Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, and stating that he was sitting by the wayside begging as the multitude passed out of Jericho. Doubtless his home was near by, and he made his living by begging of the travelers along the highway from Jericho to Jerusalem. On hearing the tread of the multitude, and learning that the Prophet Jesus is passing by, and as he had heard so much about His wonderful miracles, restoring sight to multitudes of the blind who had been enabled to reach His ministry in His peregrinations through Galilee, Judea, Perea, Samaria, and other countries, and having determined to avail himself of the opportunity if He should ever pass that way, and doubtless already having information that He had crossed the Jordan, out of Perea into Judea, the day preceding, and was traveling toward Jerusalem, and would certainly come that way, the only great road leading through the wilderness of Judea from Jericho to Jerusalem, he now cries aloud incessantly, “O Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!” As the prophecies revealed that the Messiah was to be the Son of David, in this appellation He really acknowledges His Christhood.
I always met many beggars in that country. While they all have their places, and unhesitatingly speak out in their language, asking for a contribution, I never heard one scream and roar as this one did. Luke uses the word eboese, which is from boao, which, you observe, if you will pronounce it loudly, makes a noise like the lowing of an ox. Hence we see that this man threw his mouth open, and roared aloud, refusing to be quiet, though many of the multitude rebuked him for his impetuosity and disorder. Jesus, however, gives His fur approval to his persistent roaring by calling him to Him unhesitatingly. Consequently, throwing aside his outer garment for the sake of expedition, rising, he hastens to Jesus, who immediately opens his eyes, certifying to him, “Thy faith hath saved thee;” thus laying an illimitable emphasis on the grace of faith, as Jesus is accustomed to do. O how wonderfully does Jesus preach salvation by faith! Blind Bartimeus not only received his eyesight, but the salvation of his soul, through simple faith in Jesus. Therefore we are not astonished that, having now become a disciple, he falls in with the crowd, and follows Jesus, doubtless, the remnant of his life, and is now playing on his golden harp. This is a notable case of whole-hearted, importunate seeking of Jesus. When they did their utmost to moderate him, telling him that screaming and roaring in the presence of that great multitude was so indecorous, you see he only roared the louder. Find a penitent on that line, and look out! — something wonderful is going to happen.
Now, as you see, Matthew tells of two blind men restored as Jesus passed out of Jericho; Luke speaking of but one, and that one as he entered into the city; while Mark tells us of Bartimeus as he came out. How do we reconcile this apparent disharmony? There is no need of any reconcilement. I have no doubt but He did, as Luke says, restore a blind man as He went in, and, as Luke says, two as he came out, of whom, doubtless, Bartimeus was one; as you must remember that many of our Lord’s great miracles are not found now in the inspired records, but only a few salient ones.
The Jericho so celebrated in the days of Joshua stood on the plain of the Jordan, near the base of the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted by Satan, and ten miles from the ford of the Jordan where Israel crossed over and Jesus was baptized. You know when this city was destroyed, Israel having shouted down the walls, God forbade its rebuilding. So it has never been rebuilt. However, they built a new city, two miles south, where the road from Jerusalem reaches the foot of the mountain and proceeds out, crossing the plain of the Jordan. This was the Jericho in the days of Christ. In the desolation of Judea by the Roman armies, soon after the crucifixion of Jesus, Jericho was destroyed. When the Crusaders conquered and took possession of the Holy Land, A. D. 1099, they rebuilt Jericho, about two miles farther east, along the road to the Jordan ford. This Jericho is still standing. I lodged there during both of nay visits in that country.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v35 Subdivision 1. (Luk 18:35-43; Luk 19:1-48; Luk 20:1-47; Luk…
Subdivision 1. (Luk 18:35-43; Luk 19:1-48; Luk 20:1-47; Luk 21:1-36.)
The King.
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The subdivisions are similar to those in Mark: the first giving the first coming of the King, with the fatal hindrances to restoration for Israel at that time, when for a moment it might seem to be at hand; going on; however, to His second coming when that restoration is accomplished. The general character of what is here resembles Mark rather than Matthew, as indeed we might expect; those parts also in which Mark cleaves to Matthew being often omitted by Luke. It is the King, however, necessarily, that is presented here in all the three.
1. (1) That which takes place at Jericho is more fully given by Luke than elsewhere. The story of the blind man, however, is almost precisely as in Mark, Luke showing its character in the closing ascription of glory to God, both on the part of the blind man; and the people who witness it. The beginning of God’s work in a soul, as it was in nature, is the bringing in of light. Israel was now but the blind, led of the blind; and with the light in their midst, the "God of this world darkened the minds of those that believed not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
We have seen in the blind men here (for Matthew shows us two of them) a picture of that remnant in the last days who shall have their eyes opened to see and follow Jesus as their King. Crying after Him, the multitude in that day will indeed "rebuke them that they should hold their peace," but they will only cry the louder to Him, who, finding them in the city of the curse, will presently lead them up to the city of blessing, and of His rest for ever.
(2) The story of Zacchaeus follows and is still connected with Jericho and the Lord’s passing through it. The name means "pure" or "clean," as his words to the Lord show him to be. We are to take them surely, not as the profession of what he meant to do, but as the answer to the murmured charge against him, and which implicated Christ also, that He was gone to lodge with a man that was a sinner. "A sinner!" he would say, "behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any one by false accusation," -a thing which might be done without design -"I restore him fourfold." He is speaking of what he does habitually, not of what he has made a new resolve to do.
And yet Zacchaeus is no mere Pharisee under his publican’s garb. There may well be the Pharisee in him, for it is in our fallen nature; and the Lord’s words, gentle and gracious as they are, are well adapted to meet such a condition; even while to one characterized by it He could not have used them. For "a son of Abraham" meant with Him assuredly a child of faith (comp. Joh 8:39); and that day had salvation come to that house, with the Object of faith received within it. Thus, not from that "cleanness" of life that he could claim came salvation to him, nor even the assurance of it, but from Him whom he had sought, who had been seeking Him first: "for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Such, then, was Zacchaeus.
(3) The parable that follows is plainly stated to be supplemental to the Lord’s words just spoken; and in correction of the thought that the Kingdom of God was going to be manifested immediately. Nay, He was as a man going into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom and to return to take possession of it. Time would be given in this way for His servants to prove their faithfulness to Him; and while salvation was by faith, and for the lost, such faithfulness would be recognized and rewarded when the Kingdom would be set up. His ten servants have (like the ten virgins) the number of responsibility, and are not necessarily servants in heart, as we see directly. His citizens moreover are in open rebellion against him, and send after him a positive refusal of subjection to him.
All this, of which then His disciples needed to be warned, is, of course, for us as plain as possible in application. The emphasis, however, is laid upon the different result in the case of those who are all entrusted with the same amount, to trade with on his behalf. Here the parable of the pounds differs from that of the talents in Matthew, which comes after it and is a development of it. "Matthew presents the sovereignty and wisdom of the giver, who varies his gifts according to the aptitude of his servants; in Luke it is more particularly the responsibility of the servants, who each receive the same sum, and the one gains by it, in his master’s interest, more than the other. Accordingly it is not said, as in Matthew, ’Enter into the joy of your Lord,’ the same thing to all, and the more excellent thing; but to the one it is authority over ten cities that is given; to the other over five: that is to say, a share in the kingdom according to their labor. The servant does not lose that which he has gained, although it was for his master. He enjoys it. Not so with the servant who made no use of his pound; that which had been committed to him is given to the one who had gained ten. That which we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary we receive more, and the glory of the inheritance is given us in proportion to our work. But all is grace" (Synopsis).
It is the apprehension of grace also that enables for work, as we see by the opposite of this in the unfruitful servant, who is indeed to be judged out of his own mouth. His words, however, are but an excuse for slothfulness. "Instead of laboring in the sweat of his brow for the interests of his lord, he had hidden the entrusted money in the now entirely superfluous soudarion: literally ’sweat-cloth’" (Van Oosterzee.)
Upon the enemies of the King judgment comes to the uttermost.
2. (1) With these forewarnings of the character of His Kingdom, and of how His claim to it would be treated at this time, Jesus ascends to Jerusalem, by the way of the "house of unripe figs" (Bethphage) and of the "house of humiliation" or "of sorrow" (Bethany). Then; as in the previous Gospels, He fulfils -or presents Himself for the fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy, riding into the city on an ass’s colt. But it is noticeable how much higher is the character, beyond the former Gospels, in which He is presented here. As Son of David He is not even spoken of, but as the King that cometh in the name of the Lord -Jehovah; and with "peace in heaven; and glory in the highest."
This is a strain, indeed, beyond the intelligence of the disciples; as all here is manifestly under the control of God, and pointing onward to a future time. The King that comes in Jehovah’s Name brings not only peace on earth, but peace in heaven. We have heard the Lord announce already the casting down of Satan out of it (see Luk 10:18), and have seen to what period this refers. It is but, however, the effect of the Cross, as that which has overcome principalities and powers, and led captivity captive. Back of man’s sin; the Cross reaches to the incoming of sin at the beginning, glorifying God about it all. We little realize the need of this, where it is no longer a question of the salvation of sinners, but of the purification of heavenly things (Heb 9:23), the reconciliation of things in the heavens (Col 1:20). Scripture speaks plainly of it, however, both in type and open speech of the New Testament. Nor will God deal with sin even in definitive judgment until He has glorified Himself in view of it. "Hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come:" such is the divine order. That "hallowed be Thy Name" is in effect "peace in heaven," as "glory in the highest."
The Pharisees dare to appeal to the Lord Himself to deny Himself, and rebuke the disciples. He tells them that, if they held their peace, the very stones would cry out. As a result of His rejection this has indeed taken place, and the stones of the plowed up city bear witness for Him today.
(2) This was the alternative, which His lament over the city brings fully out: it was the Saviour or the destroyer, Christ or the dreaded and hated Roman. In fact, they had already made their choice, and could only be left to it. But the Judge weeps as He gives sentence. If Jerusalem had known; though but at the last moment, the things belonging to her peace! but now they were hidden from her. She and her children within her would be destroyed -not a stone left upon a stone -because she knew not the time of her visitation.
(3) But this that He foresaw does not hinder the completion of His testimony among them. He purges the temple: for Him, until. He leaves it desolate, His Father’s house, and the place of Jehovah’s throne on earth, though now long vacant. It was the symbol of His life-long thought, the zeal which was to be as the flame of sacrifice consuming Himself, as the psalmist had long since expressed it (Psa 69:9). Luke mentions, however, the casting out of the traffickers very briefly, dwelling more upon His teaching in the house that He had purged, and how the people hung upon His words. What seed was sown, to spring up at an after-time, we cannot tell; but we know that He was emphatically the Sower, and that upon all seed sown the sign of the cross must pass, that it may be fruitful (Joh 12:24).
3. (1) The conflict with the leaders is now upon Him. They begin it with the challenge of His authority, which He answers by one on His side to settle that of John: as to which, to their confusion; but even then insincerely, they have to own incompetence. He refuses then to show them His: for of what use would it be with those who had just acknowledged themselves to be no proper judges? and when the things about which they asked Him bore the authority for doing them upon their lace?
(2) The parable of the two sons is here omitted, as in Mark; and Luke goes on to that of the Vineyard and its Heir, and the rejection of the messengers crowned by the murder of the last, the only son of the owner. He searches out their hearts, foretells their triumph and the ruin it would bring upon themselves, shows them from their own scriptures, that the Stone to be made by God the Head of the corner was first of all to be rejected by the builders themselves. Here they could not help recognizing that He spoke of them, while their blind passion urged them on to the fulfilment of His words.
4. (1) They go on testing Him, as in the previous Gospels. First, by the question of tribute to Caesar, in which His answer goes to the root of the matter, and shows the way of deliverance also, if only they would take it. They had borrowed Caesar’s money; let them pay it him back: a just debt could not be met by rebellion and repudiation. On the other hand, there was a way out: let them render to God His due, and He would come in for them. Thus the whole question is settled in a few simple words, and so that they cannot even say a word against it.
(2) The Sadducees take the place of the beaten Pharisees, and raise their question of relationship in the resurrection state, illustrating their difficulty by the case of a woman who had married seven brethren. The Lord answers, that marriage belongs to this world or age, while in the age to come and the resurrection from the dead those counted worthy to obtain these will be as the angels in this respect. The Lord’s words announce a resurrection from among the dead comprising the sons of God alone: they are necessarily sons of God if they are sons of the resurrection; the one involves the other. The obtaining the "age to come" (the millennium) goes with this; which is exactly what is said in Rev 20:5, that the rest of the dead -the wicked -do not rise again till the thousand years are finished. Among the ranks of these blessed ones there is no death either: and so no need of marriage to fill up the gaps caused by death. He adds that even the dead are yet alive to God; and so destroys the materialistic idea of death held by the Sadducees, the basis of their denial of resurrection. And finally, He proves this last out of the Scriptures they acknowledged -the books of Moses. They acknowledged, but did not know them.
(3) They are silenced, -Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, all the leaders of the unhappy people, -and He turns -upon them with a question which reaches the bottom of the whole controversy, the question of His Person; of the true glory of Christ. Was He merely David’s Son? Why then did David, speaking by the Spirit, call Him "Lord," saying, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet"? How could He be his Son and yet his Lord? Clearly no answer could be made which did not admit His higher nature.
(4) Then He denounces the scribes as those whose ways made known too certainly what they were. Self-importance, rapacity, hypocrisy, marked them. More abundant judgment would be their lot at last. Let us observe that He first meets and refutes their doctrines before He brings their ways into question. Scripture alone could settle as to the truth; and His appeal is there to the Word and nothing else. Truth might have evil professors of it, without annulling its right as truth; but now it was in place to show how sadly their errors were mated with their characters. The common conscience of men was sufficient to condemn them.
(5) But He does not close with this, for judgment is work in which He has no delight. If He be wearied with the evil, He refreshes Himself with the good, and among the rich who are casting much into the treasure, His eye discerns a single poor widow who casts in a contribution hardly to be reckoned amid their costly gifts. But He reckons differently from men at large, and not so much by what is put in as by what is kept back. She has kept nothing back. For Him this poor widow has cast in more than all. For these have given out of their abundance, leaving much still behind; but site has cast in all the living that she had.
Such sights, then, were still to be seen in Israel. Alas, they were few, as the very terms of the commendation show. For all the gifts of the rich were not equal to these "two mites, which make a farthing."
5. The Lord’s prophecy from the Mount of Olives has a conspicuous place in each of the three synoptic Gospels: in John only it is not found. Luke’s version of it, however, though approaching that of Mark most nearly, differs in a very striking way from both; and all the more because of its resemblances to them.
Matthew gives the fullest account, showing the coming of the Lord in its relation to the Jews, the Church, and the Gentiles. Mark is briefer, and omits altogether the last two; but like Matthew he speaks of the abomination of desolation and the tribulation unequalled in any other time. This last, through the mercy of God very limited in duration; has the abomination as the date of its commencement, and continues till immediately before the appearing of the Lord, -linking in this way the two together, and showing that we are in the time of the end throughout this part. What precedes it is general in character, and might (and doubtless does) take in from the beginning of Christianity, but as a dispensation says nothing of this. It is passed over, quite as in Old Testament prophecy; though in Matthew taken up in its relation to the coming of the Lord in the parables which follow. Luke also says nothing indeed of Christianity as such, and is briefer as to the Lord’s coming and what connects with this. We have nothing of the abomination nor of the tribulation following, but in place of this Jerusalem encompassed with armies and her being trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles -of the empires pictured by Daniel -are fulfilled. Then follow the signs of the Lord at hand.
Luke retains his character in this as the Gentile Gospel; and the smaller details are in harmony with this. Thus there is no angelic mission to gather together the elect; and to the parable of the fig-tree he adds "and all the trees." The indefinite lapse of time fulfilled in Jerusalem’s desolation, as contrasted with the immediate coming of the Lord after the tribulation which follows the setting up of the abomination; distinguishes in the clearest way the destruction by Titus spoken of in Luke from the signs of the end-time in the other Gospels. Jerusalem at the end is not destroyed but delivered, though at her extremity, by the appearing of the Lord.
(1) The commencement of the prophecy is very similar in the three Gospels. In Luke, as in Mark, the disciples, questions have to do entirely with the destruction of the temple, of which He had just been speaking, and only in Matthew have we the additional ones, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the age?" Matthew accordingly it is who develops most fully, as we have seen; the circumstances connected with the end-time and the Lord’s return; while Luke gives the full answer to the question as to the temple. In relation to this, he brings out also as the others do, the false Christs that should arise, the wars and rumors of wars, the convulsions and disasters. But before all these things the hatred of men to Him would break out in the bitter persecution of His followers. The nearest ties would be no restraint; the dearest affections of nature would be turned to enmity. They would be delivered up to the synagogues and brought before rulers and kings; Christ, however, being borne witness to in this way, and the Spirit, therefore, with them to furnish them with the needful ability to glorify Him. Through all not a hair of their heads would really perish: He who has counted them all would certainly give a good account of them. By endurance they would gain their lives, instead of losing them: by the very loss of them they would keep them, as the Lord assured them before, to life eternal.
Upon the guilty city, stained with the blood of the prophets, and now to be with that of their glorious King also, days of vengeance were coming. When they saw Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then they might know that its desolation was near: a very different thing, nevertheless, from the "abomination of desolation" of which Matthew and Mark speak, and which is connected with the middle of the last week of Daniel, while this comes between the sixty-ninth and seventieth in the same chapter: "and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" (Dan 9:26). There is really no excuse for confounding things so different, and where the interval between them is so plainly expressed.
There are, no doubt, similar warnings to depart from the city, and lamentations over the child-bearing women in each case -as easy to be understood in one connection as in the other. But the omissions in Luke are noticeable. Where the armies encompassing the city are the sign; there is naturally no exhortation as to speediness of departure, no need to pray that it might not be upon the sabbath day. In fact, for those in Jerusalem, such haste would be rather dangerous than wise, and abundance of time was given, after Cestius Gallus had retired from the city, for leisurely departure. All, therefore, is in perfect keeping.
How terrible these days of vengeance were is known to all. Josephus gives the number of the slain in the siege as 1,000,000; of those carried away captive as 97,000. The complete fulfilment of our Lord’s words is matter of common history. The times of the Gentiles are not yet concluded, after more than eighteen centuries of treading down; although there are many signs that they are near their end: to what then takes place the prophecy passes on.
(2) The signs of the end are more briefly given than in the previous Gospels; signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, answered by the roaring of the sea with its billows from below; between them the nations in distress and perplexity; men ready to die for alarm at what is coming on the earth. There seems good reason to believe that these signs are physical, while yet there are corresponding ones in the political sphere, as the book of Revelation clearly shows. At such a time God’s mercy multiplies His calls to men to give heed to what He is doing; and such mysterious sympathy of nature with human woes gives all the apparent countenance that there may be to the fables of astrology. In such ways man perverts the goodness of God to his destruction.
Amid such signs the Son of man will be seen coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Nothing is said of attendant angels or of the gathering of the dispersed of Israel. But when the disciples should see the beginnings of these things, they were to rejoice and lift up their heads, because their redemption was drawing nigh. These would be, in fact, Jewish disciples, such as they were to whom the Lord was now addressing Himself. Christianity was yet unknown, and the long lapse of time designedly hidden.
The parable of the fig-tree applies, as we have seen in various places, to the Jewish remnant of returned captives in the land. Since dispersed, as Luke has told us they would be, they are now again gathering there; the fig-tree is shooting. But Luke adds "and all the trees": in which we are to see apparently, according to the character of Luke, the revival of the nations making up Daniel’s empires. Notable it is that Greece and Italy, after a time of long depression, have again become kingdoms. If we go outside of these, but still within the range of Daniel’s vision, Egypt is also reviving under British care. Certainly the trees seem putting forth their leaves. The summer surely is already nigh; and there is no summer apart from the Kingdom of God. Again we are reminded, as in Matthew, of the rapidity with which it will at last come on. The generation that sees the beginning will see the end. And here the Lord solemnly affirms the immutability of His word: though heaven and earth pass, this shall not.
In view of such a time again there come warnings, lest the world, its pleasures and its cares engross and stupefy the heart, and these things come unawares; for as a snare it will come upon those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. They must watch and pray, that they may prevail to escape, and stand before the Son of man. "This is still the great subject of our Gospel. To be with Him as those that have escaped from the earth, to be among the 144,000 on Mount Zion; will be an accomplishment of this blessing, but the place is not named; so that, supposing the faithfulness of those whom He was personally addressing, the hope awakened by His words would be fulfilled in a more excellent manner in His heavenly presence in the day of glory" (Synopsis).
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v40 Luk 18:40 f11 - Luk 18:41.
Luke
THE MAN THAT STOPPED JESUS
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Luk 18:40 f11 - Luk 18:41.
This story of the man that stopped Christ is told by the three ‘Synoptic’ Evangelists, and it derives a special value from having occurred within a week of the Crucifixion. You remember how graphically Mark tells how the blind man hears who is passing and immediately begins to cry with a loud voice to Christ to have mercy upon him; how the officious disciples-a great deal more concerned for the Master’s dignity than He was Himself-tried to silence him; and how, with a sturdy persistence and independence of externals which often goes along with blindness, ‘he cried the more a great deal’ because they did try, and then how he won the distinction of being the man that stopped Christ. When Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called, the crowd wheeled right round at once, and instead of hindering, encumbered him with help, and bade him to ‘rise, and be of good cheer.’ Then he flings away some poor rag that he had had to cover himself sitting there, and wearing his under-garment only, comes to Christ, and Jesus asks, ‘What do you want?’ A promise in the shape of a question. Bartimaeus knows what he wants, and answers without hesitation, and so he gets his request.
Now, I think in all this incident, and especially in its centre part, which I have read, there are great lessons for us. And the first of them is, I see here a wonderful revelation of Christ’s quick sympathy at a moment when He was most absorbed.
I said that all this occurred within a week of our Lord’s Crucifixion. If you will recall the way in which that last journey to Jerusalem is described in the Evangelists, you will see that there was something very extraordinary about the determination and tension of spirit which impelled Jesus along the road, all the way from Galilee. Mark says that the disciples followed and were amazed. There was something quite unlike what they had been accustomed to, in His face and bearing, and it was so strange to them that they were puzzled and frightened. We read, too, that their amazement and fright prevented them from going very near Him on the road; ‘as they followed they were afraid.’ Then the story goes on to tell how James and John, with their arrogant wish, did draw closer to Him, the rest of them lagging behind, conscious of a certain unaccustomed distance between Him and them, which only the ambitious two dared to diminish. Further, one of the Evangelists speaks of His face being ‘set’ to go to Jerusalem, the gentle lineaments fixed in a new expression of resolution and absorption. The Cross was flinging its shadow over Him. He was bracing Himself up for the last struggle. If ever there was a moment of His life when we might have supposed that He would be oblivious of externals, and especially of the individual sorrows of one poor blind beggar sitting by the roadside, it was that moment. But however plunged in great thoughts about the agonising suffering that He was going to front, and the grand work that He was going to do, and the great victory that He was going to win so soon, He had
‘A heart at leisure from itself
To soothe and sympathise.’
Even at that supreme hour He stood still and commanded him to be called. I wonder if it is saying too much to say that in the exercise of that power of healing and helping Bartimaeus, Jesus found some relief from the pressure of impending sorrow.
Brethren, is not that a lesson for us all? It is not spiritualising, allegorising, cramming meanings into an incident that are not in it, when we say-Think of Jesus Christ as one of ourselves, knowing that He was going to His death within a week, and then think of Him turning to this poor man. Is not that a pattern for us? We are often more selfish in our sorrows than in our joys. Many of us are inclined, when we are weighed down by personal sorrows, to say, ‘As long as I have this heavy weight lying on my heart, how can you expect me to take an interest in the affairs of others, or to do Christian work, or to rise to the calls of benevolence and the cries of need?’ We do not expect you to do it; but Jesus Christ did it, ‘leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.’ Next to the blessed influences of God’s own Spirit, and the peace-bringing act of submission, there is no such comfort for sorrow, as to fling ourselves into others’ griefs, and to bear others’ burdens. Our Lord, with His face set like a flint, on the road to the Cross, but yet sufficiently free of heart to turn to Bartimaeus, reads a lesson that rebukes us all, and should teach us all.
Further, do we not see here a beautiful concrete instance, on the lower plane, of the power of earnest desire.
No enemy could have stopped Christ on that road; no opposition could have stopped Him, no beseeching on the part of loving and ignorant friends, repeating the temptation in the wilderness-or the foolish words of Peter, ‘This shall not be unto Thee,’ could have stopped Him. He would have trodden down all such flimsy obstacles, as a lion ‘from the thickets of Jordan’ crashes through the bulrushes, but this cry stopped Him, ‘Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me, and the Cross and all else that He was hastening to, great as it was for the world, had to wait its turn, for something else had to be done first. There was noise enough on the road, the tramp of many feet, the clatter of many eager tongues, but the voice of one poor man sitting in the dust there by the roadside, found its way through all the noise to Christ’s ears. ‘Which things are an allegory.’ There is an ocean of praise always, as I might so say breaking upon Christ’s Throne, but the little stream of my petitions flows distinguishable through all that sea. As one of our poets says, we may even think of Him as ‘missing my little human praise’ when the voice of one poor boy was not heard. Surely amidst all the encouragements that we have to believe that our cry is not sent up into an empty heaven, nor into deaf ears, and that all the multitude of creatures that wait before that Throne do not prevent the individualising knowledge and the individualising love of Jesus Christ from coming straight to every one of us, this little incident is not the least instructive and precious. He that heard Bartimaeus will hear us.
In like manner, may I not say that here we have an illustration of how Christ, who has so much besides to do, would suspend other work, if it were needful, in order to do what we need? As I have said, the rest had to wait. Bartimaeus stopped Christ. And our hand, if it be the hand of faith, put out to the hem of the garment as Jesus of Nazareth passeth by, will so far stop Him as that He will do what we wish, if what we wish is in accordance with our highest good. There was another man in Jericho who stopped Christ, on that same journey; for not only the petition of Bartimaeus, but the curiosity-which was more than curiosity-of Zacchaeus, stopped Him, and He who stood still, though He had His face set like a flint to go to Jerusalem, because Bartimaeus cried, stood still and looked up into the sycamore tree where the publican was-the best fruit that ever it bore-and said, ‘Zacchaeus; come down, I must abide at thy house.’ Why must He abide? Because He discerned there a soul that He could help and save, and that arrested Him on His road to the Cross.
So, dear friends, amidst all the work of administering the universe which He does, and of guiding and governing and inspiring His Church, which He does, if you ask for the supply of your need He would put that work aside for a moment, if necessary, to attend to you. That is no exaggeration; it is only a strong way of putting the plain truth that Christ’s love individualises each of its objects; and lavishes itself upon each one of us; as if there were no other beings in the universe but only our two selves.
And then, remember too, that what Bartimaeus got was not taken from anyone else. Nobody suffered because Jesus paused to help him. They sat down in ranks, five thousand of them, and as they began to eat, those that were first served would be looked upon with envious eye by the last ‘ranks,’ who would be wondering if the bits of bread and the two small fishes were enough to go round. But the first group was fed full and the last group had as much, and they took up ‘of the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full.’
‘Enough for all, enough for each,
Enough for evermore.’
There is one more thought rising out of this story. It teaches a wonderful lesson as to the power which Christ puts into the hand of believing prayer.
‘What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?’ He had asked the same question a little while before, under very different circumstances. When James and John came and tried to beguile Him into a blind promise, because they knew that It was not likely that they would get what they asked if they said it out at first. He avoided the snare with that same question, To them the question was a refusal; they had said: ‘Master, we will that Thou wouldst do whatever we should desire’; and He said: ‘What is it that ye desire? Let Me know that first.’ But when blind Bartimaeus cried, Jesus smiled down upon him-though his sightless eyeballs could not see the smile, there would be a smile in the cadence of His words-and He said: ‘What wouldst thou that I should do for thee?’ To this suppliant that question was a promise-’I will do what you want.’ He puts the key of the royal treasure-house into the hand of faith, and says, ‘Go in and help yourself. Take what you will.’
Only, of course, we must remember that there are limitations in the very nature of the case, imposed not arbitrarily, but because the very nature of the truest gifts creates them, and these limitations to some of us sound as if they took all the blessedness out of the act of prayer. ‘We know,’ says one of the Apostles, ‘that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us.’ Some of us think that that is a very poor kind of charter, but it sets the necessary limit to the omnipotence of faith. ‘What wouldst thou that I should do for thee?’ Unless our answer always, and at bottom, is, ‘Not my will, but Thine,’ we have not yet learnt the highest blessing, nor the truest meaning, of prayer. For to pray does not mean to insist, to press our wishes on God, but it means, first, to desire that our wills may be brought into harmony with His. The old Rabbis hit upon great truths now and then, and one of them said, ‘Make God’s will thy will, that He may make thy will His will.’ If any poor, blind Bartimaeus remembers that, and asks accordingly, he has the key to the royal treasury in his possession, and he may go in and plunge his hand up to the wrist in jewels and diamonds, and carry away bars of gold, and it will all be his.
When this man, who had no sight in his eyeballs, knew that whatever he wanted he should have, he did not need to pause long to consider what it was that he wanted most. If you and I had that Aladdin’s lamp given to us, and had only to rub it for a mighty spirit to come that would fulfil our wishes, I wonder if we should be as sure of what we wanted. If we were as conscious of our need as the blind man was of his, we should pause as little in our response to the question: ‘What wouldst thou that I should do for thee?’ ‘Lord! Dost Thou not see that mine eyes are dark? What else but sight can I want?’ Jesus still comes to us with the same question. God grant that we may all say; ‘Lord, how canst Thou ask us? Dost Thou not see that my soul is stained, my love wandering, my eyeballs dim? Give me Thyself!’ If we thus ask, then the answer will come as quickly to us as it did to this blind man: ‘Go thy way! Thy faith hath saved thee,’ and that ‘Go thy way’ will not be dismissal from the Presence of our Benefactor, but our ‘way’ will be the same as Bartimaeus’ was, when he received his sight, and ‘followed Jesus in the way.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v35 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CII. Bartimæus Healed].
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CII. Bartimæus Healed].
CII. BARTIMÆUS AND HIS COMPANION HEALED. (At Jericho.) aMATT. XX. 29-34; bMARK X. 46-52; cLUKE XVIII. 35-43.
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c35 And it came to pass, as he drew nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: 36 and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. [Jesus came from the Jordan, and was entering Jericho by its eastern gate. As the crowd following Jesus passed by, Bartimæus asked its meaning and learned of the presence of Jesus. Jesus on this last journey went in advance of the crowd, and hence he had already entered Jericho before the sounds of the following multitude roused [558] the beggar to question its meaning. Knowing that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he resolved to avail himself of the opportunity to be healed by him before he left the neighborhood. Not knowing how long Jesus would remain in Jericho, and not being sure of his ability to find him if he entered the city, he appears to have passed around the wall till he came to the southern gate, by which Jesus would depart on his way to Jerusalem. Here he stationed himself and waited patiently for the coming of Jesus. The persistency with which he cried when Jesus again appeared goes far to corroborate this determined preparation and fixed expectation of the beggar. While he waited at the southern gate the events narrated in Isa_64:6). In the race to win the presence of Christ on high, Christians are advised to lay aside every weight-- Heb_12:1, Heb_12:2.] cand when he was come near, bJesus answered him, casked him, band said, aWhat will ye cwilt thou athat I should do unto you? bthee? a33 They say bAnd the blind man said aunto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. cLord, bRabboni, that I may receive my sight. [Bartimæus had cried for mercy without specifying what mercy, and he had asked this mercy of Christ as the Messiah. The Lord therefore in his royal majesty asked Bartimæus to name the mercy, thus suggesting to him the fullness of the treasury of power and grace, to which he came. He was not to blame for this.] a34 And Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; b52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; cReceive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole. [We can see in this instance what faith really is. It caused Bartimæus to cry out, to come to Jesus and to ask for sight. Thus we see that faith saves by leading to proper actions.] 43 And immediately astraightway they che areceived their bhis sight, aand followed him. bin the way. cglorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. [Being a beggar, it would have been natural for him to hunt first for means of livelihood, but faith and gratitude prompted him to follow Jesus.] [561]
[FFG 558-561]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv35, 42 blind man
blind man
(See Scofield "Mat 20:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv35, 40 The Blind Man of Jericho.
The Blind Man of Jericho.
The passing of Jesus of Nazareth:
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v. 35. And it came to pass that as He was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging;
v. 36. and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.
v. 37. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
v. 38. And he cried, saying, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
v. 39. And they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace; but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
See Mat 20:29-34; Mar 10:46. Jesus had now crossed the Jordan from Perea into Judea and was nearing the city of Jericho. Near this city He healed two blind men, as Matthew relates, one before entering the city, of whom Luke tells, one upon leaving the city, whose healing Mark relates. As Jesus with & large company of people, in addition to His disciples, was nearing the city, the blind man, who sat near the gate of the city, where many people were wont to pass by, heard the sound of the many feet moving along the road and inquired as to the reason. He received the information that it was Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, who was passing by. Immediately the man acted as though he were electrified. He cried out with a loud voice, calling upon Jesus to have mercy upon him, giving Him the name which was reserved for the promised Messiah as a title of honor. From the reports concerning Jesus and His work this blind man had gained the right, the saving knowledge concerning Christ, and his faith looked up to the Master as the only one who, in His mercy, could cure him. The leaders of the multitude that were just passing the spot where the blind man was sitting, tried to hush him up, just as is often done in our days, when helpless cripples are regarded as a nuisance and treated accordingly. But the man was not daunted by their rebukes that he should hold his peace. He continued his cry to Jesus for mercy:
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv35, 38, 40, 42 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus heals a blind man as he approaches Jericho. These verses give background information and information about the setting of the story. (See: Background Information)
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It came about
This phrase is used here to mark the beginning of a new part of the story. (See: Introduction of a New Event)
a certain blind man was sitting
"there was a blind man sitting." Here "certain" means only that the man is an important new participant to the story but Luke does not mention his name. He is a new participant in the story. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
begging, and hearing
It may be helpful to start a new sentence here. AT: "begging. When he heard"
They told him
"People in the crowd told the blind man"
Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus came from the town of Nazareth, which was located in Galilee.
was passing by
"was walking past him"
translationWords
Jesus
Jericho
beg
Nazareth
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv35, 38 18:35-43 This account again demonstrates Jesus’ care for the…
18:35-43 This account again demonstrates Jesus’ care for the poor and marginalized in Israel. It reminds the reader that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah (18:38), shortly before he enters Jerusalem as king (19:28-44).
18:35 Jericho was located in an oasis in the Judean wilderness, eighteen miles (thirty kilometers) northeast of Jerusalem. At 820 feet (250 meters) below sea level, Jericho is the world’s lowest city and one of the oldest.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.