Jesus Heals a Blind Man near Jericho

Drawing ever closer to Jerusalem, we see in today’s passage, Jesus encountered a blind man who sought the restoration of his sight. Christ would heal this man, and the man’s response serves as an excellent illustration of how people respond when their eyes are opened to Jesus (Luke 18:35–43).

As we begin our look at the passage, note that this story appears in all three Synoptic Gospels, with some variations (Matt. 20:29–34; Mark 10:46–52). The most significant differences between the accounts are that Matthew reports that Jesus healed two blind men whereas Mark and Luke mention only one, and in Luke the healing occurs as Jesus approaches Jericho whereas in Matthew and Mark it occurs as Jesus is leaving the city. The first difference is not very difficult to reconcile, for if Jesus healed two men, then He most certainly healed one man. Mark and Luke tell us about only one man (Mark names him as Bartimaeus), whereas Matthew thought it appropriate to point out both men who were healed. Regarding the second difference, we have two main options. First, there were two Jerichos in those days—the old city of Jericho that existed in ruins and a new city of Jericho—which sat next to each other. The healing could have occurred as Jesus was passing out of the ruins of the old Jericho, hence Matthew and Mark’s version, on into the new Jericho, hence Luke’s version. Dr. R.C. Sproul favors this explanation in his commentary. John Calvin thinks that Luke has just condensed the account and that the man begged for assistance as Jesus approached the city but that he was not actually healed by Jesus until the Savior was leaving the city. Either way, we do not have a true contradiction.

The healing itself is notable for the blind man’s referring to Jesus as the “Son of David” (Luke 18:38–39). This blind man is the only individual in Luke’s gospel to address Jesus with that title. Remarkably, those whose eyes worked perfectly well, particularly the Jewish leadership, could not see that Jesus was the Messiah, but a man who had no physical sight could see with the eyes of faith who Jesus is. We are not surprised, then, that our Savior healed the man, proclaiming that his faith had made him well (vv. 40–42). By faith alone we receive all the blessings Jesus has to offer, including spiritual healing now and complete physical healing in the new creation (see Rev. 21:1–22:5). The formerly blind man went away glorifying God, for redemption prompts the response of worship in those whom the Lord saves.