Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 10:46

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

46 52. Passing through Jericho. Blind Bartimus

46. And they came ] Leaving behind them the upland pastures of Pera, the little company travelled along the road which led down to the sunken channel of the Jordan, and the luxuriant “district” of Jericho.

to Jericho ] This ancient stronghold of the Canaanites, taken by Joshua (Mar 2:6), founded for the second time under Hiel the Bethelite (1Ki 16:34), visited by Elisha and Elijah before the latter “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2Ki 2:4-15) was still in the days of Christ surrounded by towers and castles. Two of them lay in ruins since the time of Pompeius, but “Kypros, the last fortress built by Herod the Great, who had called it after his mother, rose white in the sun on the south of the town. The great palace of Herod, in the far-famed groves of palms, had been plundered and burnt down in the tumults that followed his death, but in its place a still grander structure, built by Archelaus, had arisen amidst still finer gardens, and more copious and delightful streams. A grand theatre and spacious circus, built by Herod, scandalized the Jews, while a great stone aqueduct of eleven arches brought a copious supply of water to the city, and the Roman military road ran through it. Geikie’s Life and Words of Christ, ii. p. 385.

as he went ] It is most probable that at the entrance of Jericho He met one of the sufferers, who having learnt from the crowd that He was passing, joined the other sufferer, whom the Saviour encountered as He was going out of the city on the following morning. (Comp. Luk 18:35; Mat 20:29-30.)

a great number ] of pilgrims accompanied our Lord, who had come from Pera and Galilee, and met at this central point to go up to the Passover, at Jerusalem.

Bartimus ] The patronymic is made into a proper name after the analogy of Bartholomew and others. The true reading seems to be the son of Timus, Bartimus, a blind man, “This account of him hints that he was a personage well known to Christians in St Mark’s time as a monument of the Lord’s miracle, as was probably also Simon the Leper; and the designation ‘son of Timus’ would distinguish him, not merely from the father but also from other sons.” Lange. As in the case of the Gadarene demoniacs, he was probably better known, and hence his case is more particularly recorded. “All the roads leading to Jerusalem, like the Temple itself, were much frequented at the time of the feasts, by beggars, who reaped a special harvest from the charity of the pilgrims.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 20:29-34.

Mar 10:46

Blind Bartimeus – Matthew says there were two. Mark mentions but one, though he does not deny that there was another. He mentions this man because he was well known – Bartimeus, the blind man.

Mar 10:50

Casting away his garment – That is, his outer garment – the one that was thrown loosely over him. See the notes at Mat 5:40. He threw it off, full of joy at the prospect of being healed, and that he might run without impediment to Jesus. This may be used to illustrate – though it had no such original reference – the manner in which a sinner should come to Jesus. He should throw away the garments of his own righteousness – he should rise speedily – should run with joy – should have full faith in the power of Jesus, and cast himself entirely upon his mercy.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mar 10:46-52

Blind Bartimeus.

Observations on the narrative of blind Bartimeus

I. Observe how singularly is the providential goodness of God displayed in the direction of the events leading to this interview. The blind man takes his place by the roadside, not to meet with Jesus or anyone else whom might restore his sight, but merely to procure from the uncertain compassion of travellers a small pittance that should serve to prolong his weary existence. Just at this juncture Jesus, having left Jericho on His way to Jerusalem, passes that way. Many travellers came and returned, but he knew them not. In this instance the rush of a multitude attracts his notice. That God who has denied him the use of sight can convey His blessings through another organ. It is affecting to think on what a trifle appear to hinge the most important relations and destinies of our existence.

II. The notice bartimeus takes of the information conveyed to him. It is with him no idle speculation. He did not fix on mere circumstantials, or on a topic of interest to others; he contemplated the matter in direct and prompt reference to his own case. Go at once to Christ, and cry so as to be heard through the crowd. The petition of Bartimeus deserves notice not less for the terms in which it is expressed than for the urgency with which it is preferred-Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. It contains a full and prompt confession of Christ in that character, in which of all others He demanded the recognition of mankind, and of that age and nation in particular, and in which He was most obnoxious to the malice of His enemies. Nor is this testimony to Christ as the Son of David less valuable as an indication of great faith in the covenant mercies of God as set forth in prophecy (Isa 55:3; Psa 72:12).

III. The cold and chilling repulse which he met with, not from Jesus but from the bystanders, perhaps even the disciples, for they had not yet learnt much of the spirit of the Master. Some undervalue accessions to the kingdom of Christ from the ranks of the poor. Indifference and suspicion often hinder religious inquiry.

IV. The conduct of bartimeus. When thwarted in your approach to the Saviour how has it operated? it has grieved you; but has it driven you back? Like the tide pent up, which bursting every barrier, rushes with accumulated force, Bartimeus is prompted by this ungracious repulse to cry so much the more. Go thou and do likewise.

V. Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought. Of what importance is it, in the career of the great mass of individuals, when they move along or when they stop? There are men whose movements are eyed with anxious care. The steps of a Caesar, an Alexander, or a Napoleon, have borne hope or dread with them; the incidental halting of such characters has been identified with the fate of a city or a province. It is only of such as preach the gospel of peace that we can say, How beautiful are their feet upon the mountains. The cry of one poor man was of sufficient importance to arrest Christ in His progress.

VI. The commands are obeyed with alacrity.

VII. The same promptitude and determination which bartimeus before manifested guides him in this new aspect of affairs. His tattered cloak is cast away as a hindrance. He has an all-absorbing object before him. The sinner rejects as idle encumbrances his self-righteousness and self-indulgence, which have clung to him as his second self, and rushes alone into the arms of a compassionate Saviour.

VIII. The scene now increases in interest. The man is healed in the way of inquiry, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? This is the way disconsolate sinners are encouraged to tell their own tale.

IX. What reply is made to this inquiry? Lord, that I might receive my sight. He came by the shortest step to the matter in hand; in prayer we should have a specific object in view.

X. How it succeeded in the case before us? Go thy way. (A. G. Fuller.)

Sightless sinners

I. We look closely at Bartimeus on this occasion. It is true that Jesus is the centre of the picture, as He always is. But this miracle is peculiar in that the details of it am more than usually brilliant as an illustration of simple human nature in the one who receives the advantage of it.

1. The state of this poor creature is given at a stroke of the pen. It would be difficult to crowd more biography into one verse than we find in here. He was sightless. He had come to be called by that name, Blind Bartimeus. He was a pauper. Begging was his business. He was a professional mendicant. We do not look upon him as one who had got behind-hand for a little, and so was out on the street for a day or two, until he could get into employment. He sat by the highway side begging. He was helpless. There is no evidence that he had any friends who cared for him; they would have made themselves conspicuous after his cure, if there had been many of them. He was hopeless. It was impossible for him to do anything; he could not see to learn a trade. He was unpopular. Anybody had a right to snub him, the moment he said a word (see Luk 18:39). He was uneasy, and fiercely on the alert to better his condition.

2. Now notice his action. Here we need the verse which has just been quoted from Lukes Gospel, for a link between the two apparently disjointed verses of Marks (see Mar 10:47). The way in which this man heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth is shown there; the multitude told him. Bartimeus sought information. He was not too proud to acknowledge he did not know. Does anyone suppose this poor beggar got offended because someone insisted that he was sightless? If a neighbour had showed himself a little friendly, and proposed to lead him up for a cure, would Bartimeus simply spite him for being impertinent about other peoples concerns? Then, next, this blind man began to ask for help (see Luk 18:38-39). His request was singularly comprehensive and intelligent. His cry was personal and direct: have mercy on me. He wastes no time in graceful opening or becoming close; what he wanted he tells. His prayer was courageous and importunate (see Mar 10:48). Bartimeus then rose, and came to Jesus. It would have been the height of folly for him to say to himself, If it is the will of this rabbi to open my eyes, he can do it from a distance just as well as if I were there. Then, also, this blind man put away the hindrance which it was likely would delay him in going for his cure (Mar 10:50). A simple garment, no doubt, but almost indispensable to him. Still, if it interfered with the restoration of his eyesight, it could well be spared.

3. Notice, in the next place, Bartimeuss full surrender (see Mar 10:51). Two things are to be noted in this remarkable speech. We shall not understand either of them unless we keep in mind the most singular question which Jesus puts to the man, the moment he comes within hearing. It was not because He did not know this beggars condition, that our Lord asked him so abruptly what he would have Him to do. It must have been because He desired to fasten his faith upon one chief object of supreme desire. There was no end to the needs of Bartimeus: he wanted food, friends, clothing, home, everything that anybody demands in order to make a mendicant a man. But, more than all besides, he wanted eyesight; and he found that out when he went in upon his own soul to make inquiry. This explains his reply. He speaks with a declaration, Lord. This address, most inadequately Tendered here in Marks Gospel, means far more than mere respect. The word in Luke is different from this; here it is actually the same as that Mary Magdalene uses when she discovers that one she thought was the gardener is Jesus: Rabboni! There is concentrated in just a single word, a whole burst of generous and affectionate feeling: My Master! Faith, reverence, love unspeakable, adoring wonder, were in that word. He speaks with an ellipsis. As, before, we found more in his utterance than we expected, so now we find less. Bartimeus does not reply directly to our Lords question. He cannot: how could he know what a miracle worker should do? All he knew was what he himself wanted to be done. So his answer would read in full: I do not understand what Thou writ do, nor even what I would have thee to do-oh, do anything, anything-that I might receive my sight!

4. Once more, notice Bartimeuss cure (Mar 10:52). It was instantaneous-immediately. It was perfect-whole. It was sovereign-go thy way. It was complete, including salvation-thy faith hath saved thee (see Luk 18:42).

5. Lastly, notice the mans experience (Luk 18:43). He was full of joy; a new world had been suddenly opened upon him. He was obedient: he followed Jesus as a disciple. He was grateful: he glorified God. He was zealous. We may be sure he left not so much as one blind man in all Jericho without the knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh that all the blind but knew Him, and would be advised by me! Surely would they hasten to Him, He would cause them all to see.

II. So much then, concerning this miracle as a wonder; let us now study its lessons as a parable. It very beautifully pictures the steps of a sinner coming for spiritual relief to Jesus; the state, the action, the surrender, the cure, the experience. Indeed, this was a real part of the story that day.

1. Sightlessness is the symbol of sin. Not darkness now, for Christ has come (see Joh 8:12). The trouble is in the heart (see Eph 3:18). Who did this? (see 2Co 4:4). How deep is it? (see Rev 3:18).

2. Sin destroys the whole nature. We do not say Bartimeus was injured in any of his senses except his eyes. But his blindness made him a beggar. His touch, hearing, and taste may have been perfect: indeed, they may have been rendered sensitive, sharp, and alert more than usual. But he walked as a blind man, he reasoned as a blind man, he thought as a blind man, and he went to his regular stand as a blind man, and then begged.

3. Awakening of sinners is often due to Christian fidelity.

4. In the salvation of his soul the sinner has a work to do. It is of no use to fall back on ones blindness; the first step is to confess blindness, and go to Christ for help.

5. Prayer is indispensable in every case. No one can be saved who will not ask for salvation. The petition might well become a cry. And whatever hinders, let the man continue to pray, and pray the more a great deal.

6. All hindrances must be put away if one is in ear, eat to be saved. Many a man has seemed to start well, but has been tangled in the running by his garments of respectability, fame, fortune, social standing, literary eminence, or pleasant companionship. One may obtain the whole world, and lose his own soul.

7. Jesus is always ready to save anyone who cries to Him. Oh, most impressive moment is that when the Lord of Glory pauses in the way, and commands a soul to be called!

8. Unqualified acceptance of Christ in all His offices is the essential condition of acceptance by Him. The sinner must say Lord, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of David, and Rabboni.

9. Experience of salvation is the instrument to use incur efforts to save others. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

How to procure blessing from God

I. Cry aloud. What is the noise? asks this blind man. Who is it? Jesus, they say. And at once he cries, Son of David, have mercy on me. Hush, say some; hush,-not liking the loudness of the cry, nor the shrill, sad tone of it. But Bartimeus only cries the louder. Misery often makes a great noise in the world, a great and displeasing noise, if it can but get opportunity to make its want and its woe known. Surely, happy people should be ready to bear with the disturbance a little time; for misery has perhaps had to bear its sorrow for a long time.

II. Be in earnest. It has always needed an effort to come at Jesus. You must not be discouraged by hindrances.

III. Cast off incumbrances. The blind man throws aside his garment, lest it should hamper him, in his eagerness to get at Christ. Give him his sight, and he will not care even to look for this soiled and tattered garment any more, but will find a better. People that have their eyes opened will at the very least get their clothes washed. A neat, decent dress is often an early sign that a man is becoming careful who has hitherto been reckless. And new talk, new tempers, new estimates of things, are garments of the spiritual man, that show he has become a new man. (T. T. Lynch.)

The blind beggar of Jericho

This man is a picture of what we would fain have every seeker of Christ to become. In his lonely darkness, and deep poverty, he thought and became persuaded that Jesus was the Son of David. Though he had no sight, he made good use of his hearing. If we have not all gifts, let us use those we have.

I. He sought the Lord under discouragements.

1. No one prompted his seeking.

2. Many opposed his attempts.

3. For awhile he was unheeded by Christ Himself.

4. He was but a blind beggar, and this alone might have checked some pleaders.

II. He received encouragement. This came from Christs commanding him to be called. There are several kinds of calls which come to men at the bidding of Christ.

1. Universal call (Joh 3:14-15).

2. Character call (Mat 11:28; Act 2:38-39).

3. Ministerial call (Act 13:26; Act 13:38-39; Act 16:31).

4. Effectual call (Rom 8:30).

III. But encouragement did not content him: he still sought Jesus. To stop short of Jesus and healing would have been folly indeed.

1. He arose. Hopefully, resolutely, he quitted his begging posture. In order to salvation we must be on the alert, and in earnest.

2. He cast away his garment, and every hindrance.

3. He came to Jesus.

4. He stated his case.

5. He received salvation. Jesus said unto him, Thy faith hath made thee whole. He obtained perfect eyesight: complete health.

IV. Having found Jesus he kept to him.

1. He used his sight to see the Lord.

2. He became His avowed disciple.

3. He went with Jesus on His way to the cross, and to the crown.

4. He remained a well-known disciple, whose fathers name is given. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

This man came out of cursed Jericho

Are there not some to come from our slums and degraded districts? This man at least was a beggar, but the Lord Jesus did not disdain his company. He was a standing glory to the Lord, for everyone would know him as the blind man whose eyes had been opened. Let seeking souls persevere under all drawbacks. Do not mind those who would keep you back. Let none hinder you from finding Christ and salvation. Though blind, and poor, and miserable, you shall yet see, and smile, and sing, and follow Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Blind Bartimeus

;-

I. We take those points which speak to us of our Lord. We are struck by the obvious fact that though attended by a wondering joyful crowd, He has an ear, grace, gifts, for the one; so to the one miserable man. We are apt to think the Lord of all has so many dependent upon Him, our distress may be overlooked by Him; and this fear is strongest when we are weakest. Lord, that I may receive my sight. Receive thy sight responds Christ. Christ gives us just as much as we can take-as much as we really ask for.

II. Let us now glance at bartimeus and his faith. It is to his faith that our Lord attributes his healing; therefore our attention is specially called to it. It was surprisingly great. There was pertinacity in his faith. Those who stand near Christ may rebuke the cry for mercy. The doctrinal rebuke. The philosophical rebuke. (S. Cox, D. D.)

The gate of the city

The gate of the city was, in the East, the favourite resort of the mendicant class; for there, not only must all travellers, and caravans, and peasants bringing their wares to market, pass them by, but the broad side arches of the gate, with their cool recesses and divans, were the justice halls in which suits and quarrels were adjusted, and the lounging place in which, when the labours of the day were over, the citizens gathered to discuss their local politics or to enjoy their neighbourly gossip. The very reason, therefore, which draws the beggars of Italy to the fountains or the steps of churches, and the beggars of Ireland to the doors of hotels, or to the spots haunted by tourists, and the beggars of England to the crowded thoroughfares and market places, drew the beggars of the East, and still draws them, to the gates of the cities. There men most congregate, and there they are most likely to meet some response to their appeals for pity and help. (S. Cox, D. D.)

Prayer of a solitary individual heard

You have seen a mother laughing and making merry with happy friends. Suddenly she pauses, listens, and leaves the noisy room. She has heard a tiny wail of distress which you could not hear, and she cannot be content till the cry of her babe be hushed, its wants satisfied. And shall God, who made the mothers heart, be less tender, less pitiful, than the creature He has made? I tell you, Nay; but as one whom his mother comforteth, so will God comfort all the distressed who cry to Him. (S. Cox, D. D.)

The blind beggar

I. The origin of this poor blind mans faith.

II. Its quickness in grasping the gracious opportunity.

III. Listen to this faith whilst it cries and begs.

IV. Observe how eagerly it obeyed the call.

V. Listen to this faith describing his case. He told it at once. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Thy blind man a earners cries

Wherever Jesus Christ is found, His presence is marvellously mighty Providence at all times co-works with grace in the salvation of the chosen people.

I. The blind mans earnestness as a contrast to the behaviour of many hearers of the word. By a very short sermon he was led to prayer. Instead of praying over sermons, a great many disport themselves with them. Some are anxious for others, whilst this man cried for himself.

II. Notice this mans intense desire as an absorbing passion. Some plead the excuse of poverty, and demands of business; and these are the two obstacles that Bartimeus overcame. Passover: and the passover time when roads crowded with pilgrims, was his harvest.

III. His vehemence was a most reasonable zeal. He knew the misery of blindness. He was a beggar, and had learned the weakness of man. He knew that Jesus Christ was near. He felt it was now or never.

IV. He experienced checks in his prayer.

V. His importunity at last became so mighty, that rebuffs became arguments with him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A great number of people.–

Christ and His many followers

I. That the followers of Christ are not necessarily his friends or true disciples. He went out of Jericho with His disciples, and a great number of people.

1. In the multitudes who accompanied Jesus out of Jericho, some, doubtless, followed Him out of mere curiosity.

2. Some followed because it was just then fashionable to do so.

3. Some followed with a view to future worldly advantage.

4. Such following is generally useless, deceptive, and mischievous, being of no real or permanent advantage to anyone.

(1) It confers no substantial benefit on any Christian country.

(2) It is of no real advantage to those followers themselves.

II. The text suggests to us that among a multitude of Christs followers you may generally expect to find some friends. With His disciples. Out of those who follow from curiosity Christ is drawing many real followers.

1. This should encourage us to persevere in our own following.

2. This should encourage us in relation to other followers. (J. Morgan.)

Christ and the true friends

I. That the true friends of Christ should follow Him constantly, closely, and collectively. But why should we be anxious to follow Christ thus?

1. Because it would gratify and glorify Christ.

2. Because it would bring great blessings to our own souls.

3. Because such following would exert a blessed influence over our fellow creatures.

II. But while the friends of Christ should thus follow Him constantly, closely, and collectively, they should also preach Him simply, directly, and lovingly. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

1. The sermon was a very simple one.

2. It was a very evangelical one.

3. It was a very sympathetic or loving one. (J. Morgan.)

A great number of people

There he sits hoping for mere worldly gain. He has not come to meet Christ. It was not in all his thoughts to get his eyes opened. How many like him are before me-dying sinners on whom Gods curse is resting, who yet did not come to secure the great salvation. God grant a further parallel; that you may get what you did not come for, even a solemn meeting and saving closing of your souls with Jesus Christ. A multitude with Jesus! a multitude of followers! How can He then complain, I have laboured in vain, I have spent My strength for nought? Simply because He had many followers, but few friends. A multitude with Jesus! But it is not all following that blesses. A multitude with Jesus! Yes, when His march is at all triumphal-when as He goes He invests His progress with the splendour of miracles, there will be no want of a crowd to gape after Him. A multitude with Jesus! Take care, then, ye members of the Church. Examine yourselves closely. Profession of religion is easy now. Numbers give power, respectability, fashion, even enthusiasm. A multitude with Jesus! Blessed be God, in that multitude some true disciples may be found; some who, though weak and sinning, forward, like Peter, when they should be backward, and then backward, of course, when they should be forward; ambitious, like Zebedees children, or doubting, like Thomas, are still true friends of Jesus, living for Him, suffering for Him, growing like Him day by day, and dying for Him without a murmur, if He so appoint. Among the professed people of God there have always been real people of God. And hearing the multitude. Oh, what a blessing is that! His ears are open though his eyes are shut. Thus God remembers to be gracious. Where He takes one mercy He leaves another. My text shall be my guide. The roadside was the church, the multitude preached, and Bartimeus was the hearer. And now for the sermon-And they told him, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by! Jesus of Nazareth passeth by! So you see it was a powerful sermon. It went to the heart and took complete possession of it. It was a very simple sermon. Who cannot preach it? Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. There is no follower of Jesus who cannot tell poor blind souls this. A good preacher tries to make all truth simple. He is a bad shepherd, say the old writers, who holds the hay too high for the sheep. According to Lord Bacon, little minds love to inflate plain things into marvels, while great minds love to reduce marvels to plain things. The very essence of truth, says Milton, is plainness and brightness; the darkness and crookedness are our own. Better the grammarian should reprehend, says Jenkyn, than the people not understand. Pithy plainness is the beauty of preaching. What good doth a golden key that opens not? An old lady once walked a great way to hear the celebrated Adam Clarke preach. She had heard he was such a scholar, as indeed he was. But she was bitterly disappointed, because, said she, I understood everything he said. And I knew a man who left the church one morning quits indignant, because the preacher had one thing in his sermon he knew before! It was a little explanation meant for the children; dear little things-they are always coming on, and I love to see their bright little faces among the older people. We used to need and prize these simple explanations, and why shouldnt they have them in their turn? But, best of all, this sermon was about Christ. He is mentioned alone. The excellency of a sermon, says Flavel, lies in the plainest discoveries and liveliest applications of Jesus Christ. He passeth by! Now is your time; make haste to secure your salvation. How near He is! He passeth by in the light of every Sabbath sun, in every church built to His name, in every reading of His Word, in every gospel sermon, in sacraments and prayers and psalms, but most of all in every movement of His Spirit on the heart. But He passeth by! He will not always tarry. The day of grace is not forever. Its sun will go down, and the night that follows is eternal despair. Christ never passed that way again; He may never pass your way again. That was His last visit to Jericho; this call may be His last visit to you. This was Bartimeus only opportunity; today maybe your only opportunity. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

Blind Bartimeus.–

Three kinds of blindness

The eye of the body may be out, and we have no name for the result but blindness. The eye of the intellect may be out, and we name the result idiocy. We say the man is a fool. The eye of the soul may be out, and God names the result wickedness. He calls the man a sinner. Think of Bartimeus. He rose this morning, and his wife blessed him, his children climbed his knees and kissed him. They ministered to his wants. They led him a little way by the hand. But he did not see them. He knew of them, but he could not behold them. Their smiles or beauty were nothing to him-he was blind. Think of yourself, O sinner! You rose this morning, and the eye of your heavenly Father looked upon you. His hand led you, His power guarded you, His goodness blessed you. But your soul did not see Him. A vague idea that God had done it all may have occurred to you, but it had no vividness. He was no blessed reality to you. You saw not the lineaments of a father-the loving eye, the benignant smile. You saw nothing-your soul was blind. Think again of Bartimeus. He went abroad, and the rich valley of the Jordan spread out before him. The stately palms rose toward heaven, and waved their feathery tops in the early breeze. The gardens of balsam were clothed in their delicate spring verdure, and Jericho sat in the midst of these vernal glories, deserving its name-Jericho, the place of fragrance, deserving its frequent description among the ancient writers-the City of Palms. And high above all was the blue sky, bending over as if to embrace and bless so much loveliness of earth; and the great sun, filling earth and sky and balmy air with glory. But what was all this to Bartimeus? It might have been narrow and black for aught he could tell. It was an utter blank, a dreadful gloom to him. All was night, black, black night, with no star. Why was it so to him, when to others it was splendour and joy? Ah! he was blind. Unregenerate man, think again of yourself. You went abroad this morning, on an earth once cursed, as of old Jericho had been, but spared and blessed by redeeming mercy, even as Jericho was that day blessed by the presence and healing grace of Jesus. Around you, too, was spread a world of spiritual beauty. The walls and bulwarks and stately palaces of the city of our God were before you. The rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the vine, the palm, the olive, and the fig tree all stood about you in the garden of the Lord. Through them flowed the river of life, reflecting skies more high and clear than the azure of summer mornings ever imagined, and lit to its measureless depth by a sun more glorious than ever poured splendour even upon Eden, in our poor worlds ancient prime. You walked forth amid all this beauty, and many saw it-none perfectly, yet some very blessedly-but you saw nothing. You see nothing now. Nay, you cannot see it. Strain your blind soul as you will, you cannot see it. I see a beautiful mother gaze anxiously on her babe. She is trying a fearful experiment. She stretches out her arms to it, beseeches it with loving looks, holds out sparkling jewels to it, and flashes them before its eyes in the very sunshine at the open window. But the little eyes move not, or move aimlessly, and turn vacantly away. And she cries out in anguish, Oh, my poor child is blind! And now I understand why even tender children turn away from Christ, seeing no beauty in Him that they should desire Him, and caring nothing for all His smiles or tears, or offers of the rich jewelry of heaven. They see nothing of it all. They are blind, born blind. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

The danger of the blind

I once saw a man walk along the edge of a precipice as if it were a plain. For anything he knew, it was a plain, and safe. He was calm and fearless, not because there was no danger, but because he was blind. And who cannot now understand how men so wise, so cautious in most things, can go so securely, so carelessly, even so gaily on, as if everything were safe for eternity, while snares and pitfalls are all about them, and death may be just at hand, and the next step may send them down the infinite abyss! Oh, we see it, we see it-they are blind! A blind man is more taken up with what he holds in his hand, than with mountains, ocean, sun, or stars. He feels this; but those he can neither touch nor see. And now it is plain why unconverted men undervalue doctrine, saying, that it is no matter what a man believes, so his heart is right; that one doctrine is as good as another, and for that matter, no doctrines are good for much; and that they dont believe in doctrinal preaching at any rate. They, forsooth, they! blind worms, pronouncing contemptuously of the stupendous heights and glories of Gods revelation, where alone we learn what we are to believe concerning Him, and what duty He requires of us. It is plain, too, why they see no preciousness in the promises, no glory in Christ, no beauty in holiness, no grandeur in the work of redemption; why they make a mock at sin, despise Gods threatenings, brave His wrath, make light of the blood of Christ, jest at death, and rush headlong on certain perdition. They are blind. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

Light no remedy for blindness

But we want to see them. If they are real, they are our concern as well as yours. Oh, that some preacher would come, who had power to make us see them! Poor souls, there is no such preacher, and you need not wait for him. Let him gather Gods light as he will, he can but pour it on blind eyes. A burning glass will condense sunbeams into a focus of brightness; and if a blind eye be put there, not a whit will it see, though it be consumed. Light is the remedy for darkness, not blindness. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

Blindness disqualifies the critic

Let the people of God no more wonder then at the clamours of infidels against the Scriptures. Would you heed a blind man criticising pictures, or raving against your summer skies? If he denies that the sun has brightness, or the mountains grandeur, will you believe him? And if a hundred blind men should all declare that they cannot see the stars, and argue learnedly that there can be no stars, and then grow witty and laugh as you as stargazers, would the midnight heavens be less glorious to you? When these men had thus satisfactorily demonstrated their blindness, would not the mighty works of God still prove their bright reality to your rejoicing vision? Would they not still declare His glory and show His handiwork? And shall the spiritually blind be more trusted? (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

The blind man happy

In a journal of a tour through Scotland, by the Rev. C. Simeon, of Cambridge, we have the following passage:-Went to see Lady Rosss grounds. Here also I saw blind men weaving. May I never forget the following fact. One of the blind men, on being interrogated with respect to his knowledge of spiritual things, answered, I never saw till I was blind: nor did I ever know contentment when I had my eyesight, as I do now that I have lost it: I can truly affirm, though few know how to credit me, that I would on no account change my present situation and circumstances with any that I ever enjoyed before I was blind. He had enjoyed eyesight till twenty-five, and had been blind now about three years. My soul, Mr. Simeon adds, was much affected and comforted with his declaration. Surely there is reality in religion.

Begging.–

When may a man be called poor

Is wealth for the body alone? Has She heart no riches? May not a mind be impoverished, a soul be bankrupt? Ah! yes, there are riches besides money, wealth to which gold and rubies are as nothing. A man is poor when his need is not supplied. The higher the wants, the deeper the kind of poverty, the more the want, the deeper its degree. A man with neither food nor shelter is poorer than he who lacks shelter only. And is not the man without love or hope poorer than he who has merely no fire nor bread? Who shall deny the name of poor to him whose soul is unfurnished? What is the chaff to the wheat, the body to the soul? Are not the souls desires larger and more insatiable than those of the flesh? Does not the heart hunger? Is there no such thing as a famine of truth and love? Do desolate spirits never cower and shiver and freeze, like houseless wretches in stormy winter nights? Night and winter and storm-are they not also for the soul? And when it has no home in its desolations, no refuge from its foes, no shelter from the blast, no food for its hunger, no consolation in its sorrows, is it not poor? poor in the deepest poverty, which almost alone deserves the name of poverty? How much of such poverty is there, dwelling in princely halls, clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day! How often does it walk in royal processions, and flash with jewels, and handle uncounted gold. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

Every sinner is a beggar

How can it be otherwise? Can such poverty be independent? In outward poverty, a well-furnished mind, a wealthy soul may be an inward solace. But when it is the soul that is bankrupt, there is no region still within, where it may retire and comfort itself. It will seek for happiness, and it must look without-it is forced to beg. And thus I see poor, guilty, blinded souls begging-begging of earth and sky, and air and sea, of every passing event, of one another, of all but the great and merciful God, who would supply all their need through Jesus Christ. They must beg. The vast desires of the soul, which God gave that they might be filled from Himself, and which nothing but His own fulness can satisfy; the noble powers degraded to work with trifles; the aspirations which thrill only as they mount heavenward, but now struggle and pant like an eagle with broken wing, and his breast in the dust; the deathless conscience, filled with guilt and touched with unappeasable wrath, drugged indeed, and often sleeping heavily, but waking surely, and then lashing the soul inexorably-all these compel it to be a beggar. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

Begging begins in childhood

We beg then with eager hope. We are sure we shall not be disappointed. Games, holidays, sight-seeing, all promise much, and childhood begs them to make it blessed. Vexed, wearied, sent empty away again and again, the boy sees, further on, the youth, pursuing his great hopes, and hastens to join him, confident that in higher excitements and larger liberty, in new aspirations and tenderer love, his souls thirst shall be slaked. Deluded once more, he grows sober and wise and firm. He is older. He is a man. He lays deep plans now, puts on a bolder face, and begs with sterner importunity. He can take no denial. He must have happiness; he will be blessed. Fame, wealth, power-these have the hidden treasure he has sought so long. He knows now where it is, and they must give it up. Years are passing, his time will soon be gone, and now he begs indeed! How these idols lead his soul captive! How he toils, cringes, grovels, sacrifices for their favour! Fame, wealth, power-deceitful gods!-still promise that tomorrow the long-sought good shall be given. But how many tomorrows come and go, and leave him still trusting to the next! Now he forsakes the pleasures he might have, dries up the fountains of his early love, sweeps all sentiment from his heart, crushes his dearest affections, tasks every power to the utmost, wrings out his hearts blood, and lays all his soul before his idols feet-and is disappointed! Disappointed alike in failure and success! If he wins the prize, this is not what he coveted, and worshipped, and bargained away his soul for, and he curses it for a cheat. If he fails, he still believes that the true good was there, and he was near it; and he curses the chance, or envy, or hate which snatched it from his grasp. But who shall describe the base arts of this beggary? The disguises, the pretences, the fawnings-all the low tricks of street beggars-are adopted and eclipsed by those who will be rich, will be great, will have fame. And what are the profits of thus begging the world for what God alone can give? Observe a street beggar for a while. How many go by and give nothing, where one drops even a penny in the hat! So many of the passing things of time refuse altogether to give the soul the good it asks. See again. Do you mark the impudent leer of that mean boy? He knows the beggar is blind, and so he comes up pretending sympathy, and puts a pebble, a chip in that trembling hand. So a thousand times have you seen the world do for a begging soul. But there comes a still meaner boy; he puts that which, when the grateful old mans hand closes on it pierces or stings it, and, laughing loudly in the blind, bewildered face, he runs away. And thus have I seen the gay, polished world put a sparkling cup to the young mans lips; but when at last it bit him like a serpent and stung him like an adder, the polished world, jeered his imprudence, and turned him from its door. His excesses and agony and death must not be seen there! And when the beggars gains for the day are fairly counted, what are they? A few copper coins, foul with gangrene, and little bits of silver, rarely,-enough to buy a scanty meal and a poor lodging, and tomorrow all is to begin again. And thus the world gives-few pleasures, low pleasures, brief pleasures. They stay the souls hunger for a while, but never satisfy it, so that straightway we must go out and beg again. The world never raised a mans soul above beggary. It is both too selfish and too poor. It gives but little of what it has, and if it gave all, gave itself, that would not fill and bless an immortal soul. These things make me think how sadly all this begging from the world ends. The hour comes when the world can do no more. It is a bitter hour-an hour of pain and anguish, of weakness and despair-the hour of death. The world is roaring away as ever, in business and mirth, all unconscious that the poor man who loved and worshipped it so, is dying. But oh, the begging of God which now begins! Bitter crying to Him whose gracious heart has been waiting to bless these many years, waiting in vain for one sigh of contrition, one prayer of faith to His infinite grace! But it is too late. His patient, insulted Spirit has been grieved at length. He has departed. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

And when he heard.–

And when he heard

Eternal salvation depends on right hearing. There are just two kinds of hearing, not three. There is a hearing unto life, and another hearing unto death; but there is no hearing between-none to indifference. You may try to hear merely that you may hear, and let that be the end of it-but that will not be the end of it. The end of it will be life or death! You may resolve that the preaching shall make no difference in you; but it will make a difference in you, and the difference will be salvation or perdition! The gospel leaves no man where it found him. If it be not wings to bear him to heaven, it will be a millstone to sink him to hell. Some of you think it the lightest of pastimes to come to church and hear a sermon.

I. His hearing led him to action. His very soul seemed to be roused, and he began to do something. Oh, for a pulse of life in those frozen hearts! A flush of blood, even though it were angry blood, in those pale cheeks! I came to break your head, said a man once to Whitefield, but by the grace of God you have broken my heart. That was a vile purpose to go to church with, but if he had gone in a complacent frame, and quietly slept or coolly criticised the preacher, it would have been far worse. He would not have carried away that priceless treasure-a broken heart. If what we say is true, why do you not act upon it? If false, how can you bear to be charged with it? If our charges are false, they are also insulting and outrageous. If you believe them to be false, your conduct, in hearing them so calmly, and coming back to hear them again, and even sometimes applauding us for the vehement way in which we assail and denounce you, is perfectly astonishing. Or if you say you believe these things to be true, your conduct is still more amazing. If true, they should concern you infinitely: yet you are not concerned at all. You will call Bartimeus a fool if he does not try to get his eyes opened this very day. But what name will you reserve for yourselves, if, while I this day, as one of these ambassadors of God, offer you pardon and healing and eternal life through Jesus Christ, who now passes by to bestow them, you once more refuse the Saviour, and go on as before toward perdition?

II. This reveals to us the second mark of right hearing-it fills a man with earnestness. If he has heard such truth as he ought, he not only acts, but acts with energy. Thus Bartimeus acted. When he heard he cried out. So it must be with you, O sinners. If you would enter heaven you must be in earnest about it. Let us now see how this earnestness found expression. So shall we have another mark of true hearing.

III. When the gospel is heard aright, it leads to prayer. This was the first thing Bartimeus did, when he was told that Jesus was passing by-he prayed. And this is always the first thing for a lost sinner who hears of Christ-let him pray. A soul truly in earnest after salvation will cry for help. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and when our strength fails, prayer is natures messenger for helpers. And when did nature fail to pray in her need? Hunger will beg and pain cry out. Though the fever have caused madness, the sufferer will still cry for water. None need teach the babe to clamour for its nurture. Birds can plead for their young, and the dog entreat you, with all the power of speech, to follow him to the forest, where his master lies robbed and bleeding. And has the soul no voice in its sickness unto death? Is the instinct of the brute a sure guide, and do the reason and conscience of men slumber or lie? Or are they quicksighted and honest about bodily wants and earthly things, only to show themselves utterly besotted, when glory, honour, and immortality are at stake? When your souls are in jeopardy, must you be plied with such urgency before you will cry for help? If the voice of grace, sometimes warning, sometimes inviting, cannot wake you and bring you to your knees, God will try the voice of unmixed vengeance.

IV. And do it at once. Promptness is another mark of a good hearer of the gospel. It is found in Bartimeus. And when he heard, that is, as soon as he heard, he began to cry out. But what need of such haste? Jesus is going slowly, he might say, and some little while must pass before He is gone. Be sure I will be in time. Or if He does get a little out of sight, Bartimeus might say, while I am attending to some little matters, I will run after Him and call Him. But I only want a little time, and that for most important business, Bartimeus might plead. But if Bartimeus choose to attend to his alms instead of his eyes, see if he has not a still stronger reason. Begging is not only his business, but this happens to be a very busy season, as we say in the city, or harvest time, as they say in the country. A multitude was passing! He might go home almost rich-might almost retire from business! And after all has not Providence given him this opportunity, and would it be exactly right to throw it away? So have I heard professors of religion and non-professors reason. So do they put earths business above all the calls of God.

V. and VI. Two other marks of a good hearer of the gospel are found in Bartimeus. He heard with faith and humility. He trusted in Jesus and was lowly in heart. His faith even outran the word of the multitude. They spoke of Jesus of Nazareth,-Nazareth of Galilee-a despised town of a despised province: but he could call Him Son of David, and Lord. And how deep was his humility! He hid nothing, pretended nothing. He came as he was. Blind, he came as blind. Poor, he came as poor. A beggar, he came as a beggar. And so it is always. Faith and humility meet in the sinners experience, not as occasional companions only; they ever walk lovingly together as sisters. They cannot separate. Like the Siamese twins they live in each others presence alone; should they part, they would die. A sinner cannot believe in Jesus and not be humble; he cannot be truly humble without believing in Jesus. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

That he should hold his peace.–

That he should hold his peace

There is never a knock at heavens gate but it sounds through hell, and devils come out to silence it. The ungodly world bids anxious souls to hold their peace. It cannot bear the sinners distress. If his conscience is disturbed its own is not quite easy. Therefore the world sets itself to make an end of these convictions. For this it has innumerable devices. It will flatter or curse. For some it has persecutions, for others promotions. But I pause not on any of these. I wish now to address the professed people of God. I say, then, plainly: you are in great danger every day of rebuking anxious souls, and charging them to hold their peace.

I. By injudicious criticism of sermons you may stifle convictions and drive sinners away from Christ. I cannot better illustrate this caution than by a true narrative from The Central Presbyterian. A pious lady once left a church in this city (Richmond), in company with her husband, who was not a professor of religion. She was a woman of unusual vivacity, with a keen perception of the ludicrous and often playfully sarcastic. As they walked along toward home, she began to make some amusing and spicy comments on the sermon, which a stranger, a man of very ordinary talents and awkward manner, had preached that morning in the absence of the pastor. After running on in this vein of sportive criticism for some time, surprised at the profound silence of her husband, she turned and looked up in his face. He was in tears. That sermon had sent an arrow of conviction to his heart! What must have been the anguish of the conscience-stricken wife, thus arrested in the act of ridiculing a discourse which had been the means of awakening the anxiety of her unconverted husband!

II. Beware also of unseasonable levity after solemn appeals.

III. This brings to mind another way by which you may bid sinners hold their peace-by blindness to any beginning concern. Would you see how you should watch? Come with me to the chamber where a babe lies dying. A breathless messenger has gone for the physician, but still he comes not. How the worn mother gazes on her little sufferer in an agony of fondness and fear; how she sinks in anguish before the mercy seat, and pleads like the Syrophenician woman at the feet of Jesus; how she rises wildly, and watches at the window for the physician; how at every sound of wheels she flushes with eagerness, and then grows sick at heart as they turn the corner, and the sound dies away; how she springs to the door as his well-known step is heard on the stair; and then, as he searches every symptom, how she waits on his every look, living on a gleam of hope, ready to die if his face is darkened by a cloud!

IV. Nor is this the worst. Professing parents often lay plans for their children directly opposed to the Spirits work. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

Pertinacity successful in the end

Success in this world comes only to those who exhibit determination. Can we hope for salvation unless our mind is truly set upon it? Grace makes a man to be as resolved to be saved as this beggar was to get to Jesus, and gain his sight. I must see him! said an applicant at the door of a public person. You cannot see him, said the servant; but the man waited at the door. A friend went out to him, and said, You cannot see the master, but I can give you an answer. No, he replied; I will stay all night on the doorstep, but I will see the man himself. He alone will serve my turn. You do not wonder that, after many rebuffs, he ultimately gained his point: it would be infinitely greater wonder if an importunate sinner did not obtain an audience from the Lord Jesus. If you must have grace, you shall have it. If you will not be put off, you shall not be put off. Whether things look favourable or unfavourable, press you on till you find Jesus, and you shall find Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

And Jesus stood still.–

Arresting Christ

When Jesus thus stood still, He was on His way for the last time to Jerusalem. His hour was drawing nigh, and He was hastening to meet it. Can He be arrested in this journey? Where is the event mighty enough to stay His course? What destiny of man or empire is worthy even of a thought from Him now? He stood still. Let us also stand and admire. Here let us learn the grace of our Redeemer, and lay up in our hearts the blessed teaching. Then may we learn how unreasonable and how unnatural is a favourite clamour of infidels against the gospel. They say they cannot believe that the Son of God came to this world and died for its redemption. This world is too small and mean in the great scale of the universe, to allow them to think that the Creator of countless millions of glorious suns and systems, could have stooped to love and care and suffer and die for the poor creatures of a day, who live on this insignificant planet. To a narrow vision a structure may seem unsightly from its vastness, while in miniature the same eye might find the proportions exquisite. And have we not, in this standing still of Jesus, amidst the urgencies of such a journey, at the call of a beggar, a miniature of the very things by which some are confounded or repelled, in the immense transactions of the Atonement? It was worthy of the illustrious Stranger-nay, it was beautiful, it was sublime-to stay for the relief of the unhappy beggar, though His own mind was burdened with the weight of the infinite sacrifice He was about to offer. Then who shall so vilify the redemption of men by the Cross, as to pronounce it unworthy of the Sovereign of a universe to which our earth is but an atom? Shall an astronomer be so lost in Gods glory declared by the heavens, in their measureless and bright immensity, as to scorn the thought of His upholding and blessing each sun and star? Then if these philosophers gaze on the luminous, illimitable fields of creation, until their dazzled minds turn back with contempt to the world on which they dwell, and find no worth nor grandeur in the Cross which redeems it, though it saves numbers without number from perdition, and glorifies them in the light of God, and displays His Attributes before an admiring universe, let us hold up the confessed truthfulness and beauty of this simple incident, till, like a mirror of diamond, it pierce their misty eyeball and lead them on to the acknowledgment of the truth. Jesus stood still, and when did He ever refuse to stay at the call of the distressed sinner? Nay, if He stayed then, when can He refuse? Is He not the same yesterday, today, and forever? The fires of eternal vengeance stood still over Sodom till Lot was gone out. The waves stood still, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea till the children of Israel passed over. The down-rushing waters of swollen Jordan stood still, as the feet of the priests touched their brim, and rose up as a wall till the chosen tribes had gained their inheritance. At the cry of Joshua, the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, until the Lords hosts had avenged themselves upon their enemies. So we may look upon His call, and the gracious call of every sinner who becomes a saint, in its Divine origin, its gentle instruments, and its effectual aids.

I. He called. Our vocation is of God. He hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. He called. This word of Matthew contains, as in the seed, the expressions of Mark and Luke. All the agencies, by which the soul is persuaded and enabled to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel, are hidden in this, His loving call, as the leaves and flowers and golden fruit are all folded in the germ. Many providences, many scriptures, many ordinances, many movements of the Spirit may lay hold on a soul to draw it to Christ; but they are all so many threads which Christ holds in His own hand. They have all their power from His drawing. Then let us use this truth for holy fear. If you resist the appeals of Gods ministers, you resist God. He called. In Jesus Christ we behold the best of preachers-the Divine Exemplar after whom all should copy.

II. He commanded him to be called. The Lord gave the word; great was the company of them that published it. Let him that heareth, say, Come! Then all the called may themselves become callers.

III. And now what a word of good cheer the third evangelist speaks-He commanded him to be brought unto Him! Admire the Lords grace to the blind man. He will not leave him to grope his dark way alone. Some shall lead him by the hand. In whatever way, he shall have all the aid he needs to come into the Saviours very presence. Blessed thought t that we who are but men may have some share in this dear work of guiding blind souls to Jesus. But here I rather choose to think of the higher than human aid, which Christ sends with His word to the souls of His chosen. The energy of Almighty power accompanies the preaching of the truth. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

A gospel sermon to outsiders

I. Many persons who are really seeking the Saviour greatly want comforting. There is a sort of undefined fear that these good things are not for them. They are cast down because they think they have been seeking in vain. They are sad because many round about them discourage them. Their sadness also rise from their spiritual ignorance. They regard conversion as something very terrible.

II. This comfort is to be found in the text. The general gospel call ought to yield great comfort to any seeking soul. But there is also an effectual call.

III. This comfort should lead to immediate action. The exhortation to rise means instant decision. It means also resolution. You are also to cast away everything that would hinder you from finding salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

He calleth thee.-The analogy would be perfect, if those who were sent to Bartimeus had themselves been blind, until their eyes had been opened by Christ. And who can say that it was not so with some of them? Then with what generous indignation must they have heard the cruel rebukes of the multitude! Then, too, with what alarmed sympathy would these men, once blind, now seeing, have regarded Bartimeus, if he had wavered in his earnestness after Christ! And with what alacrity would these messengers of Christ have hastened to bear His words of welcome to the blind man! Joy beyond expression would have inspired them. I have heard of a caravan which had lost its way in the desert. For days they could find no water. The suffering was sore, and many were perishing. Men were out in all directions searching for the water that was to be indeed water of life. At last, faint and ready to die, one man lighted on a spring. Cool and clear the stream gushed from the rock. Almost frantic with thirst, he rushed forward and drank, drank. Oh, how deep was the bliss of that draught! Is it strange that for one moment be thought only of himself? But suddenly the perishing multitude came before his mind, and he leaped up, and ran shouting, Water! water! Enough for all! Come and drink! And so from rank to rank of that scattered host he sped, until he had told them all, and was himself thirsty again. But when he saw the eager crowds rushing to the fountain, when be beheld the refreshment and gladness of all hearts and faces, and then stooped once more himself to drink the liberal stream, was not his second draught full of deeper bliss than even the first? Had he ever tasted such water as that? O blessed souls who have drank of the river of life, lift up your voice upon the mountains, and let your feet be swift upon the plains, publishing the good tidings of salvation. This brings to view the joyfulness of the gospel. It is not a message of gloom, a thing to be whispered in darkness as a dreadful secret. We dishonour the gospel when we would recommend it by a melancholy visage. Such is the spirit of the tidings these messengers bring to Bartimeus, in this, his second gospel sermon. The first told him simply that Jesus was passing by. Now he hears these heart reviving words, Be of good comfort; rise; He calleth thee. Be of good comfort. On thy long night, without moon or star, or even a dim candle in thy dwelling, the Day star is dawning. Thine eyes have never been used but for weeping; they seemed only made for tears. But now they shall serve thee for seeing. Sinners, poor, wretched, and blind, but crying for the Saviour, be not disconsolate. Be of good comfort. After your night of weeping, your morning of joy has come. Rise! say the preachers to Bartimeus, and so we cry. There is salvation for the sinner, none for the sluggard. Rise, then, ye unpardoned, Away with your fears and doubts. They are unreasonable and wicked. Break off your indifference. It is a noiseless chain, indeed, but be not deceived; the chain that does not clank is the tightest. Let me take the trumpet of the Holy Ghost, and may He fill it with sound that shall pierce your heart;-Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light! He calleth thee. What more canst thou want, Bartimeus? If He calls thee, He will cure thee. If He calls, who can forbid? Thy call is thy warrant. The call of Christ is warrant enough for any sinner. He may use it against the Law and Satan and his own evil conscience. For example, Satan comes to him and says-What, wretch! art thou going to Christ? Ay, that I am, with all my heart. But will He receive thee? Ay, that He will, with all His heart. Truly, thou art a brave talker! Who taught thee this lofty speech? Nay, my speech is lowly, and I learned it of my Lord. But where is thy warrant? None can go to Christ without a warrant. He calleth me-be that my warrant! But where is thy fitness? says Satan, shifting his ground. Be my warrant my fitness-He calleth me, answers the sinner, keeping his ground, his only ground. But listen, soul! Thou art going before a King. He cannot look upon iniquity (for you see Satan can quote Scripture), and thou art but a mass of iniquity (here the devil affects a great horror of it, to fill the sinner with fear). The heavens are not clean in His sight; how then shall thy filthiness appear before Him? Look at thy rags, if thy blind eyes will let thee, and say, what a dress is this to take into His presence! It is all true, says the contrite sinner, still I will go, for He calleth me. I will bind this call about me and it shall be my dress, till He give me another. I will hold up this call, written with His own hand, and signed with His own name, and sealed with His own blood, and it shall be my defence and plea. Miserable and unworthy as I am, and deserving, I know, to die, with this I have boldness and access with confidence, saying only, like little Samuel, Here am I, for Thou didst call me! Bartimeus needed no more. Casting away his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. It could not be otherwise. True earnestness does not wait. Conscious wretchedness in the presence of a trusted Saviour cannot delay. Only half-convictions can procrastinate. The ancient heathen had this saying: The feet of the avenging deities are shod with wool. Shod with wool! Yes, they crept with noiseless steps, that the touch that aroused might be the blow that destroyed. It is not so with our merciful God. He sounds an alarm that we may seek a refuge. His thunder rolls along the distant horizon, that we may take in sail and be ready for the storm, the storm which would have burst upon us no less surely without this gracious warning. As Bartimeus rose to hasten to Jesus, he cast away his garment, his loose upper robe. He would suffer no hindrance. He may have thrown it aside unconsciously, but it was the action of nature-nature in earnest for some great end. Let us take the lesson. If we would win Christ, we must lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us-the sin we have daily wrapped about us like our garment. (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

What wilt thou?–

Our wants must be expressed

If we would commune with Christ, we must draw near to Him. If we would hear His voice, we must fall down before Him. It is only there that heaven and earth may meet in peace. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? A goodly word, indeed! What would not a soul, struggling in the depths and entanglements of sin, give once to hear it from his Lord? Let us admire-

I. The fulness of the grace. The tender love of Christ to lost souls is a great deep, without bottom and without shore. The wing of no angel can bear him so high that he can look over all its extent. The guilt of no sinner has been able to sound all its depth. King Ahasuerus said unto Queen Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of my kingdom shall it be performed. And so the monarchs of the East delighted to speak. But their utmost premise was half the kingdom, and their kingdoms were earthly, bounded and unsubstantial, and their pompous generosity often but the flourishing rhetoric of lust, pride, and wine. But Jesus puts no limit to His offers. Ask, it shall be given you. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth.

II. Let us also admire the freeness of Christs offers to lost sinners. The freeness of the offer springs from the fulness of the grace. What wilt thou? Choose for thyself, Bartimeus. If thou dost not carry away a noble gift, it is thine own fault. I do not set bounds to thy desires. The treasure is infinite, and thou hast it all to choose from. The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened, and if we are, it is in ourselves. Gods grace is always larger than mans desire, and freer than his faith. If we take little pitchers to the well, we shall carry little water away. Though the golden bowl be full of golden off, the lamp will burn dim, if the golden pipe be narrow or choked. The ocean itself can pour but a scanty stream through a slender channel.

III. See how Christs grace condescends to every souls peculiar need. He will suit His granting to our asking. To every soul He says, What wilt thou?

IV. This question teaches that, though Christ knows what we want and what He will do, He will have us express our wants. Through all the cold, dark night the petals of the flower were shut. So the sun found it and poured his rays upon it, till its heart felt the warmth. Then it yearned to be filled with these pleasant beams, and opened its bosom to drink them in. And so it is with mans prayer and Gods grace. How pointless are the prayers we often hear. They scatter weakly over the whole ground. They have no aim and do no execution. If we would pray well, we must have something to pray for, something we really crave, we must know our wants, feel our wants, express our wants. We must have an errand at the Throne. I learned that expression from a pious old slave. He was asked the secret of the fervour and spirit with which he always prayed. Oh, said he, I have always an errand at the Throne, and then I just tell the Lord what I come for, and wait for an answer. Thus, too, shall we wait for an answer. Even the sportsman, who cares not for his game, follows the arrow with his eye, till he sees it strike. But how many never cast a second glance after a prayer which has left their lips! (Prof. W. J. Hoge.)

What wilt thou

?:-Did the omniscient Redeemer not know what was the calamity under which this man groaned? He did. It was evident to all the world. Was He not aware of the desire of Bartimeus heart? and that what he sought was not an ordinary alms? Undoubtedly, and He had already resolved to restore his sight. Why then did He put this question? It was that He might more fully manifest His Fathers glory; that He might awaken the man to a deeper consciousness of his misery; call forth his faith into liveliest exercise; and, especially, teach him and all of us the nature and necessity of fervent prayer.

1. God has appointed a definite way in which we are to obtain His aid and deliverance. If we would have we must ask. Prayer is the means He has prescribed. Why? We could not enjoy the blessing of God without it. It is indispensable as a preparation of our hearts.

2. Our prayers must be definite and precise. Beware of vague, general, pointless prayers. State at once the evil you would have removed, the want you would have supplied, the promise you would have fulfilled.

3. He who asks the question in the text, can answer it. Jesus has all things at His disposal. There is no limit either to His resources or His readiness to help. Be not afraid to ask much, to expect much, and much you shall obtain. He in, poses no conditions, no price, no merit. (A. Thomson.)

Immediately he received his sight.–

Blindness removed

I. What, then, does this healing stand for in the higher spiritual world? Surely, nothing less than regeneration-the new birth of the soul. Of the many images employed by the Holy Ghost to set forth our natural state, perhaps none is more frequent than blindness. Darkness is ever the chosen symbol of the kingdom of Satan, and light of the kingdom of God.

1. That the new birth is from God. If the harp be broken, the hand of the maker may repair it, and wake the chords again to their old power and sweetness. There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. But who can restore the shattered crystal, so that the sunbeams shall stream through it without finding a flaw, and flash, once more, as of old, in the ever-changing play of their splendour? And who can open the eyes of the blind? Who can restore to that most lustrous and precious of gems, its expression and power, when distorted and blotted by disease or violence? Who shall open again those delicate pathways for the light of two worlds-the outer world shining in and filling the soul with images of beauty, and that inner world shining out in joy, love, and thankfulness? Surely none but the Maker of this curious frame, who, when sin had so cruelly marred it, came in compassion as infinite as His might, to be Redeemer and Restorer where He had already been Creator. Only He can open the eyes of the blind. The power of God is in that work. But if a man die shall he live again? Oh, if the soul be dead, dead in guilt and corruption and the curse of Almighty God, can it revive? Yes, thanks be to God! by reason of the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead (after He had been delivered for our offences), we also may be quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, and children of wrath, we may be quickened together with Christ; for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

2. In the light of this miracle we also learn that, whatever activities the sinner may put forth before and after his regeneration, in the great change he is passive. All, the agonies of the blind man, all his tears and cries, all his rolling and straining his sightless balls, had just nothing at all to do with the act of restoration. That was Christs alone. And so in the new birth-born of God, tells it all. It is the unparticipated work of the Holy Ghost. In this, regeneration is distinguished from conversion. God turns the man, but the man, so moved, turns with his whole heart. It is the day of Gods great power, but also of the sinners great willingness. The fire which the sun has kindled mounts toward it at once. The kindling of the heavenly flame is regeneration; its upward motion, conversion. Regeneration is the Divine cause; conversion, the sure effect. Where there is the grace of life, there will be a life of grace.

3. Light did not open Bartimeus eyes, nor does truth alone regenerate the sinner. Pouring light on blind eyes will not heal them. Flashing truth, even Gods glorious truth, on the sinners mind will not regenerate him. Bartimeus was as blind at noon as at midnight. The sinner is as blind under the blaze of the gospel as amid the glooms of heathenism.

II. Let me now speak of the greatness and glory of this change.

III. As Bartimeus immediately received his sight, so, in regeneration, the great change is instantaneous. There is some one moment when the vision of the blind man, and the new life of the sinner begins. It may be feeble, but it has begun, and for the faintest beginning the creative act is needed. The main thing for every sinner is, to be able on good ground to say, Whereas I was blind, now I see. If he can say this, and have the witness of the Spirit to its truth, it matters little whether he is able to add, On such a day, in such a place, by such and such means, my eyes were opened. A good ship has been broken by the tempest. Mast and rudder and compass, all are gone. The storm is over, but the wreck is drifting away blindly through night and fog. At length all is still, and the wondering sailors wait for the day. Tardily and uncertainly it dawns, and as the heavy mists slowly dissolve, all eyes are busy trying to discover where they are. At length one descries a cliff which seems familiar, another a pier in which he can hardly be mistaken, a third the old church spire, under whose shadow his mother is sleeping, and now, as the sun breaks forth, they all cry out in joyful assurance, that they are in the desired haven! Mysteriously and without their aid, the Ruler of wind and wave has brought them there, and all are exulting in the great deliverance. Nay, shall we say not all? Can you imagine one poor melancholy man refusing to rejoice, and even doubting these evidences, because he cannot tell the hour and angle of his arrival, nor whether he was borne chiefly by currents of air or ocean?

IV. On the blessedness of this change in Bartimeus-image of the spiritual blessedness of him who is first tasting that the Lord is gracious-I can hardly bring myself to comment. When after long imprisonment in the chamber of suffering, we go forth again, leaning, perhaps, on the arm of a congenial friend, to breathe once more the fresh air, and rejoice in the measureless freedom of nature, she seems to have clothed her green fields and forests, her blue skies and waters, in a brighter pomp of summer bravery than ever before, and the strange beauty fills and almost oppresses the soul. In what affecting terms does Dr. Kane describe the almost adoring rapture with which the return of the first sunshine was hailed, after the long horror of an Arctic night-the frozen blackness of months duration, when he eagerly climbed the icy hills to get the luxury of basking in its brightness, and made the grateful record, Today, blessed be the Great Author of light! I have once more looked upon the sun; while his poor men, sick, mutilated, broken hearted, and ready to die, crawled painfully from their dark berths to look upon his healing beams; when everything seemed superlative lustre and unsurpassable glory, when they could not refrain; they oversaw the light. But what was this, what were all these, to the wonder and joy of Bartimeus first vision of the mighty works of God? They already had the sense of sight, and had enjoyed many pleasurable exercises of it. To him the very sense is new, unimagined before. And now, at the word of Christ, the glorious element comes streaming, suddenly and for the first time, and in its fulness, with thrills of inconceivable bliss, upon the sense and soul buried from birth in utter darkness. And what did he see first? Jesus, his best friend, his Saviour! Jesus, chiefest of ten thousand and altogether lovely; O enviable lot! The first image which the light of heaven formed in his soul was the image of that dear face; O rich recompense for the long pains of blindness! The first employment of his eyes was in beholding Him that opened them; O blessed consecration of his new powers and pleasures! Gaze on, old man! Thou canst not look too ardently or too long. But is the joy which attends spiritual illumination answerable to this? Not always (we have seen) as the immediate result. But it is attainable, and very soon the believer aught to have it, and, unless through ignorance, error, or guilt, will have it, and that abundantly. Moreover, the Bible is the sole Revealer of a conception of joy, in comparison with which every other idea of it, wherever found, is poor, earthly, and already darkened with the taint of death. It is a conception in which every best element of every earthly delight, by whatever name known-all the serenity of peace, all the exhilaration of hope, all the satisfaction of fruition, all the liveliness and sparkle of joy, all the mellower radiance of gladness, all the flush and bound of exultation, all the thrill and movement of rapture, are wrought into one surpassing combination, which, chastened by holiness, softened by charity, dignified by immortality and transfused by the beams of the all-encircling glory of the Godhead, is Blessedness. It elevates the soul to know of such a state as possible for itself; it purifies it to hope for it; strengthens it to strive after it. What, then, must it be to taste it, as we may on earth, and drink it to the full, as we shall forever in heaven!

The Lords answer

An echo from within the Veil! Lord, that I might receive my sight! cried the suppliant without. Receive thy sight! answers the Sovereign within. And so, if Christ suits His granting to our asking, it is because the Spirit has first shaped our asking to His granting. The purpose of grace is the foundation of the prayer of faith. Eternal grace is the mould into which faith is cast. Therefore there is harmony between faith and grace. Grace crowns what grace begins. And so faith saves and grace saves; faith as the instrument, and grace as the Divine efficiency; faith the channel, and grace the heavenly stream; faith the finger that touches the garments fringe, and grace the virtue that pours from the Saviours heart. Faith cannot scale the dreadful precipice from which nature has fallen, but it can lay hold on the rope which grace has let down even into its hands from the top, and which it will draw up again with all the burden faith can bind to it. And this is all the mystery of faiths saving. Christ reaches down from heaven, and faith reaches up from earth, and each hand grasps the other; one in weakness, the other in power. Yea, the hand of faith is often but a poor, benumbed hand, stretched out in anguish from the dark flood where the soul is sinking.

Followed Jesus in the way.–

Attachment to Christ

Whoever has looked unto Jesus as the Author of his faith, will look unto Him as the Finisher. If the eyes be opened truly to see Him, the heart will be opened truly to love Him; and when the heart is thus enlarged, like David, we will run in the way of His commandments. This is the test of discipleship: If any man serve Me, let him follow Me. O friends, let us follow Him whithersoever He goeth. Let us follow Him in the way-the way laid down in His Word, the way opened by His Providence, the way of which the Spirit whispers, This is the way, walk ye in it. Sometimes His way is in the sea, and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known. The path of many of us may lie much in the Valley of Humiliation-a life of obscurity, poverty, and lowly toil. We may be Christs hidden ones all our days. So thy way, believer, must lie by the cross and the grave. But beyond the grave is the resurrection, and then the crown of life forever.

Christ revealed to the needy

The loss of sight is spiritually the most significant of all privations. The loss of Eden was perhaps truly a loss of sight-a great shadow, as of an eclipse, fell over all the beauty and splendour of the world, as the sinners eye grew dim. Sin is privative. It works on us by limiting and finally destroying our powers. But this blind beggar had learned in, perhaps through, his blindness, more than Scribes and Pharisees knew. None of them have an eye for the Son of David, whom he saw in his blindness. Christ is revealed to those who need Him most. The mans importunity. He cast aside his garment and came to Jesus. It means impetuosity, and carelessness about external things. He came in the naked simplicity of his need.

I. To see spiritually is to see Christ, the Light of the world, and to be penetrated with the sense of the beauty and fulness which are in Him.

II. A soul fully enlightened sees that in Jesus is all its salvation and all its hope. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)

Christs recognition of faith

I. The application.

1. He applies in the right quarter.

2. In the right spirit.

3. At the right time.

II. The reception.

1. Most gracious.

2. Most satisfactory.

III. The effect of the cure. He followed Jesus in the way up to Jerusalem. The love of Christ constrained him. Thus gifts from the hands of Jesus attach us to His Person. They form a link between us and Him. They are as a magnet to draw us. (H. Bonar, D. D.)

Christ and the blind

I. Christ came to open the eyes of the blind, and to be the Light of the world.

II. He did not disregard the meanest, and was ever ready to do good.

III. Some wait long in darkness before obtaining the help desired.

IV. Faith perseveres, receives encouragement, and attains its end. (J. H. Godwin.)

.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 46. Blind Bartimeus] bar in Syriac signifies son. It appears that he was thus named because Timeus, Talmeus or Talmai, was the name of his father, and thus the son would be called Bar-talmeus, or Bartholomew. Some suppose , the son of Timeus, to be an interpolation. Bartimeus the son of Timeus, , THE blind man. It was because he was the most remarkable that this evangelist mentions him by name, as a person probably well known in those parts.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This history is a mere narrative of a matter of fact, in the relation of which no difficulties occur which stand in need of explication. Matthew, Mark, and Luke relate it with but two considerable differences. Matthew mentions two blind men, the other two evangelists but one. It is probable the one was the more remarkable, and his father a person of some note, therefore he is mentioned also; the other probably some obscurer person. Luke reports it done, as he was come nigh unto Jericho; Matthew and Mark, as he went out of Jericho: but though Luke saith that he sat begging by the way as they came nigh to Jericho, yet he doth not say the miracle of his cure was wrought then. It is most probable that he followed Christ into Jericho, crying after him, and also when he went out of Jericho, and that it was as he went out of Jericho (as Matthew and Mark say) that our Saviour took notice of him, called him, and wrought the cure upon him.

See Poole on “Mat 20:29“, and following verses to Mat 20:34.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And they came to Jericho,…. Christ and his disciples, from the coasts of Judea, beyond Jordan, in their way to Jerusalem; where Christ met with Zaccheus and converted him, and after some short stay at his house, departed thence;

and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number of people: which followed him out of that city, to go with him to Jerusalem, being but ten miles off:

blind Bartimeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging; who was one of the two blind men Matthew makes mention of it,

[See comments on Mt 20:30].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Eyes of Bartimeus Opened.

      46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimus, the son of Timus, sat by the highway side begging.   47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.   48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.   49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.   50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.   51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.   52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

      This passage of story agrees with that, Matt. xx. 29, c. Only that there were told of two blind men here, and Luke xviii. 35, only of one: but if there were two, there was one. This one is named here, being a blind beggar that was much talked of; he was called Bartimeus, that is, the son of Timeus; which, some think, signifies the son of a blind man; he was the blind son of a blind father, which made the case worse, and the cure more wonderful, and the more proper to typify the spiritual cures wrought by the grace of Christ, on those that not only are born blind, but are born of those that are blind.

      I. This blind man sat begging; as they do with us. Note, Those who by the providence of God are disabled to get a livelihood by their own labour, and have not any other way of subsisting, are the most proper objects of charity; and particular care ought to be taken of them.

      II. He cried out to the Lord Jesus for mercy; Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. Misery is the object of mercy, his own miserable case he recommends to the compassion of the Son of David, of whom it was foretold, that, when he should come to save us, the eyes of the blind should be opened, Isa. xxxv. 5. In coming to Christ for help and healing, we should have an eye to him as the promised Messiah, the Trustee of mercy and grace.

      III. Christ encouraged him to hope that he should find mercy; for he stood still, and commanded him to be called. We must never reckon it a hindrance to us in our way, to stand still, when it is to do a good work. Those about him, who had discouraged him at first, perhaps were now the persons that signified to him the gracious call of Christ; “Be of good comfort, rise, he calls thee; and if he calls thee, he will cure thee.” Note, The gracious invitations Christ gives us to come to him, are great encouragements to our hope, that we shall speed well if we come to him, and shall have what we come for. Let the guilty, the empty, the tempted, the hungry, the naked, be of good comfort, for he calls them to be pardoned, to be supplied, to be succoured, to be filled, to be clothed, to have all that done for them, which their case calls for.

      IV. The poor man, hereupon, made the best of his way to Christ; He cast away his loose upper garment, and came to Jesus (v. 50); he cast away every thing that might be in danger of throwing him down, or might in any way hinder him in coming to Christ, or retard his motion. Those who would come to Jesus, must cast away the garment of their own sufficiency, must strip themselves of all conceit of that, and must free themselves from every weight, and the sin that, like long garments, doth most easily beset them, Heb. xii. 1.

      V. The particular favour he begged, was, that his eyes might be opened; that so he might be able to work for his living, and might be no longer burthensome to others. It is a very desirable thing to be in a capacity of earning our own bread; and where God has given men their limbs and senses, it is a shame for men by their foolishness and slothfulness to make themselves, in effect, blind and lame.

      VI. This favour he received; his eyes were opened (v. 52); and two things Mark here adds, which intimate, 1. How Christ made it a double favour to him, by putting the honour of it upon his faith; “Thy faith hath made thee whole; faith in Christ as the Son of David, and in his pity and power; not thy importunity, but thy faith, setting Christ on work, or rather Christ setting thy faith on work.” Those supplies are most comfortable, that are fetched in by our faith. 2. How he made it a double favour to himself; When he had received his sight, he followed Jesus by the way. By this he made it appear that he was thoroughly cured, that he no more needed one to lead him, but could go himself; and by this he evidenced the grateful sense he had of Christ’s kindness to him, that, when he had his sight, he made this use of it. It is not enough to come to Christ for spiritual healing, but, when we are healed, we must continue to follow him; that we may do honour to him, and receive instruction from him. Those that have spiritual eye-sight, see that beauty in Christ, that will effectually draw them to run after him.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

From Jericho ( ). See on Mt 20:29 for discussion of this phrase and Luke’s (Lu 18:35) “nigh unto Jericho” and the two Jerichos, the old and the new Roman (Luke). The new Jericho was “about five miles W. of the Jordan and fifteen E. of Jerusalem, near the mouth of the Wady Kelt, and more than a mile south of the site of the ancient town” (Swete).

Great multitude ( ). Considerable, more than sufficient. Often in Luke and the papyri in this sense. See Mt 3:11 for the other sense of fit for .

Bartimaeus (). Aramaic name like Bartholomew, meaning son like Hebrew ben. So Mark explains the name meaning “the son of Timaeus” ( ). Mark alone gives his name while Mt 20:30 mentions two which see for discussion.

Blind beggar ( ), “begging” () Luke has it (Lu 18:35). All three Gospels picture him as

sitting by the roadside ( ). It was a common sight. Bartimaeus had his regular place. Vincent quotes Thomson concerning Ramleh: “I once walked the streets counting all that were either blind or had defective eyes, and it amounted to about one-half the male population. The women I could not count, for they are rigidly veiled” (The Land and the Book). The dust, the glare of the sun, the unsanitary habits of the people spread contagious eye-diseases.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Son of Timaeus. Mark, as usual, is particular about names. Blind. Diseases of the eye are very common in the East. Thomson says of Ramleh, “The ash – heaps are extremely mischievous; on the occurrence of the slightest wind the air is filled with a fine, pungent dust, which is very injurious to the eyes. I once walked the streets counting all that were either blind or had defective eyes, and it amounted to about one – half the male population. The women I could not count, for they are rigidly veiled” (” Land and Book “). Palgrave says that ophthalmia is fearfully prevalent, especially among children. “It would be no exaggeration to say that one adult out of every five has his eves more or less damaged by the consequences of this disease” (” Central and Eastern Arabia “). Beggar. See on Mt 5:3.

49, 50. Peculiar to Mark, and adding greatly to the vividness of the narrative.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

THE HEALING AND SAVING OF BLIND BARTIMAEUS V. 46-52

1) “And they came to Jericho,” (kai erchontaieis lericho) “And they came by choice into Jericho,” near the North end of the Dead Sea, crossing over from east to the west of the River Jordan. Jericho is known as the “city of palms,” and means “a fragrant place,” Deu 34:3; Jdg 1:16; 2Ch 28:15.

2) “And as He went out of Jericho,” (ekporeuomanu autou apo lericho) “And as He was going out and away from Jericho,” as He was leaving the city of palms, the fragrant place, former home of Rahab the harlot, Jos 2:1.

3) “With His disciples, and a great number of people,” (kai ton matheton autou kai ochlou hikanou) “And both His disciples and a considerable crowd,” that followed Him, Mat 20:29; Luk 18:35.

4) “Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,” (ho huios Timaiou Bartimaios tuphlos prosaites) “Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,” who was a blind beggar, waiting for a gift of charity by the wayside. He was both physically and spiritually blind and destitute, Mar 10:51-52; 2Co 4:3-4; Luk 18:42-43.

5) “Sat by the highway side begging.” (ekatheto para ten hodon) “Sat along the road (the wayside),” asa beggar, begging, a custom for the crippled and the blind in the Holy Land area, even today, as also Mat 20:30; Act 3:1-2. But it was and is considered a shame for a healthy person to beg, Luk 16:3; Mat 20:30 states that there were two blind men who sat begging, but the healing account describes only the one who is named here by Mark as Bartimaeus.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Mar. 10:46-52. See R.V. for several graphic touches obscured by A.V.

Mar. 10:51. Rabboni.The highest title he could give, the gradations being Rab, Rabbi, Rabban, Rabboni. See Joh. 20:16.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 10:46-52

(PARALLELS: Mat. 20:29-34; Luk. 18:35-43; Luk. 19:1-28.)

Bartimeus.There are three powers which, interacting upon one another, work out the drama of life. There is the power within us, the power of self. There is the power without us, the power of the world. In proportion as we can make the power within operative on the power without we are successful. But above these two powers there is a thirdthe power of God over all. If the power of self, working in conjunction with the power of the world, brings about success or failure, the realisation of the power of God is the way to that best successthe success over ourselves and the world, the victory of character. The story of Bartimeus shews us a man in difficulties, and exhibits his conduct when face to face with these three powers of life.

I. The world is the first power we shall think of in this case.

1. The world has its power. There is something which the world can do, and that something is what the world on the whole very readily does. Bartimeus found that this was the case. The world gave pity, also practical evidence of its pity. The world gave its alms.
2. But the world has its limitations. The one thing which the man most needed was the one thing which the world could not give. The world could not supply his real need, for his real need was sight. The world seldom can reach the real needs of men. She can bestow honour, she can alleviate suffering, but she cannot heal or satisfy the soul. The gifts which the world gave to Bartimeus, kind and well intentioned as they were, were just those gifts which reminded him most keenly of his misfortune. In receiving the alms of men he felt his dependence. Men in all ages have found out the world and its limitations. Like Severus, who had reached the supreme height of power, they have tried everything and found that everything was naught. Like Augustine, they have found that the heart which is made for greater things cannot rest in the lesser. Like Lacordaire, they have exclaimed with indignation and loathing, I cannot leave my heart in this heap of mud. The world, great, kindly, and generous as it is, cannot satisfy the desire of the soul.
3. The world, too, has its moods. The society in which we live is kindly and well disposed. It is not hard-hearted, but it likes to help in its own way, and it is relentless in its opposition to those who strike out their own line. Society has its moods as well as its limitations. The story of Bartimeus illustrates this, for it not only shews us what the world could do and what it could not do, but it also shews us what it did do. The action of the world in this respect may be described in one wordhindrance. It hindered the man in his attempt to realise his most cherished dreams. He desired to be no longer a profitless and dependent creature, but to be restored to the possession of sight, and with it to that capacity for self-direction which is requisite for true life. The moment came when it was within his grasp. The Healer, the Prophet of Nazareth, endowed with the powers of restoration, was near. Bartimeus lifted up his voice in earnest appeal. Society chided Bartimeus for his cry. They rebuked him that he should hold his peace. The picture is true to life. The world is intolerant of the best aspirations of men; it resents the attitude of those who take a line of their own. The world has a way of stifling the utterance of the great and unexpected voices which are lifted up in earnest desire or noble appeal. Genius has found it so. The world has hindered, frowned upon, and too often clamoured down the man whose intellectual range was beyond the grasp of average dulness. Philanthropy has found the same. Even a Howard and a Wilberforce cannot escape detraction; and society has shouted against those who have cried aloud in the cause of humanity, and has bidden them to hold their peace. The reformer has fared no better. There are always Eliabs to be found who chide the aspirations of young faith. And even apostles proclaiming a nobler life and spiritual emancipation to society will be clamoured against as those who turn the world upside-down.

II. What the man Bartimeus did for himself.There are two principles which are essential to independent success. One is the principle of self-dependence, the other is that of single-mindedness. Bartimeus illustrates both these principles in his action.

1. He was self-reliant. He took his own course. He did not abandon his purpose because of the clamour of the crowd. This is a lesson which life soon teaches us. Men begin life by hoping much from their patrons. They know men who have influence; they look forward to an easy grasp upon the object of their desires. But they soon unlearn this delusion. Like Dr. Johnson, they discover that too often the office of patron is to leave the struggling man unassisted, and to encumber him with help when he no longer stands in need of it. Men soon discover that their own best patron is their self-reliance. It is this quality which Bartimeus displays. He is heedless of the crowd; but it is not the heedlessness of a coarse and indifferent nature. It is the heedlessness of a man who knows what he wants, and who has the courage to dare all to secure it. It is the quality of soul which Wellington displayed when he planted himself on the heights of Torres Vedras, and held to his choice in spite of the clamour, abuse, and accusations of home ignorance. He knew what he was doing, and he was in earnest. He was not to be turned aside from his purpose because of the empty chatter of impatient and inexperienced criticism.
2. The companion virtue of self-reliance ought to be single-mindedness. Single-mindedness seeks, by concentration of all the attention and all the powers upon one thing, to secure the end in view. It is the spirit which will not be turned aside or seduced. It knows that some sacrifice is needed, and it is ready to pay the price. It compels the attention of the whole mind to the thing in hand. It will cast overboard the most precious freightage in order to reach its harbour successfully. This spirit also Bartimeus displays. It is necessary for him to reach Christ. He must run no risk of failure. The long robe about him was useful enough as he sat by the gate of the city the whole day through. But it might prove a hindrance to his advancing footsteps. There is no hesitation in his action. If there is any chance of its being in his way, it must be sacrificed. He flings aside his robe, and so, unimpeded, advances towards the Lord. Greatness possesses the courage which can sacrifice what may be useful, when it may also prove a temptation or an encumbrance to its advancing march. Csar knows when to burn his boats. Industry knows that many a social pleasure and many an hour of relaxation must ruthlessly be sacrificed if ultimate victory is to be achieved. Like Lord Eldon, it knows that the way to success is to live like a hermit and work like a horse! The message of successful lives is the lesson of a single-minded devotion to the object in view. That which is the counsel of successful lives is the command of religion. For the sake of the higher life the encumbrances of the lower must be laid aside. The garments of the old life must be left behind. When the soul is filled with one strong passion, such single-mindedness becomes easy. To Bartimeus it was as nothing to cast aside his robe. He thirsted for sight. What was raiment compared with such a dowry? To those who thirst for the vision of God no sacrifice seems too great. Indeed, it is only those who are possessed of a spirit ready to sacrifice all who can behold that light.

III. What Christ did for him.When we have spoken of self-reliance and single-mindedness, we have not said the last word about success. As far as temporal life is a conflict with the world these two are indispensable factors of success. But there are ranges of life which lie outside the compelling forces of energy and self-denial. Life is not merely energy, industry, achievement. There is place for repose and worship as well as for zealous activity. Man is not merely a busy, achieving sort of creature; he is a receptive being also. Self-assertion works well against the world; but in the presence of Him who is greater than the world, the spirit of self-assertion drops away. As Bartimeus stands before Christ his whole demeanour is changed. He is no longer the strong and stout pleader of his own cause and his own need. Jesus commanded him to be brought; and when he stands before Christ he is silent till Christ speaks. He stands as one who waits. It is right that it should be so. There are gifts which come only to waiting souls. There are utterances which are open to all the world, which only they hear who wait to hear

Celestial harmonies then only heard

When the heart listens.

This calm and trustful attitude of mind has a kind of natural devoutness in it. It recognises a source of inspiration greater than itself. Great men of different faiths and different ages have realised this. Avicenna found his subtlest syllogisms given him after meditation and worship. Haydn prayed before he composed. Many a man of genius can truly say of some of his best works, They were given to me. Inspirations are for men who can and will wait upon God. In the Albert Memorial Chapel at Windsor one of the most suggestive pictures on the walls exhibits this aspect of the soul waiting for Gods gift. David and the harpists of Israel are represented with their instruments in their hands. Their fingers hang listless upon the strings. Their heads are bowed. All the appliances of their art are in their grasp, but the Divine gift is not yet. They are waiting for the inspiration from on high. So Bartimeus, the man of energy and self-assertion, waits before Christ for the gift which his force and his determination cannot seize, which must be given as loves free gift. He waits till Christ asks, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? To say that our Lord shewed love to the blind man is to say what is true enough and obvious enough; but it does not help us to the full appreciation of Christs personal dealing with Bartimeus. His action shewed much more than a vague and limp benevolence. His love was ever exerted with an everlasting moral influence upon those whom He helped.

1. There was sensibility. Here, amid the clamour of the crowd, He detects the voice of want, just as at another time He knew at once when the weary and suffering woman laid a trembling finger on His robe. His love was of that delicate and responsive order which makes kindness twice welcome in being so obviously the outcome of a sympathetic and ready heart.
2. There was decision. No clamour or noise of discountenancing crowds could stay the march of His love. Jesus, in the midst of the outcry against Bartimeus, stood and commanded him to be brought. In one moment the clamouring crowd changes its demeanour. Be of good cheer. Rise: He calleth thee. Nothing succeeds like success. A little firmness, and the strong man brings the whole multitude over to his side. The man who knows what he means, and has the requisite firmness to pursue it regardless of noise, is like a solid mass floating on the surface of the water which draws the purposeless jetsam to its side.
3. There was judgment. He does not heal the blind man all at once. There is a pause; there is a question. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The need was obvious, but it was well the man should express it. The interchange of speech created a feeling of confidence; the bond between him and Christ became one through which moral sympathy might flow. It was no cold exercise of power; it was no heartless magic which restored the sight. It was power exercised by wise and loving sympathy. Here we touch a principle which may shed light upon the mystery of prayer. Why go through the form of asking God to help us, when God, if He be all-knowing, knows all about our needs? If all-powerful, He can help us. If all-good, He will. What need is there, then, of prayer? But is prayer only so to be measured? Is the establishment of sympathetic confidence between the soul of man and the love of God to count as nothing?
4. There was capability. With Christ, love and power were one. Receive thy sight. The words are spoken, and Bartimeus looks up. The restoration of sight is restoration to his true and complete manhood. He can see things as they are. It is this which Christ can bestow on all. It is the power to see in their true relationship the great forces of lifethe world, self, Godthe force without us, the force within us, and the power above us. It is the power to see God as He isin His purity and lovingness as well as in His might. It is the power to see ourselves as we are in our weakness and dependence, in our sinfulness and foolishness. It is the power to see the world and life as they are, and therefore to see life not as the opportunity of accumulating the things which perish, but as the opportunity of being what we ought to be, and of doing what we ought to do.Bishop Boyd Carpenter.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Mar. 10:46. The uncomfortable situation of the blind.In what uncomfortable circumstances are some of the children of men placed! One is deprived of his eyes, another of his ears, a third of his legs, and a fourth of his judgment. Of all these there are none more pitiable and helpless than the blind.

I. The uncomfortable situation of the blind.

1. They are deprived of the benefit of light, which is so cheerful and animating.
2. They are deprived of the advantages of reading, either for instruction or entertainment.
3. They are incapable of following the common occupations of life, by which to earn their bread.
4. They are in a great measure dependent upon others.

II. Some means by which to alleviate the miseries of the blind.

1. To furnish them with some employment, which may prevent them from being a burden to the public.
2. That the occupation be of such a nature as gently to engage the mind without fatiguing it, and by diverting their attention to make them less a burden to themselves.
3. That they be taught the principles of the religion of Jesus, which are so nobly suited to afford consolation under the hardest lot, and to render them contented and happy.D. Johnston, D.D.

Mar. 10:47. In the Nazarene Bartimeus saw the Messiah. Why did he so? Why more than the rest of the crowd that followed? Can we doubt the reason? Can we be in a difficulty about it? He was blind now. But there had been a time, perhaps, when he was able to see. If so, he had used his eyesight for a heavenly purpose. He had read and marked and inwardly digested the truth as it is in Jesus. Happy Bartimeus! He can see clearer than the most keen-eyed. The penetration of philosophy is nothing to his; he understands all mysteries; he pierces the thick palpable darkness; he sees through the veil of the outward sense the glory and the majesty of Him who is the Light of the world. What an example for us to follow! We may not be dark-visioned, like Bartimeus, but we shall have our hours of the hearts darkness, or of moral twilight. How shall we prepare for them? Most surely in the way that he preparedby reading Gods Holy Word, by diving into its hidden depths, by praying for enlightenment, by committing to our memories, and by treasuring up in them the holy texts of promise or of prophecy which lie like jewels within that great sea of wonder.

Mar. 10:48. Want and faith not to be silenced.Could their hands stop the mouth of him who spoke and felt as Bartimeus did? Nay; for he had a double tongue. His faith and his misery alike were speaking. You may stifle almost anything else; but there is a life and an energy in want and in faith which nothing can overpower. Did the winds and the waves ever prevent the seaman that has been washed overboard from crying for the cable to be thrown him? Is not his cry the mightier for their tempestuous riot? It is the cry of nature, the cry of that voice which God has implanted in all. But the cry of the new nature is in this case added to that of the old; it is the cry of grace and of nature too. It is nature that feels the want; it is grace that believes the remedy.

Mar. 10:49. Commanded him to be called.By this circumstance Christ administered reproof and instruction: reproof, by ordering those to help the poor man who had endeavoured to check him; instruction, by teaching us that, though He does not stand in need of our help, He will not dispense with our services, that we are to aid each other, that though we cannot recover our fellow-creatures we may frequently bring them to the place and means of cure.W. Jay.

Mar. 10:50. Renunciation.The action of the blind man in casting aside his garment in order to come to Jesus means to us much more than a mere revelation of personal charactera disclosure of the faith and zeal of the blind beggar. It may be taken as a type of the removal of the hindrances of whatever kind that prevent a soul from coming to Jesus as its Saviour.

1. The necessity of casting away our garment of self-righteousness in order to come to Jesus. Every man thinks that he has whereof to boasthis acts of worship or kindness, his upright character and goodness of heart. We are slow to believe that God does not ask some valuable consideration at our hands, and that if we would seek His blessing it is not necessary for us to be furnished with some price or equivalent to give. We have our formularies, our ordinances, our offerings, which we think will open our way; and we exact from ourselves certain spiritual qualifications as a preparation. But if we are to be cured of our blindness and poverty, we must fling this garment aside. If we would get near enough to Jesus to get personal benefit from Him, we must have the conviction inwrought in us of our utter destitution of true religion. We must be brought to believe that we do not believe. We must hide our poverty no longer from ourselves. We must honestly and humbly take the beggars place and raise the beggars cry, God be merciful to me a sinner.
2. The necessity of casting away the garment of effete forms and methods in order to grow in knowledge and grace. Religion itself is often made a hindrance in the way of coming nearer to Christ. What would happen if, when the warm, quickening sun of spring is calling every living thing to new growth and development, the buds of the trees persisted in retaining the scales in which they were wrapped up, merely because they had been indispensable in preserving the vitality of their buds during the winters frosts and storms? There would be no foliage, no blossom or fruit, no formation of new wood for mans use, no shade for the earth and its creatures. The whole economy of nature would suffer grievous loss and be deranged. Nay, more, the arrested buds themselves would either die into hard knotty excrescences, or would be transformed into formidable thorns. And so, if we persist in retaining the old effete wrappings of religion merely because they were formerly, at an earlier stage of growth, indispensable, when the summer sun of a higher faith is quickening us and calling us to a fuller Christian life, we shall become mere dry sticks in the vineyard of the Lord, providing no shade or fruit or beauty for ourselves or others; we shall derange the whole economy of the Church by our deadness and conservation, and our arrested growth will be transformed into a wounding thorn.
3. The necessity of casting away in the end the garment of the body by death in order to be present with the Lord, and to be effectually cured of all our poverty and blindness. All nature is deciduous. The bud casts off its scales in order to produce its foliage; the flower casts off its petals in order to produce the fruit; the fruit decays in order to liberate the seed; the seed dies in order that the germ may grow. The worm leaves behind its silken tomb in order to emerge a butterfly. And at every stage of advancing life some old garment that suited an old purpose is cast away. So we cast away our body every seventh year in order to grow and mature our physical nature. And in the end we must cast away our body itself in order to finish our development and emerge into ampler life. As the growth of the young foliage of spring from the cast-off husks of autumn is a process of life and not of death, so in the expansion of the soul through the casting off of the body death loses all the elements which make it death. It is a process of life and developmentin the harmony, and not out of the harmony, of the Divine order. A higher miracle than that wrought upon Bartimeus will be performed upon us; and what this world under the bright sunshine was to him when his eyes were couched of their films, and he saw the glory of nature for the first time, this in a far grander form will be the heavenly world that shall burst upon our purified vision, and we shall see the glorious form of Jesus in the light in which He dwells. We shall see Him as He is, and we shall be changed into the same image. Surely it is worth casting away the garment of the body; surely what things are gain to us in this world we may well count loss, to have such a revelation and experience as that!H. Macmillan, D. D.

Mar. 10:52. Thy faith hath made thee whole.Ask for this faith, if you have it not. Exercise it if you have it. It is the appropriator of every blessing; it is the hand which lays hold of every blessing, yea, which puts on Christ Himself. Grace stands, so to speak, above us, holding out the mantle of blessedness; faith raises its hand, takes the mantle, and puts it on. Poor, blind, naked, ignorant, wretched, as we may be, yet come we in faith, come we in tears, in penitence, in deep contrition, and yet in faith to the Friend of penitents; and there is not a stain we lament which shall not be wiped out, nor a heart-wound which shall not be healed.

Following Jesus.So with us, when our eyes are opened we follow Jesus in the way. Before that we walk in our own way, in the way of the world; we follow the multitude to do evil, we follow our own sinful lusts and passions; we choose our own way instead of Gods way; we prefer the path which is most pleasant, most easy, most profitable; but when our eyes are opened all is changed, we learn to say, I loved to choose and see my path; but nowlead Thou me on. Thus we come to follow Jesus in the way; and that way is the way of holiness, the narrow way which leads to life. It is not always a smooth way; it climbs up the Hill Difficulty, and anon winds down into the Valley of Humiliation; it passes through a garden of Gethsemane, a place of agonised prayer; it leads to a cross, a lifelong cross sometimes; it carries us to a grave, but, thank God, a grave from which the stone is rolled away, and which is bright with the light of a glorious resurrection. And withal it is a way of pleasantness, and a path of peace, of peace such as the world cannot give, and it ends in heaven.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 10

Mar. 10:46. The blind beggar and the multititude.Origen gives a very pretty allegorical turn to this narrative. He makes the blind man, who calls on Jesus, an Ebionite; and the multitudes around, who commanded him to hold his peace, believers from among the heathen converts, who generally held the more exalted views in regard to the Passion of the Messiah; and then he continues thus: But although the multitudes commanded him to be silent, yet he said the more because he believed in Jesus, although his faith was of a human kind; and he cried out aloud, and said to Him, Son of David, have mercy on me! How different would many things have been if men, in this spirit of love and freedom, had always allowed the grace of the Redeemer to fall on all who call upon Him! if they had always taken into account the various stages in the Christian progress up to the ripeness of manhood in the faith, and had not wished to force different spirits all at once into the same measure and degrees!

Treatment of the poor.The Jews had a law that there should be no beggar in Israel. England has statutes also to correct impudent poor and to provide for impotent poor; but, as it is observed, our laws have a better prologue than epilogue; they be well penned, but ill kept; and so this good order is neglected among us, as it was about Jericho, to the great scandal of Christian religion and dishonour of our English nation. It is written of the Athenians that they punished idle persons as heinous offenders. And the Egyptians had a law that every man should bring his name to the chief ruler of the province and show what trade he followed. The Romans enacted severe statutes against such as negligently left their ground untilled. Among the Chinese every man is set about somewhat, according to his strength and years; one labours with his hand, another with his foot, etc.; and (which is most admirable) they keep in Canton four thousand blind men, unfit for other service, to grind corn and rice for the people. If either the law were believed as gospel, or the gospel kept as law, such as would not labour should not eat. Loiterers and sturdy rogues should be sent to prison, or some place where they might work well; and as for such as cannot labour, it is fit, we that are strong, should help to bear the burdens of the weak, being eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.Dean Boys.

Mar. 10:47. Soul sight.One day a cry went down the street, every one fled, as a runaway horse came tearing along the road. A little blind girl, left all alone, stood in the road, not knowing which way to turn to escape from death. She could not see, and no human hand was there to guide. She did not try to run, but sinking down on her knees just where she was, with upturned face to the heaven the bodily eye could not see, she commended herself to the Father of all. The horse dashed onit was upon her! It swerved and thundered past, leaving the lonely kneeling child unhurt. That little ones bodily eye could not see, but the soul eye, looking out beyond all, saw the Maker and Creator of all. So sometimes blind folk see more than those who think they see.

Mar. 10:50. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.I remember once reading these words on a memorial tablet in a country church. Inscriptions on tombstones are often unsatisfactory, and Scriptural quotations upon them most inappropriate; but this one was as suitable as it was singular. The squire of the village had late in life come under the influence of Christian friends, who brought him to a knowledge of the gospel; and to him the words of the Evangelist were applied. They were very suggestive. They told of pride, and worldly pursuits, and self-righteousness, of all to which the man had clung for a lifetime, cast away that he might come to the Saviour. For a sinner saved in lifes last hours a better epitaph could hardly have been chosen. I admired the piety that compared the rich man lying there to the poor blind beggar of the gospel story, the once highly esteemed garment of personal righteousness to the beggars worthless robe, and that expressed the one hope and refuge of the soul in Christ by the words he came to Jesus. It reminded me of the lines on William Careys tomb:

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,

On Thy kind arms I fall;

Be Thou my strength and righteousness,

My Jesus, and my all.

What is your mant?We complain of wandering thoughts; we kneel at our devotions, and our thoughts go fluttering away from us like the sparrows that flit and twitter in the trees. The remedy for this is to have a want. Let us pause at the threshold of prayer as Jeanie Deans did at the door of the audience-room, laying her hand upon her heart. Let us, if we would present a petition at the throne of heavenly grace, feel the parchment to make sure it is there.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

F. BLIND BARTIMEUS 10:46-52

TEXT 10:46-52

And they come to Jericho: and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timeus, Bartimeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me, And Jesus stood still, and said, Call ye him, And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good cheer; rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garments, sprang up, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him, and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man said unto him, Rabonni, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight, and followed him in the way.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 10:46-52

581.

Read Luk. 18:35-43 and note the difference in the location of the healingplease attempt an explanation.

582.

Why was there a great multitude with the disciples?

583.

Why mention the father of Bartimeus?

584.

Why were there more beggars in the days of our Lord?

585.

How did Bartimeus come to have faith in Jesus?

586.

Why call Jesus son of David?

587.

What is the meaning of mercy as here used?

588.

Give two possible reasons for the attempt of the disciples to silence this beggar.

589.

How account for the change in attitude of the disciples from Mar. 10:48 to Mar. 10:49?

590.

Why ask him what he wanted? (as in Mar. 10:51)

591.

What is the meaning of the expression: Go thy way?

COMMENT

TIME.A.D. 30 ; the latter part of March.
PLACE.Jericho, the city of Palm Trees, situated fifteen to twenty miles northeast of Jerusalem, in the valley of Jordan, at the foot of the pass that led up from the Jordan valley to the central highlands and to Jerusalem. It was about six or seven miles north of the Dead Sea and about five miles from the Jordan at the base of the mountain rampart. After Jerusalem, it was at this date the most important city of Judea. It was 900 feet below the Mediterranean, and about 3,400 feet lower than Jerusalem. See the section of Palestine from east to west. The district was a blooming oasis in the midst of an extended sandy plain, watered and fruitful, rich in palms, roses and balsams; hence the name, the fragrant city. Built by the Canaanites, and destroyed by Joshua, it was rebuilt and fortified at a later day, and became a seat of a school of the prophets. Herod the Great beautified it, and it was the most luxuriant spot in Palestine. In the twelfth century scarcely a vestige of the place remained. There is now on the site a wretched village with about 200 inhabitants. Sloping gently upwards from the level of the Dead Sea, 900 feet under the Mediterranean, it had the climate of lower Egypt and displayed the vegetation of the tropics. While snow is falling at Jerusalem, thin clothing is comfortable in Jericho.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Mat. 20:29-34; Luk. 18:35-43; Luk. 19:1.

LESSON OUTLINE.1. The Blind Beggars Petition. 2. The Lords Call. 3. The Blind Beggar Healed.

ANALYSIS

I.

THE BLIND BEGGARS PETITION, Mar. 10:46-48.

1.

The Beggar by the Wayside. Mar. 10:46; Mat. 20:30; Luk. 18:35.

2.

Appeal to the Son of David. Mar. 10:47; Mat. 20:31; Luk. 18:38.

3.

The Beggar Rebuked. Mar. 10:48; Mat. 20:32; Luk. 18:39.

II.

THE LORDS CALL, Mar. 10:49-50.

1.

The Lord Hears the Cry for Mercy. Mar. 10:49; Mat. 20:32; Luk. 18:40.

2.

The Beggar Comes to Jesus. Mar. 10:50; Mat. 20:32; Luk. 18:40.

III.

THE BLIND BEGGAR HEALED, Mar. 10:51-52.

1.

The Prayer for Sight. Mar. 10:51; Mat. 20:33; Luk. 18:41.

2.

Saved by Faith. Mar. 10:52 ; Luk. 18:42.

3

Following Jesus. Mar. 10:52; Mat. 20:34; Luk. 18:43.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I.

THE BLIND BEGGARS PETITION.

Mar. 10:46. They came to Jericho. The Lord and his disciples, on their way to Jerusalem. The exact position of the ancient Jericho is not known, but it was not far from the site of the present village, and was from five to seven miles from the Jordan on the great highway from the Trans-Jordanic county to Jerusalem. It was several hundred feet above the Jordan level, but still many hundred feet below the level of the sea, and there was a continual ascent from thence to the highlands on which stood Jerusalem. His disciples and a great number of people. At this season Jericho would be full of people who were going up to attend the Passover. The number would be greatly increased by those coming from Galilee by the way of Perea, to avoid passing through Samaria. These, added to the Trans-Jordanic pilgrims, would, within a week or two of the Passover, crowd the great highway at Jericho with travelers. Besides, curiosity and expectation caused the crowds to travel in the company of Jesus. Blind. Ophthalmia is fearfully prevalent, especially among children, in the East, and goes on unchecked, in many or most instances, to its worst results. It would be no exaggeration to say, that one adult out of every five has his eyes more or less damaged by the consequences of the disease.W. G. Pal-grave, Bartimeus, the son of Timeus. His being mentioned by name implies that he was well known. His father, too, would appear to have been noted for some reason or other. Perhaps they both became ultimately attached to the cause of the Savior and the fellowship of the disciples. Bar is the Aramaic word for son, Timeus being the name of the father. Matthew mentions two beggars. He was present. Mark and Luke who wrote upon the testimony of others only mention the more prominent one whose name had been preserved. Dean Howson says: These difficulties we may dismiss. The particular spot is of no consequence; and, if there were two blind men, there certainly was one. Our attention is to be fixed on this one, Bartimeus. Sat by the wayside begging. Both beggary and blindness are much more common in the East than with usthe former owing to unjust taxation, uneven distribution of wealth, and the total absence of public and systematized charities; the latter owing to lack of cleanliness, and to exposure to an almost tropical sun, and to burning sands.Abbott.

Mar. 10:47. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. A designation never used by the evangelist, save in recording the words of others. He was familiarly, and also contemptuously, known as the Nazareneinhabitant of Nazareth. He had heard of him beforeheard of healings wrought by him, of blind eyes opened, of dead men raised. It had never crossed his thoughts that he and this Jesus should meet, when now they tell him that he is near at hand. He can do that for him which none but he can do. It is his one and only chance. He began. Immediately, as soon as he heard this, and continued so to do until he gained his end. To cry out. For God loves to be entreated, he loves to be compelled, he loves to be even vanquished by our persevering importunity.St. Gregory. Jesus, thou son of David. He therefore believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of David, i.e., the expected Messiah. The cry of the blind man was a recognition of Christs dignity as the Messiah; for this name, son of David, was the popular designation of the Messiah. There was, therefore, upon his part, a confession of faith. Have mercy on me. The emphasis naturally falls on the word me; for Bartimeus, hearing that it was Jesus, and knowing his own disadvantage from his blindness in the crowd, fears he may be overlooked.

Mar. 10:48. Many charged him that he should hold his peace. Not because he called Jesus the son of David, but (1) because he presumed to intrude a private grief upon the King of Israel, when, as they supposed, he was going in triumph to Jerusalem to assume his throne and deliver the nation. This spirit of rebuke is exactly the same as that of Matthew (Mat. 19:13). (2) Perhaps from selfishness, not wishing to have the Lords attention called away from their instruction. (3) From indifference to others needs. (4) They thought they were pleasing the Master in defending. him from a beggar. Cried the more a great deal. They were not to be silenced, and the litanies of Christendom for centuries have been modeled on the Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy on us) which came from their lips.Plumptre. Methinks we hear his shout. There would be the very strength and might and blood and sinew of that mans life cast into it; he would be like Jacob wrestling with the angel, and every word would be a hand to grasp him that he might not go. The gate of heaven is to be opened only in one way, by the very earnest use of the knocker of prayer.Spurgeon. Thou son of David. He suffers himself now to be publicly appealed to as the Messiah in the presence of all the people, which he had never done before. The time for his acceptance of, and sympathy with, the Messianic hope of his people had now arrived.Lange. It was a great act of faith in this blind man to call him the son of David, whom the people pointed out as being Jesus of Nazareth.Bengel, Have mercy on me. This is prayer. There is no preamble, no vague utterance, no redundancy of expression in real prayer. Much of what is called prayer in these modern times is nothing but a weak and windy string of sentences.Thomas. Jesus was passing bywould soon be pastmight never pass that way again. It was a short opportunity; it seemed likely it would be the only one.Tyng. The preaching of the gospel is a perpetual announcement that Jesus is near.Luther.

II.

THE LORDS CALL.

Mar. 10:49. Jesus stood still. The multitude had rebuked the blind Bartimeus for his intercession, but the Lord stopped at his cry. He is kinder than men. He is no respecter of persons. The blind beggar is to him as the rich ruler, He came to die for both. And commanded. This is a reproof of the reprovers. To be called. Making those help who had hindered. They call the blind man. Nothing could be more natural than the sudden change which is effected in the conduct of the multitude, as soon as they observe the favorable disposition of Jesus. He calleth thee. The call of Christ is always full of cheeralways, too, a call to do something as a token of trust in him.Abbott. His call is always a call for an act of faith. He bids Bartimeus come.

Mar. 10:50. Casting away his garment; i.e., his outer garment. This was his cloak, or mantle, which is often used by the poor at night for a covering, and which the law of Moses gave them a special claim to, that it should not be kept from them over night when it was given as a pledge. The outside garment hindered his speed, could be spared, and is therefore thrown aside. In dead earnest is he, and can brook no delay. Rose. The Revised Version says Bartimeus threw off his garments, so sinners should throw away everything that hinders their going to himeverything that obstructs their progressand cast themselves at his feet. No man will be saved while sitting still. The command is, Strive to enter in; and the promise is made to those only who ask and seek and knock. Came to Jesus. The blind man runs to Jesus without seeing him. So must we hasten to him in faith, though we see him not. He does not need to be told a second time; he does not wait for any guiding hands to lead him to the center of the path. A few eager footsteps, he stands in the presence of the Lord !

III.

THE BLIND BEGGAR HEALED.

Mar. 10:51. What wilt thou that 1 should do? With a majesty truly royal, Jesus seems to open up to the beggar the treasure of divine power, and to give him, if we may so speak, carte blanche.Godet. Jesus asks, not for information, but to draw from them an expression of their desire. The gift is of more value when given in answer to prayer. Lord. Better, Rabboni, as in the Revised, the word being the same as in Joh. 20:16, and occurring in these two passages only. The word was an augumentative form of Rabbi, and as such expressed greater reverence. The gradations of honor were Rab, Rabbi, Rabban, Rabbon. That I might receive my sight. Not how or why, but the desire, which he believes the Lord can grant in the best way. The man, whose cry has been hitherto a vague, indeterminate cry for mercy, now singles out the blessing which he craves, designates the channel in which he desires that his mercy should run.

Mar. 10:52. Go thy way. Matthew states that he touched his eyes. Other blind men had called him the son of David, but he had straitly charged them not to make him known. No such charge is given to Bartimeus. He is permitted to follow him, and glorify God as loudly, as amply as he can (Luk. 18:43). As the time draws near, all the reasons for that reserve which Jesus had previously studied are removed.Hanna. Thy faith hath made thee whole. It was the confidence which the blind man cherished in the ability and benevolence of Jesus that induced him to seek aid from Jesus, and that induced him to persevere while the crowd sought to restrain him. Such confidence Jesus delighted to acknowledge and to honor. The faith of this man was great; because, being blind, he could not see the miracles which Jesus did. Faith came to him by hearing. He believed on the testimony and report of others; and so he inherited, in a manner, the promise of the Lord his Savior, Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed (Joh. 20:20). Christ was always ready to heal. No one was ever refused who asked him. It rested with the man; the healing could not have its way and enter in, save the man would open his door. Hence the question, and the praise of the patients faith. Made thee whole. Complete, sound, nothing wanting. A sinner is never whole; never a complete, perfect man. Christ makes us whole. And followed Jesus. Glorifying God, as Luke adds (Luk. 18:43), and joining the festal company of His Healer, who all likewise gave praise unto God for the miracle which they had witnessed. Compare Act. 3:8-10. Thus, as our Lord journeyed toward Jerusalem, he gathered in his train fresh monuments of his power. The march of earthly conquerors is tracked with blood; smoking villages and mangled corpses mark the way which they had trodden, while weeping captives are chained to their triumphal chariots. But the Savior left joy behind him wherever he went, and collected new trophies of his mercy.Tyng.

APPLICATION.This miracle is in one sense a parable. It teaches most forcibly the doctrine and methods of salvation by faith. It has been so represented by commentators of all ages. The blind man represents one, without faith, who is blind to the unseen interests of his soul. In his darkness, the passing of the Saviour, in his gospel preached, may stir him to a sense of his needs. He then calls for mercy upon Jesus, confessing his faith in him as the Messiah King and Healer. Men may try to hinder him coming to Jesus. The Lord calls him, but he has first called unto the Lord. The Lord gives him the election who has elected the Lord. The sinner is required to arise and go to Christ in obedience, is then healed of his sins and blindness and follows the Master.

FACT QUESTIONS 10:46-52

628.

Give five facts about Jericho.

629.

Why would the great number of persons already in Jericho be greatly increased at the time Jesus and His disciples came into it?

630.

What type of blindness did Bartimeus have?

631.

What is implied by mentioning Bartimeus by name?

632.

Why does Matthew mention two beggars? How reconcile these accounts?

633.

What designation concerning our Lord is never used by the evangelist Mark except in recording the words of others? Why?

634.

How did Bartimeus know Jesus?

635.

What example for us is in the cry of the beggar?

636.

What did the designation Son of David indicate?

637.

Give three possible reasons for asking Bartimeus to hold his peace.

638.

How was the response of Jesus to the acknowledging Him as the Messiah by Bartimeus different than others?

639.

How did Jesus reprove the reprovers?

640.

What is always included in the call of Christ?

641.

Why did the beggar cast aside his garment? In what manner did he arise?

642.

How could he so eagerly come to Jesus if he could not see Him?

643.

Why did Jesus ask the question: What wilt thou that I should do?

644.

What was the meaning of the word Rabbon?

645.

What was included in the expression Go thy way?

646.

Show how great was the faith of the blind man.

647.

What is added by Luk. 18:43?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(46-52) And they came to Jericho.See Notes on Mat. 20:29-34. St. Mark agrees with St. Matthew in placing the miracle as the disciples were leaving Jericho, and differs from him in speaking of one blind man only, and in giving his name.

Blind Bartimus.Better, as giving the same order as the Greek, the son of Timus, Bartimus, a blind beggar was sitting by the wayside begging. The later MSS. have the definite article before blind, as though he were well known and conspicuous. It is noticeable that the name was Greek with the Aramaic prefix Bar (= son), a combination not found elsewhere.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

108. HEALING OF BLIND BARTIMEUS, Mar 10:46-52 .

(See notes on Mat 20:29-34.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

46. Bartimeus The word Bar in Hebrew signifies son, as Bar-Jesus, son of Jesus, (Act 13:6,) Bar-Jona, Bar-tholemew. Bartimeus is son of Timeus. He seems to have been a well known blind beggar of that locality, and hence his name is given.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And they come to Jericho, and as he went out from Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar was sitting by the wayside.’

Luke speaks of this happening ‘as He drew near to Jericho’. Neither are stressing the exact situation, the important thing (if it was important) being that it happened at Jericho. Possible explanations of the difference are:

‘b7 Either 1). That Mark, the Christian Jew, to whom ancient Jericho was important, was speaking of the site of old Jericho, having in mind that Jericho was the first town reached by Israel when originally entering the land. Notice his stress on ‘they come to Jericho’ which seems otherwise redundant. While Luke the historian had in mind entry into the new town, built by Herod the Great and his son Archelaus and standing to the South of old Jericho.

‘b7 Or 2). That the beggar had welcomed Jesus approaching Jericho but had been unnoticed because of the large, noisy crowd and had therefore then waited until Jesus again left Jericho when he successfully accosted Him, Luke conflating the incidents for brevity. It is noteworthy that it is stressed that he did not get a response on his first attempt but persisted.

‘They come to Jericho.’ Mark rarely mentions names and yet here he stresses the approach to Jericho. The sensible explanation for this is that he saw it as significant in the light of Old Testament history. When the ancient people of Israel first entered the land they came to Jericho, and when any Jew heard the name Jericho that was the idea that would spring to mind. And now the first place Jesus reached after the mention of His determined ‘going up to Jerusalem’ (Mar 10:32) was Jericho. He has, as it were, ‘entered the land’ to claim it and was now to be greeted as ‘the son of David’, the all conquering Messiah. (We can compare how when Elijah was ‘departing’ he took the reverse route – Bethel, Jericho, Jordan and divided the waters of the Jordan, a reversal of the stages of Israel’s entry, and Elisha then reversed the process). It is tempting to remember that man who had awaited Joshua with the drawn sword in his hand who was the Captain of the Lord’s host (Jos 5:13-14). But this king was approaching offering peace, although enjoying the same spiritual protection.

‘And as He went out from Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd.’ The large crowd has again appeared. Jesus could not avoid them, and here they were to be seen as part of the triumphal march to Jerusalem. He had not come alone. Some would return home shortly but others would continue to Jerusalem for the Passover.

‘The son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar was sitting by the wayside.’ The description suggests that Timaeus (Hebrew – Timay?) was well known to Mark, and possibly the church to which he first wrote, as an outstanding Christian. As Bartimaeus (which means son of Timaeus) became a disciple this is quite probable. But that they were poor comes out in that Bartimaeus was begging.

Matthew has two blind beggars at the scene and names neither. This would not be surprising as there would probably be a dozen or more there, (it would be a favourite place for beggars at Passover time), and it is quite likely that Jesus would heal them all. He certainly would if they asked for it. But Mark concentrates on the one who brings over his point. Approaching Passover time such a spot just outside Jericho leading up to Jerusalem, would be prized by beggars. And it would be constantly thronged with people in festive mood. The point about this particular beggar was his use of the title ‘son of David’, and that was clearly picked up by a second joining in his cry.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Blind Man Who Saw Clearly (10:46-52).

As Jesus left Jericho on His approach to Jerusalem he was hailed as ‘the son of David’ – by a blind man. The idea had no doubt been suggested to the blind man by others but it was he alone who, having thought about it and accepted it, hailed Jesus by the title. Blind Jerusalem might not welcome Jesus like this but this blind man would, and he also was given sight and became a disciple (Mar 10:52).

Whatever the beggar’s intention Mark clearly saw the use of this title on this momentous entry into Jerusalem as highly significant. Here was the son of David approaching Jerusalem across the Jordan as He proceeded towards His final victory, as had the Israel of Joshua, and as the Messiah of the future was expected to do.

Analysis.

a And they come to Jericho, and as He went out from Jericho, with His disciples and a great crowd, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side (Mar 10:46).

b And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me” (Mar 10:47).

c And many rebuked him, with the intention that he should hold his peace, but he cried out the more a great deal, “You son of David, have mercy on me” (Mar 10:48).

d And Jesus stood still, and said, “Call you him” (Mar 10:49 a).

c And they call the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer, rise, He calls you.” And he, casting away his robe, sprang up, and came to Jesus (Mar 10:49-50).

b And Jesus answered him, and said, “What do you want that I should do to you? And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight” (Mar 10:51).

a And Jesus said to him, “Go your way, your faith has made you whole”. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him in the way.

Note that in ‘a the man is blind and is sitting by the way, and in the parallel he has received his sight and is walking in the way, following Jesus because of his faith. In ‘b’ he cries out to Jesus for mercy, and in the parallel responds to Jesus that he wants to receive his sight. In ‘c’ the crowd rebuke him but he persists, and in the parallel the crowd encourage him and he comes to Jesus. Centrally in ‘d’ he has the privilege and joy of being called by Jesus.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Approaches Jerusalem and Enters It As A Proclamation Of Who He Is, Cleanses The Temple, Depicts Its Coming Demise By Means Of The Withering of The Fig Tree, Enters Into Dispute With His Opponents, And Reveals Them As Those Who Are Like Faithless Tenants Of A Vineyard Rejecting Even The Son (10:46-12:12).

Along with the festal crowds proceeding to the Passover in Jerusalem along the Jericho Road Jesus now passes through Jericho on the way to Jerusalem, which He intends to enter as the Prince of Peace, purifying the Temple from its extravagances which are wrecking true worship for the Gentiles, and facing down His opponents who challenge what He is doing, pointing out that they are like false tenants of a vineyard who even reject the owner’s son. But none need fear, for the stone that the builders are rejecting is to be made the Cornerstone of the whole building.

Analysis.

a As Jesus approaches Jerusalem along the Jericho Road He is acknowledged by a blind man as the Son of David, and He restores his physical sight (Mar 10:46-52).

b He enters Jerusalem on an ass, revealing His authority and proclaiming Himself to be the Prince of Peace of Zec 9:9, and is greeted by the crowds in the name of the son of David (Mar 11:1-10).

c Jesus looks round the Temple, and then examines a fig tree seeking for fruit and finds none. He declares that it will never bear again (Mar 11:11-14).

d Jesus cleanses the court of the Gentiles in the Temple because it is intended to be a House of Prayer for all nations, not a den of brigands (Mar 11:15-19).

c The fig tree is found to be withered, and Jesus uses it as symbolic of Jerusalem which is to come under the judgment of God because of its fruitlessness which is in contrast to the burgeoning faith of the disciples (Mar 11:20-26).

b Jesus is questioned as to His authority to do what He has done, and reveals the perfidy of His questioners because they will not speak out honestly (Mar 11:27-33).

a He tells a parable which reveals the unwillingness of the ‘tenants’ of Israel to acknowledge the Son. They are revealed as spiritually blind (Mar 12:1-12).

Note that in ‘a’ the blind man acknowledges the Son of David, while in the parallel those who should have acknowledged Him refuse to do so because of their spiritual blindness. In ‘b’ Jesus reveals His authority by His actions and is acknowledged by the crowds, and in the parallel He is challenged as to that authority and rejected by Jewish authorities. In ‘c’ He declares that the fig tree (and the Temple) will never bear fruit again, and in the parallel the fig tree is withered and the Temple’s judgment is announced. Centrally in ‘d’ God has suddenly come to His Temple and has revealed its true condition, and that it is not what it should be.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus ( Mat 20:29-34 , Luk 18:35-43 ) Mar 10:46-52 gives us the account of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus, who received his healing by prayed three times with three specific prayers. He did not choose his own way, but he chose Jesus’ way.

Illustration – Having hosted international guests overseas in the mission field, I have seen the importance of protecting these guests from the multitudes who wish to make contact with them. An effort is made to usher the guest into a church and back out to the waiting car without interruption. I am told by one person who has been an international crusade manager that sometimes the evangelist stops and ministers to an individual only if the person is persist in crying out for help, just as Bartimaeus did in this story. Otherwise, the evangelist pays no attention to weak cries for help.

Mar 10:49 “And Jesus stood still” Comments – Jesus heard the cry of faith. In the multitude of unbelief, God’s ears are always open to the cry of faith, a cry of humility and mercy.

Mar 10:50  And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

Mar 10:50 “casting away his garment” Comments – If anyone has ever lived in a poor nation, he knows that beggars are known to all wear similar clothing. In a developed nation, where everyone wears unique dress, this truth can be overlooked. But in a culture, the poor are given clothing to wear of a common type of cloth. Thus, the garments of Bartimaeus were a part of his identification as a beggar. He threw off his garment in faith, believing that Jesus would heal him, so that he could walk and dress like everyone else.

Mar 10:51-52 Comments – “Go thy way” – The blind man made “his way to become “Jesus’ way.” When we are saved and can see the kingdom of God, we should also make our way become Jesus’ way.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Healing of Bartimaeus.

At Jericho:

v. 46. And they came to Jericho; and as He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highwayside begging.

v. 47. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

v. 48. And many charged him that he should hold his peace; but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

Mark here relates the healing of the blind man on the way out of Jericho. Luke tells the healing of one before they entered the city, Luk 18:35. And Matthew takes both miracles together into one account, Mat 20:29. Jesus came to Jericho and stayed there at least for several hours. His coming and the occurrences during His stay raised quite a stir in the city, and therefore He was accompanied not only by His disciples, but also by a great multitude of people, to whom He spoke words of eternal life as they walked along the way. Near the gate of the city, at a place where all the people passed by, a blind beggar was sitting. Mark notes his name and also explains its meaning for the non-Jewish readers: Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. The noise of the multitude reached him, and he obtained the information that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Of Him and of His many miracles Bartimaeus had heard. He had come to the conclusion that the man who could perform such miracles and preach in such a wonderful, convincing way of the need of repentance and of believing, must be the Son of David, in the special, Messianic sense; the Prophet of Galilee was the promised Messiah, Mat 9:27; Mat 12:23; Mat 21:9. Acting upon this certainty, he called out aloud to Him, pleading for mercy and help. And when many people in the crowd, impatient with His whining and crying, bade him hold his peace, he cried all the louder: Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me! He would not be denied. Mark well: Jesus undoubtedly knew of the man’s presence there, even before he cried the first time, but He permitted him to call once and then again. He wants persistence in prayer, He is delighted with importunity of the right kind. Not to grow weary in pleading with Jesus is the secret of success in obtaining spiritual and also temporal gifts.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mar 10:46. Blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, Bartimeus, which signifies in the Syriac language, the son of Timeus.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mar 10:46-52 . See on Mat 20:29-34 . Comp. Luk 18:35-43 . Matthew has abridged the narrative, and, following a later tradition (comp. on Mat 8:28 ), doubled the persons. Only Mark has the name of the blind man, which is not interpolated (Wilke), and certainly is from trustworthy tradition.

] The patronymic , as was often the case (comp. , , ), had become altogether a proper name, so that Mark even expressly prefixes to it , which, however, may be accounted for by the fact of Timaeus being well known, possibly as having become a Christian of note.

] (see the critical remarks): a blind beggar.

Mar 10:47 . “Magna fides, quod caecus filium Davidis appellat, quem ei Nazaraeum praedicabat populus,” Bengel.

Mar 10:49 . , , ] a hasty asyndeton. Comp. Ngelsbach, Anm. z. Ilias, Exo 3 , p. 80.

Mar 10:50 . . .] depicts the joyous eagerness, with which also the is in keeping (see the critical remarks). Comp. Hom. Il. ii. 183: , , Act 3:8 ; Dem. 403, 5.

Mar 10:51 . ] , usually: domine mi. See Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 2179. Yet the yod, as in , may also be only paragogic (Drusius, Michaelis, Fritzsche); and this latter view is precisely on account of the analogy of more probable, and is confirmed by the interpretation in Joh 20:16 . The form is, we may add, more respectful than . Comp. Drusius.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

2. The Passing through Jericho. Mar 10:46-52

(Parallels: Mat 20:29-34; Luk 18:35-43; Luk 19:1-28.)

46And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number of people, blind Bartimeus, the20 son of Timeus, sat by the highway-side begging. 47And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,21 he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. 48And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. 49And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called:22 and they call50 the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose,23 and came to Jesus. 51And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus24 in the way.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

See on the parallels in Matthew and Luke.From Ephraim and the desert, Jesus, with the Twelve and His trusted Galilan dependentswho had joined Him at this point or beforeturned to Jericho, where He united His company with that of the great Galilan-Peran band going up to the feast, which had come from Pera over the Jordan. Upon the question of time, and Jericho itself, and the difference among the Synoptists in regard to the healing of the blind, consult the notes upon Matthew. Like that Evangelist, Mark passes over the narrative of Zacchus, and gives instead all the more exact account of the healing of the blind man. The fundamental idea of Lukes Gospel demanded that the favor shown to the rich publican should not be omitted. Matthew and Mark are so intent upon depicting the great procession to the feast in its unity, that they cannot linger upon another episode, such as that of Zacchus, in addition to the healing of the blind man. Matthew, indeed, might hesitate through modesty to record prominently so many instances of favor shown to the publicans; and Mark would probably prefer to omit a new remembrancer of the embittered hatred which subsisted between the Jews and the Romanswriting as he did so much for Roman Christians. Moreover, the occurrence with Zacchus was not properly a miraculous history, such as both these Evangelists mainly record at this time.Now, while Matthew gives an account merely of the departure from Jericho, Mark mentions also the entrance. In his account of the departure, he describes the great numbers that accompanied Jesus, and records the full name of the blind man, Bartimus, the son of Timus. Luke joins him in saying that this man was a beggar. Mark, again, has the specific note that he, Bartimus, began to cry aloud. The words of the people to the blind man, Be of good courage, rise; He calleth theethe conduct of Bartimus generally, and his casting away his garment, and standing up, and comingare all characteristic touches of painting which Mark alone gives. Only Matthew records the compassion of Jesus, and the fixing His eyes upon the man. Mark also omits Receive thy sight. The word of healing is condensed, and the conclusion is briefer than Lukes, touching only the main points.

Mar 10:46. Bartimus.The patronymic is made into a proper name (after the analogy of Bartholomew and others); as it is explained by the additional clause, son of Timus. This last seems to place Timus among the number of well-known Christians. Meyer: Probably a Christian who afterwards attained distinction. And this might be true, notwithstanding the fact that he had allowed his son, a blind man, to beg on the highway. But, if we read with Codex A. and the Text. Rec., a son of Timus, Bartimus the blind man, sat and begged, it is plain that this is an account of him more precise and consistently carried out, which however seemed too full and specific to most copyists. According to it, Bartimus, the blind man, was himself a personage well known to Christians as a monument of the Lords miracle, as was probably also Simon the Leper; and the designation a son of Timus would distinguish him, not merely from the father, but also from other sons.

Mar 10:47. And when he heard.He therefore believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of David, that is, the expected Messiah. He thus bore testimony to the widely-scattered seed of faith, and especially to the renewed stimulus given to the Redeemers cause, since the beginning of the festal journey, amongst the masses. But the blind man might also have heard on his hill-top of the recent resurrection of Lazarus, which took place in his own neighborhood; and this might have been matter of many silent night-ponderings in his blindness.

Mar 10:49. And Jesus stood still.We now have reached the great crisis. He now hears the loud cry of the peopleMessiah! See on the parallel of Matthew.Be of good comfort.Meyer: , , : most affecting asyndeton.

Mar 10:51. Rabboni, , my Master.If the Yod is taken paragogically, it means merely master (see Meyer); but even then it has so emphatic a sense as to be almost equal in personal reverence. Bartimus adhered from that time to the Lord. He followed Him, praising God, Luke says; he followed Him in the way, in the procession, says Mark. He immediately joined the festal company of Jesus triumph. It was, indeed, the triumphal procession of the Prophet, and not yet that of the High Priest: this is formed by the living Church, even as the risen saints will be the triumphal procession of the King.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See on Matthew and the previous notes.

2. The contrast in the sentiments of the people round Christ: type of the contrast between the hierarchical and the evangelical Church. In the former, the poor and wretched are threatened, and bidden to keep silence, when they cry directly to Christ; in the latter it is, Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee. It was natural that those who surrounded Christ should be led, by the thought that His kingdom was beginning, into conventional notions as to the value of courtly customs and hierarchical order; but it was also natural that the mercy of our Lord towards the wretched should scatter all such mists.
3. The casting his garment away was an expression of joyous boldness and zealous haste, and a removal of all impediments.
4. Mark intimates the dignity of the crisis in which the Lord now stands, by the circumstance that He heals the blind man simply by words: Go thy way, thy faith, etc. We know from Matthew how they are to be explained in detail; nevertheless, it is observable that Mark, who earlier records the sighing, the anointing with spittle, etc., introduces here so few intervening circumstances.
5. The Lord declared, by act and deed, that He would have no courtly state in His kingdom, no intermediate personages between Him and His dependents; that He was come, not to rule, but to minister. And, so far as this goes, our history is an acted illustration of the former section.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See on Matthew.The beginning of the procession of Christ was the opening of blind eyes.Light must be diffused in the world.The fame of Bartimus the best fame for all men; the best reputation for all Christians. (He was a blind man, a beggar; he believed and importuned; the Lord took pity upon him, and healed him.)With the name of Christ the names of those whom He saved are immortalized.The most beautiful homage with which Christ was publicly hailed as Messiah: Have mercy on me!It is a pitiable thing when the cry, Lord, have pity on me (the , to wit), becomes a dead formula in our poor Christendom.How Jesus can transform the harsh threateners of the wretched into compassionate comforters and helpers.The three words of true Christian sympathy and help for the wretched: Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee.Through the compassion of Jesus and nearness to Him, one is taught to preach the Gospel even unconsciously.How the helping Go thy way of the Lord to Bartimus and others becomes a glorious and encouraging announcement, Come unto Me.All the uncalled ceremonialists in the royal procession of Christ are unable to suppress the cry of faith sent forth to Him.The ear of the King detects the lamenting cry of the blind beggar through all the tumult of the crowd.Thus the royal procession is magnified by the cry of misery.A blind beggar can arrest the course of it; a blind beggar, turned into a seeing disciple, can advance it and add to its dignity.The true petitioners of God throw away for ever the beggars array.Mendicancy appears or vanishes as men are guided: 1. It appears in the ancient priestly and royal states of this world; 2. it vanishes in the kingdom of Christ. Compare with this passage Joh 9:8; Act 3:2; Act 4:34.Men may at first hinder the beginnings of Christianity, and then agree afterwards to further it prematurely and rashly. (The first three centuries, and the three following, are examples.)

Starke:Luther:Blindness and poverty cause a double distress: so it is in spiritual matters, when both are rightly felt and mourned over.Canstein:The preaching of the Gospel is a perpetual announcement that Jesus is near; and we should, knowing our misery, incessantly and confidently cry aloud to Him for His mercy.Luther:Sufferers oftentimes meet with scanty sympathy and poor intercession.Cramer:It would be a sore thing if the good God were as easily wearied as men are with our praying and beseeching.Quesnel:We should let no opportunity pass of getting good either to body or soul, for such opportunities do not always return.Hedinger:In prayer we should let nothing interrupt or divert us.The simplicity of faith in prayer holds fast and holds out.Luther:Gods call is even in spiritual things the beginning of actual cure.He who truly wants salvation must disencumber himself of all embarrassments and come to Christ.Hedinger:He who would see, must acknowledge his blindness.Luther:Faith is counted of such high dignity that salvation is ascribed to it, although the work of God.Hedinger:Christ is our Physician and our Light.Faith is the best of all medicine.Canstein:Those who receive gifts follow their benefactors. Ought we not then to follow Christ?He is indeed our greatest Benefactor.Rieger (with reference to those who murmured):Those who stand around are often unaware how much harm they may do by light words, and how easily a tender germ is trodden down and ruined.The inward earnestness of the blind man broke through everything. Happy he who lets himself be restrained from faith and the cry of faith by nothing under the sun.Things are continually occurring which might have a tendency to turn us in part or wholly away from Christ. What then? So much the more does the blind cry out, and faith believe; and the more it is hindered, the more it is helped.The Lord was not always so willing to be followed by those who were healed; but in this last journey to Jerusalem an exception was admitted. Envy was not now to be excited; it had reached its highest point. Praise, on the other hand, was now, by all the wonderful works of God, to demonstrate its power against the enemy and the avenger.Gossner:The blind man runs to Jesus without seeing Him; so must we hasten to Him in faith, though we see Him not.

Footnotes:

[20]Mar 10:46.We read, with A. and Recepta, without the Article, and with the Article. [Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Meyer, following B., D., L., ., omit it.] So also , although important Codd., including B., L., ., Tischendorf, and Meyer, read . See the Notes.

[21]Mar 10:47., Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer.

[22]Mar 10:49. : B., C., L., ., Tischendorf, Meyer.

[23]Mar 10:50.Instead of , Lachmann and Tischendorf read , after B., L., D., ., Vulgate, &c.

[24]Mar 10:52. instead of .

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

(46) And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. (47) And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. (48) And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. (49) And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called: and they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. (50) And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. (51) And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? the blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. (52) And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole: and immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

The miracle here recorded being particularly interesting, and somewhat more largely treated, than in either of the other Evangelists, (See Mat 20:29 ; Luk 18:35 .) I would beg the reader’s indulgence to notice some of the more striking features of it.

Jericho was the cursed city. Jos 7:26 ; 1Ki 16:34 ; but here the LORD will raise trophies to his grace. Rahab shall be called from Jericho; and thus blind Bartimaeus shall form from thence an everlasting monument in the Church, to the Redeemer’s glory.

The first thing to be observed after the name, is the state and situation of this poor man. It doth not say so; but it is more than probable that he was born blind. Born blind indeed he was in soul, for this is the case of our nature universally speaking: and the SON of GOD came to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Isaiah xxxv; 5.Isa 42:6-7 ; Isa 49:9 ; Isa 61:1 , compared. with Luk 4:18 . I beg the Reader to consult what was offered, Chap. Mar 8:22-26 , on the subject of CHRIST, forming, a creation; in all such instances of blindness as he cured when the eye had never been formed in the socket, or if destroyed. And Reader! is not every instance of every blindness when restored to sight, an emblem of the sinner, yea, every sinner; when brought from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan to the living GOD!

The next thing to be noticed in the case of this poor man, is the situation in which he sat by the highway side begging. Begging alms for the body, unconscious of the wants of the soul. What can be more pitiable than when we thus see beggars in our streets, earnest and importunate for the bread which perisheth; but unconcerned for that which endureth to everlasting life. Such was this man’s state. Such is every man’s state, though he waiteth on the highway of ordinances till JESUS pass by; and the Spirit of JESUS put a cry in his heart for spiritual light and understanding.

The third incident in the history of Bartimaeus was the hearing of Jesus passing by, and the immediate effect wrought in his heart, putting a cry there; JESUS! thou SON of DAVID, have mercy on me! Who told him that JESUS after the flesh, was the SON of DAVID? And when he heard this, who informed him that it was under this character his people were to look for his mercy? Who but GOD the Spirit could have told him this; or put such a cry in his heart, which nothing should stifle, until the requested mercy had been granted him? Who, but must see the work of grace, upon this man’s soul?

The fourth particular worthy our regard in the case, is the conduct of the people who endeavoured to stop his cry. What a striking representation this is of what is every day going on in the world. No sooner is a child of GOD brought under serious concern for his everlasting welfare, but false friends to poor sinners, and true enemies to the rich Savior, aim to stifle all conviction, and crush the infant desire of salvation at once in the soul. Oh! what sharp exercises have some gracious souls gone through, in their first awakenings from their carnal relations and neighbours, before that CHRIST hath been formed in the heart the hope of glory

The fifth thing observable in the history, is the conduct of the poor man, on the endeavours of those around him to silence his cry; his earnestness became but the more increased. True grace, the more it is exercised, the more it will manifest itself: neither will an effectual call from the LORD ever cease, before that the prayer awakened by it and offered to the LORD, be answered in mercy. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Rom 8:30 .

The standing still of JESUS, and calling the poor man, which are the next points to be noticed in this transaction, are most blessedly interesting indeed. Was there not a needs be, for CHRIST standing still; and calling him, similar to Zacchaeus and the woman of Samaria? See Luk 19:5 ; Joh 4:4 . Is not JESUS constrained by his very mission, to seek and save the lost? Joh 6:37 . Oh! what a subject of holy joy, such views of CHRIST furnish?

Neither do I think the poor man’s instant arising, hastening to Jesus, and casting away his garment, (for the whole was CHRIST’s grace in the man’s heart, and not nature’s powers,) are less interesting as the sweet effects proceeding from such a cause! Reader! think how blessed it must be, when at any time a poor sinner is enabled by the same grace as calls him, to hasten to that call; and to cast away everything of his own; all his own righteousness, or what some men call righteousness, and which the word of GOD calls filthy rags, and come to Jesus, just as he is, poor and blind, and wretched, and needy; and receive all from CHRIST, since all is in CHRIST of pardon and salvation?

And what a beautiful close, to a most blessed and beautiful miracle doth the account end with: the poor man received his sight and followed JESUS in the way; followed him no doubt, in the regeneration; and having found JESUS so blessed in grace, is now sitting down with him forever in glory. Oh! the preciousness of salvation! Oh! the unspeakable preciousness of such an Almighty SAVIOR!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

XV

BARTIMEUS HEALED; ZACCHEUS SAVED; AND THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS

Harmony, pages 137-139 and Mat 20:29-34 ; Mar 10:46-52 ; Luk 18:35-19:28 .

This section commences on page 137 of the Harmony. There are just seven things that I want to say about this miracle of the healing of Bartimeus:

1. This record has always given Bartimeus a lively place in the memory of each student of the Bible. The story takes hold of the imagination.

2. While our Lord healed a great many blind people, our Gospels specialize but three instances in the following order: (1) The healing of the blind man in Bethsaida recorded by Mark alone (Mar 8:22-26 ), found on page 89 of the Harmony; (2) the healing of the man born blind at Jerusalem as recorded in Joh 9 , and found in the Harmony, page 108; and (3) this lesson on page 137 of the Harmony, recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And it is one of the greatest proofs of the inspiration of the Bible that when we take the three accounts and put them together in the form of a Harmony, a definite plan is just as evident in the combined narrative of the case as in the gradations of the single narratives. The same characteristic appears in the three restorations to life: (1) of the daughter of Jairus, (2) of the son of the widow of Nain, and (3) of Lazarus. So with other miracles; the combined narratives are graded in every case. Therefore in studying this miracle of the healing of blindness we must compare the first instance recorded, the one in Bethsaida, with the second instance recorded, the one in Joh 9 , and this last instance, and we will be enabled by the comparison to notice the distinguishing features of the three miracles, which are very remarkable. I have more than once recommended Trench’s book on miracles. If we take his book and carefully read in connection and in order these three instances of the healing of the blind, then Broadus on this last one in his commentary on Matthew, and Hovey on the one in John, we learn how to gather and correlate homiletic materials for a great sermon on Christ’s healing the blind. The books of Broadus and Hovey belong to “The American Commentary.”

3. The textual difficulties of this last case call for some explanation. These difficulties appear as follows: Matthew says, “Behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside;” Mark and Luke give just one, and give the surname. Matthew says, “And as they went out from Jericho,” and Luke says, “As he drew nigh unto Jericho.” There is no trouble at all about the first difficulty, that is, Matthew mentions that there were two and the others confine what they say to the principal one; there is no contradiction. In other words the histories of Mark and Luke do not contradict the statement by Matthew that there were two, unless they had said, “only one.”

4. In the other difficulty, Matthew and Mark saying it occurred as they went out from Jericho, and Luke saying that it was as they drew nigh to Jericho, and Luke saying that it was as they drew nigh to Jericho, there seems to be a plain contradiction of Scripture. The footnote in the Harmony gives the best explanation. It is clearly stated in that footnote and it is much more elaborated in the commentary on the passage by Dr. Broadus. The point is just this: The old Jericho was abandoned for a long time after the curse that was put upon it when the Israelites first entered into the land, but it was afterward partially rebuilt. Herod, the king living when Christ was born, built a new Jericho, and if we simply understand that Luke is referring to the new Jericho, and Matthew and Mark to the old Jericho, we have the explanation.

5. This beggar, or these two beggars, both ascribe to Jesus a messianic title: “Thou son of David.” It was the peculiar characteristic of the Messiah when he came that he was to be the son of David sit on David’s throne and that is why in the genealogies Matthew traces the descent of Jesus from David legally through Joseph, and Luke really through Mary, his mother. It had to be proved that he belonged to the royal family of David. Now these men ascribe that messianic title to him.

6. The next thing which I wish to explain is in Mat 20:31 of Matthew’s account: “And the multitude rebuked them, that they should hold their peace.” The source, or ground, of that rebuke, has been explained in two ways, and the latter way is the more probable. The first is that the Pharisees in that multitude rebuked these suppliants for ascribing the messianic title to Jesus of Nazareth. It is more probable that the disciples did the rebuking because they did not like for Jesus to be constantly obtruded upon by the persistence of these beggars. In like manner, on an earlier occasion, they rebuked the persistence of the Syrophoenician woman: “Why trouble ye the Master?” And again they rebuked the bringing to him of little children that he might put his hands on them, bless them, and pray for them.

One of the strongest proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ was his approachableness by all men at all times. He would not allow himself to be hedged against the approach of people to him who needed help.

A rich man like Mr. Rockefeller surrounds himself with guards and with clerks, so that it is impossible for anybody to have an interview with him unless he first designates his wish to have an interview, and the reason is that he hasn’t time, and that it isn’t possible for him to receive and hear everybody who desires to come and see him) especially when they want help, but Christ faces the whole world and says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and whether it was a Syrophoenician woman, or parents bringing little children, or blind beggars by the wayside, he would not have their approach or progress to him barred.

7. The last thing to which I wish to call attention in that miracle can be put forth in the form of a question. What thrilling song was based on a passage in this miracle? ZACCHEUS SAVED

Now, on the next section (p. 138 Luk 19:1-28 ), I wish to say a few things about the case of Zaccheus. Zaccheus, like Bartimeus, strikes the imagination. In my childhood I heard a plantation Negro sing: Little Zaccheus climbed a tree, The Lord and Master for to ace.

I don’t remember the rest of the song, but it illustrates the hold of the Zaccheus story on the popular imagination. It suggests also a very valuable lesson, correcting the impression that only giants in body and strength can become masters in mind and knowledge. Big men physically are apt to look down somewhat, not only in body, but spiritually and mentally, upon men of low stature. I recall the poem in the old school book, McGuffey’s Third Reader: How big was Alexander, Pa, That people called him great? Was he so tall, like some steeple high, That while his feet were on the ground His hands could touch the sky?

We recall such men in this country as Alexander Stephens, and Stephen Arnold Douglas, the little giant, and many others of small stature who attained to great distinction. The great William of the house of Orange, the Duke of Luxemburg, General Roberts, a great British general, the Duke of Wellington, and even Louis XIV, were small men. I say that for the comfort of any one who is unable to measure up high physically as he may wish he could.

Here I ask a question: When Zaccheus says, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold,” does that language express what had been his habit before this date, or does it express a purpose of what he will do since he has met Jesus? Does Zaccheus say that from the viewpoint of a man converted that day and expressive of what he intended to do in the future, or does he designate what had been his habit to justify himself of the censure upon him by the Pharisees? They said, “Here is a sinner and Jesus of Nazareth is going to abide with a sinner.” Now does Zaccheus reply, “However great a sinner I may have been, hereafter I intend to give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have wronged any man, to restore to him fourfold?” Or, “Though they call me a sinner, yet by my deeds have I proved that I am saved?”

The third observation on the case of Zaccheus is the expression, “Today is salvation come to this house.” I remember once when the president of Baylor University, in the long ago, took a number of the boys out to hear an Episcopal preacher. The Episcopal preacher took the position that there was no such thing as instantaneous conversion, intending to criticize the Methodists and Baptists upon that point that conversion was the result merely of a long previous education. As we were walking away from the church Dr. Burleson says, “What about the case of Zaccheus? He was a sinner, and a lost sinner, when he climbed that tree. He was a saved man when he came down from the tree, for our Lord said, ‘To-day is salvation come to this house.’ “

I call attention to that fact because a great many preachers preach without directness and without expectation of immediate results. They think that if they will hold a meeting about nine days that on the tenth day they can get the iron so hot somebody will be converted, and they themselves have no faith in anybody being converted early in the meeting.

But great preachers expect immediate results. They are dissatisfied if somebody is not converted every time they preach. They feed their minds on that thought that God has present ability to save any man, and look for conversions. They believe that somebody will be converted that day. They pray that somebody will be converted that day:

The last thought on the Zaccheus case is what Christ said in the rebuke of the Pharisees: “He also is a son of Abraham.” They counted him, because a publican, an outcast, for the publican was a Jew, who would consent to collect taxes for the Roman government, and they were held as much in abomination by the Jews as the Southern people used to hold a scalawag, i.e., a Southerner who would take office under the oppressor of the people. So “scalawag” would be a pretty good modern translation of “publican.” Jesus says, “He shows that he is the son of Abraham.” “All are not Jews who are Jews outwardly, but only those that are Jews inwardly,” Paul says. Now this man is a Jew inwardly and outwardly; he is a fleshly and spiritual son of Abraham.

THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS

The case of Zaccheus and what disposition he made of his money, for he was a rich man, suggested a parable. But the two reasons assigned for giving the parable of the pounds are these: “He spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.” Oh, how many times did our Lord warn against the idea that the coming of Christ in his glorious kingdom was immediate! Instead of its being immediate, this nobleman goes away as Jesus went away when he ascended from the dead; went to receive his kingdom and administer it from his throne in heaven; only after a long time will he come back. Let us be clear on that. He will stay there until he has done the things for which he ascended to heaven, and then when he comes back he will come back for reasons of resurrection and judgment. He will make professed Christians give an account of their stewardship. He will punish his enemies and there will not be an interval of time between his coming to reward his people and the punishment of the wicked, which the premillennialists continually affirm, but both will take place on the same occasion. This parable and a number of others make that as clear as the noonday sun. One of the reasons for speaking this parable was because so many of them supposed that this glory kingdom would come immediately. A little later we will take up a parable pretty much on the same line as the parable of the pounds, called the parable of the talents, and the two ought always to be studied together, but there were special reasons for speaking the parable of the pounds, in this connection, and when we get to the parable of the talents I will show the points of distinction between the two. So far as this one goes, two classes of people are in his mind, as here represented in the parable, the going off of the nobleman or prince to receive a kingdom: the first one is the case of those who profess to be his disciples or his people; the second case is that of those who refuse to admit his sovereignty over them, that is, the wicked, the avowedly wicked, those who openly say Jesus Christ is neither my king, nor my ruler, nor my Saviour. It is the object of this parable to show what he does in the case of his servants as he goes off, and what he does in their case when he comes back, and then to show what he does with those citizens who say that he shall not reign over them. In the case of his professed servants they are represented as agents or stewards receiving a certain amount, and here the amount is equal, ten servants each one pound, and he says, “Trade ye herewith till I come.” If we profess to be Christians we acknowledge that we stand toward Christ in the relation of steward, and that what we have is given to us; that we may use it for the glory of God, and that when Jesus returns he will have a reckoning with us on that point; so that a Christian comes into judgment, not on a life and death matter, but he comes into judgment on his fidelity as a Christian. The parable shows that rewards will not be equal. All saved people will not be rewarded alike: they are saved alike, but they are not rewarded alike. The difference in their rewards is based upon the degree of their fidelity. If one man takes one pound and makes ten with it his reward is twice as great as the one who takes one pound and only makes five. That is clear. We often hear the question, “Are there degrees in heaven?” The answer to it is but another question, “Degrees of what?” If we ask, “Are there degrees of salvation?” The answer is, “No.” If we ask, “Are there degrees of rewards?” The answer is, “Yes.” That is evident. The servants are dealt with according to their profession, as church members are held accountable, without stopping to inquire whether they are rightfully church members. One of these servants took his pound and hid it in a napkin, and at the day of judgment he says, “Lord, here is your pound, just as you gave it to me. I rolled it up in a napkin and hid it.” Now to the man Jesus replies, “Thou wicked servant,” wicked because he has done no good with his opportunities, with his talents, with his money, with anything that he has had as a professed Christian. “Therefore,” says the Lord, “take away from that man his pound. What good is it to him? Wrap it up in a rag and stick it in a hole. He doesn’t use it for any good purpose.” As Cromwell said when he entered the British parliament and saw twelve silver images, “Whose are those images?” and the reply was, “They are the twelve apostles in silver.” “Well,” he says, “melt them down and put them into the coin of the realm and let them go about doing good like their name sakes.” An idea is expressed in this paradox, “Unto every one that hath shall be given, but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him.”

There is an inexorable natural law, that an unused organ goes into bankruptcy and a used organ develops a greater power. An arm carried in a sling and unused for twelve months, loses its muscle power. So nature proves how may be taken away what one hath and to him that hath shall be given. The parable closes, “Howbeit these mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me.” The slaying of the enemies and the rewarding of the servants take place at his coming and not separated by a thousand years of time. As Paul says, he visits his righteous indignation upon his enemies when he appears to be admired in his people. The two are simultaneous.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the impress made by the story of Bartimeus?

2. What three instances of healing the blind specialized by the Gospels and what evidence of inspiration do they give?

3. What are the points of likeness and the points of contrast in these three instances?

4. What authors commended on these instances of Christ’s healing the blind and the special value of a study of them on these miracles?

5. What two textual difficulties here and what is the solution of each?

6. What title did these beggars ascribe to Jesus, what is its meaning and what is the bearing of this on the harmony of the genealogies of Christ?

7. What are the two explanations of Mat 20:31 , which is preferable, and what other examples that illustrate this explanation?

8. What is one of the strongest proofs of the divinity of Christ and how contrasted with modern men of wealth and power?

9. What thrilling modern song is based on a passage in this miracle?

10. How has the incident of Zaccheus impressed the imagination and what is the couplet here given to illustrate?

11. What valuable lesson suggested by the fact that Zaccheus “was little of stature”? Quote the poem to illustrate.

12. Name seven men small in stature but great in mind.

13. What did Zaccheus mean by his saying in Luk 19:8 ?

14. What bearing has this incident on instantaneous conversion and what is the lesson here for the preacher?

15. What is the meaning of Christ’s saying, “He also is a son of Abraham,” and what is Paul’s teaching in point?

16. What parable suggested by the case of Zaccheus and what two reasons assigned for speaking the parable?

17. How does this parable warn against the idea that Christ’s coming in his glorious kingdom was immediate?

18. What other parable ought to be studied in connection with this one?

19. What two classes of people in the mind of Christ when he gave this parable and what is the object of the parable?

20. What do “servants” and “citizens” each represent in this parable?

21 What tremendous responsibility here shown to rest upon the professed servants of Christ and what is the bearings on rewards?

22. Who is represented in this parable by the man who buried his pound?

23. Give the illustration of the twelve apostles in silver.

24. What paradox in this parable and what the explanation?

25. What does this parable teach relative to the second coming of Christ and attendant events?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:

44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.

45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

Ver. 46. Blind Bartimeus ] Named and celebrated in the Gospel, when many mighty monarchs are utterly forgotten, or else lie shrouded in the sheet of shame.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

46 52. ] HEALING OF BLIND BARTIMUS ON DEPARTURE FROM JERICHO. Mat 20:29-34 .Luk 18:35-43Luk 18:35-43 . On the three accounts referring to one and the same miracle, see on Matt. I will only add here, that a similar difference of number between Matt. and Mark is found in the miracle in the neighbourhood of Gergesa, ch. Mar 5:2 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

46. ] . patronymic. : so Bar tholomew, ch. Mar 3:18 , Bar jesus, Act 13:6 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mar 10:46-52 . Bartimaeus (Mat 20:29-34 , Luk 18:35-43 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mar 10:46 . , historical present for effect. Jericho an important place, and of more interest to the narrator; the last stage on the journey before arriving at Jerusalem (Weiss in Meyer). .: Jesus mentioned apart as the principal person, or as still going before, the disciples and the crowd mentioned also, as they have their part to play in the sequel, understood. . : not implying that the crowd was of very moderate dimensions, but = a large crowd, as we say colloquially “pretty good” when we mean “very good”. This use of probably belonged to the colloquial Greek of the period. vide Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek , p. 79. T. B. Mk. knows the name, and gives both name, Bartimaeus, and interpretation, son of Timaeus.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mark

BARTIMAEUS

Mar 10:46 .

The narrative of this miracle is contained in all the Synoptical Gospels, but the accounts differ in two respects-as to the number of men restored to sight, and as to the scene of the miracle. Matthew tells us that there were two men healed, and agrees with Mark in placing the miracle as Jesus was leaving Jericho. Mark says that there was one, and that the place was outside the gate in departing. Luke, on the other hand, agrees with Matthew as to the number, and differs from him and Mark as to the place, which he sets at the entrance into the city. The first of these two discrepancies may very easily be put aside. The greater includes the less; silence is not contradiction. To say that there was one does not deny that there were two. And if Bartimaeus was a Christian, and known to Mark’s readers, as is probable from the mention of his name, it is easily intelligible how he, being also the chief actor and spokesman, should have had Mark’s attention concentrated on him. As to the other discrepancy, many attempts have been made to remove it. None of them are altogether satisfactory. But what does it matter? The apparent contradiction may affect theories as to the characteristics of inspired books, but it has nothing to do with the credibility of the narratives, or with their value for us.

Mark’s account is evidently that of an eye-witness. It is full of little particulars which testify thereto. Whether Bartimaeus had a companion or not, he was obviously the chief actor and spokesman. And the whole story seems to me to lend itself to the enforcement of some very important lessons, which I will try to draw from it.

I. Notice the beggar’s petition and the attempts to silence it.

Remember that Jesus was now on His last journey to Jerusalem. That night He would sleep at Bethany; Calvary was but a week off. He had paused to win Zacchaeus, and now He has resumed His march to His Cross. Popular enthusiasm is surging round Him, and for the first time He does not try to repress it. A shouting multitude are escorting Him out of the city. They have just passed the gates, and are in the act of turning towards the mountain gorge through which runs the Jerusalem road. A long file of beggars is sitting, as beggars do still in Eastern cities, outside the gate, well accustomed to lift their monotonous wail at the sound of passing footsteps. Bartimaeus is amongst them. He asks, according to Luke, what is the cause of the bustle, and is told that ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ The name wakes strange hopes in him, which can only be accounted for by his knowledge of Christ’s miracles done elsewhere. It is a witness to their notoriety that they had filtered down to be the talk of beggars at city gates. And so, true to his trade, he cries, ‘Jesus . . . have mercy upon me!’

Now, note two or three things about that cry. The first is the clear insight into Christ’s place and dignity. The multitude said to him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.’ That was all they cared for or knew. He cried, ‘Jesus, thou Son of David,’ distinctly recognising our Lord’s Messianic character, His power and authority, and on that power and authority he built a confidence; for he says not as some other suppliants had done, either ‘If Thou wilt Thou canst,’ or ‘If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us.’ He is sure of both the power and the will.

Now, it is interesting to notice that this same clear insight other blind men in the Evangelist’s story are also represented as having had. Blindness has its compensations. It leads to a certain steadfast brooding upon thoughts, free from disturbing influences. Seeing Jesus did not produce faith; not seeing Him seems to have helped it. It left imagination to work undisturbed, and He was all the loftier to these blind men, because the conceptions of their minds were not limited by the vision of their eyes. At all events, here is a distinct piece of insight into Christ’s dignity, power, and will, to which the seeing multitudes were blind.

Note, further, how in the cry there throbs the sense of need, deep and urgent. And note how in it there is also the realisation of the possibility that the widely-flowing blessings of which Bartimaeus had heard might be concentrated and poured, in their full flood, upon himself. He individualises himself, his need, Christ’s power and willingness to help him. And because he has heard of so many who have, in like manner, received His healing touch, he comes with the cry, ‘Have mercy upon me.’

All this is upon the low level of physical blessings needed and desired. But let us lift it higher. It is a mirror in which we may see ourselves, our necessities, and the example of what our desire ought to be. Ah! brethren, the deep consciousness of impotence, need, emptiness, blindness, lies at the bottom of all true crying to Jesus Christ. If you have never gone to Him, knowing yourself to be a sinful man, in peril, present and future, from your sin, and stained and marred by reason of it, you never have gone to Him in any deep and adequate sense at all. Only when I thus know myself am I driven to cry, ‘Jesus! have mercy on me.’ And I ask you not to answer to me, but to press the question on your own consciences-’Have I any experience of such a sense of need; or am I groping in the darkness and saying, I see? am I weak as water, and saying I am strong?’ ‘Thou knowest not that thou art poor, and naked, and blind’; and so that Jesus of Nazareth should be passing by has never moved thy tongue to call, ‘Son of David, have mercy upon me!’

Again, this man’s cry expressed a clear insight into something at least of our Lord’s unique character and power. Brethren, unless we know Him to be all that is involved in that august title, ‘the Son of David,’ I do not think our cries to Him will ever be very earnest. It seems to me that they will only be so when, on the one hand, we recognise our need of a Saviour, and, on the other hand, behold in Him the Saviour whom we need. I can quite understand-and we may see plenty of illustrations of it all round us-a kind of Christianity real as far as it goes, but in my judgment very superficial, which has no adequate conception of what sin means, in its depth, in its power upon the victim of it, or in its consequences here and hereafter; and, that sense being lacking, the whole scale of Christianity, as it were, is lowered, and Christ comes to be, not, as I think the New Testament tells us that He is, the Incarnate Word of God, who for us men and for our salvation ‘bare our sins in His own body on the tree,’ and ‘was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,’ but an Example, a Teacher, or a pure Model, or a social Reformer, or the like. If men think of Him only as such, they will never cry to Him, ‘Have mercy upon me!’

Dear friends, I pray you, whether you begin with looking into your own hearts and recognising the crawling evils that have made their home there, and thence pass to the thought of the sort of Redeemer that you need and find in Christ-or whether you begin at the other side, and, looking upon the revealed Christ in all the fulness in which He is represented to us in the Gospels, from thence go back to ask yourselves the question, ‘What sort of man must I be, if that is the kind of Saviour that I need?’-I pray you ever to blend these two things together, the consciousness of your own need of redemption in His blood and the assurance that by His death we are redeemed, and then to cry, ‘Lord! have mercy upon me,’ and claim your individual share in the wide-flowing blessing. Turn all the generalities of His grace into the particularity of your own possession of it. We have to go one by one to His cross, and one by one to pass through the wicket gate. We have not cried to Him as we ought, if our cry is only ‘Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us.’ We must be alone with Him, that into our own hearts we may receive all the fulness of His blessing; and our petition must be ‘Thou Son of David! have mercy upon me.’ Have you cried that? Notice, further, the attempts to stifle the cry. No doubt it was in defence of the Master’s dignity, as they construed it, that the people sought to silence the persistent, strident voice piercing through their hosannas. Ah! they did not know that the cry of wretchedness was far sweeter to Him than their shallow hallelujahs. Christian people of all churches, and of some stiffened churches very especially, have been a great deal more careful of Christ’s dignity than He is, and have felt that their formal worship was indecorously disturbed when by chance some earnest voice forced its way through it with the cry of need and desire. But this man had been accustomed for many a day, sitting outside the gate, to reiterate his petition when it was unattended to, and to make it heard amidst the noise of passers-by. So he was persistently bold and importunate and shameless, as the shallow critics thought, in his crying. The more they silenced him, the more a great deal he cried. Would God that we had more crying like that; and that Christ’s servants did not so often seek to suppress it, as some of them do! If there are any of you who, by reason of companions, or cares, or habits, or sorrows, or a feeble conception of your own need or a doubtful recognition of Christ’s power and mercy, have been tempted to stop your supplications, do like Bartimaeus, and the more these, your enemies, seek to silence the deepest voice that is in you, the more let it speak.

II. So, notice Christ’s call and the suppliant’s response.

‘He stood still, and commanded him to be called.’ Remember that He was on His road to His Cross, and that the tension of spirit which the Evangelists notice as attaching to Him then, and which filled the disciples with awe as they followed Him, absorbed Him, no doubt, at that hour, so that He heard but little of the people’s shouts. But He did hear the blind beggar’s cry, and He arrested His march in order to attend to it.

Now, dear friends, I am not merely twisting a Biblical incident round to an interpretation which it does not bear, but am stating a plain un-rhetorical truth when I say that it is so still. Jesus Christ is no dead Christ who is to be remembered only. He is a living Christ who, at this moment, is all that He ever was, and is doing in loftier fashion all the gracious things that He did upon earth. That pause of the King is repeated now, and the quick ear which discerned the difference between the unreal shouts of the crowd, and the agony of sincerity in the cry of the beggar, is still open. He is in the heavens, surrounded by its glories, and, as I think Scripture teaches us, wielding providence and administering the affairs of the universe. He does not need to pause in order to hear you and me. If He did, He would-if I may venture upon such an impossible supposition-bid the hallelujahs of heaven hush themselves, and suspend the operations of His providence if need were, rather than that you or I, or any poor man who cries to Him, should be unheard and unhelped. The living Christ is as tender a friend, has as quick an ear, is as ready to help at once, to-day, as He was when outside the gate of Jericho; and every one of us may lift his or her poor, thin voice, and it will go straight up to the throne, and not be lost in the clamour of the hallelujahs that echo round His seat. Christ still hears and answers the cry of need. Send you it up, and you will find that true.

Notice the suppliant’s response. That is a very characteristic right-about-face of the crowd, who one moment were saying, ‘Hold your tongue and do not disturb Him,’ and the next moment were all eager to encumber him with help, and to say, ‘Rise up, be of good cheer; He calleth thee.’ No thanks to them that He did. And what did the man do? Sprang to his feet-as the word rightly rendered would be-and flung away the frowsy rags that he had wrapped round him for warmth and softness of seat, as he waited at the gate; ‘and he came to Jesus.’ Brethren, ‘casting aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us, let us run’ to the same Refuge. You have to abandon something if you are to go to Christ to be healed. I dare say you know well enough what it is. I do not; but certainly there is something that entangles your legs and keeps you from finding your way to Him. If there is nothing else, there is yourself and your trust in self, and that is to be put away. Cast away the ‘garment spotted with the flesh’ and go to Christ, and you will receive succour.

III. Notice the question of all-granting love, and the answer of conscious need.

‘What wilt Thou that I should do unto thee?’ A very few hours before He had put the same question with an entirely different significance, when the sons of Zebedee came to Him, and tried to get Him to walk blindfold into a promise. He upset their scheme with the simple question, ‘What is it that you want?’ which meant, ‘I must know and judge before I commit Myself,’ But when He said the same thing to Bartimaeus He meant exactly the opposite. It was putting the key of the treasure-house into the beggar’s hand. It was the implicit pledge that whatever he desired he should receive. He knew that the thing this man wanted was the thing that He delighted to give.

But the tenderness of these words, and the gracious promise that is hived in them, must not make us forget the singular authority that speaks in them. Think of a man doing as Jesus Christ did-standing before another and saying, ‘I will give you anything that you want.’ He must be either a madman or a blasphemer, or ‘God manifest in the flesh’; Almighty power guided by infinite love.

And what said the man? He had no doubt what he wanted most-the opening of these blind eyes of his. And, dear brother, if we knew ourselves as well as Bartimaeus knew his blindness, we should have as little doubt what it is that we need most. Suppose you had this wishing-cap that Christ put on Bartimaeus’s head put on yours: what would you ask? It is a penetrating question if men will answer it honestly. Think what you consider to be your chief need. Suppose Jesus Christ stood where I stand, and spoke to you: ‘What wilt thou that I should do for you?’ If you are a wise man, if you know yourself and Him, your answer will come as swiftly as the beggar’s-’Lord! heal me of my blindness, and take away my sin, and give me Thy salvation.’ There is no doubt about what it is that every one of us needs most. And there should be no doubt as to what each of us would ask first.

The supposition that I have been making is realised. That gracious Lord is here, and is ready to give you the satisfaction of your deepest need, if you know what it is, and will go to Him for it. ‘Ask! and ye shall receive.’

IV. Lastly, notice, sight given, and the Giver followed.

Bartimaeus had scarcely ended speaking when Christ began. He was blind at the beginning of Christ’s little sentence; he saw at the end of it. ‘Go thy way; thy faith hath saved thee.’ The answer came instantly, and the cure was as immediate as the movement of Christ’s heart in answer.

I am here to proclaim the possibility of an immediate passage from darkness to light. Some folk look askance at us when we talk about sudden conversions, but these are perfectly reasonable; and the experience of thousands asserts that they are actual. As soon as we desire, we have, and as soon as we have, we see. Whenever the lungs are opened the air rushes in; sometimes the air opens the lungs that it may. The desire is all but contemporaneous with the fulfilment, in Christ’s dealing with men. The message is flashed along the wire from earth to heaven, in an incalculably brief space of time, and the answer comes, swift as thought and swifter than light. So, dear friends, there is no reason whatever why a similar instantaneous change should not pass over any man who hears the Good News. He may be unsaved when his hearing of it begins, and saved when his hearing of it ends. It is for himself to settle whether it shall be so or not.

Here we have a clear statement of the path by which Christ’s mercy rushes into a man’s soul. ‘Thy faith hath saved thee.’ But it was Christ’s power that saved him. Yes, it was; but it was faith that made it possible for Christ’s power to make him whole. Physical miracles indeed did not always require trust in Christ, as a preceding condition, but the possession of Christ’s salvation does, and cannot but do so. There must be trust in Him, in order that we may partake of the salvation which is owing solely to His power, His love, His work upon the Cross. The condition is for us; the power comes from Him. My faith is the hand that grasps His; it is His hand, not mine, that holds me up. My faith lays hold of the rope; it is the rope and the Person above who holds it, that lift me out of the ‘horrible pit and the miry clay.’ My faith flees for refuge to the city; it is the city that keeps me safe from the avenger of blood. Brother! exercise that faith, and you will receive a better sight than was poured into Bartimaeus’s eyes.

Now, all this story should be the story of each one of us. One modification we have to make upon it, for we do not need to cry persistently for mercy, but to trust in, and to take, the mercy that is offered. One other difference there is between Bartimaeus and many of my hearers. He knew what he needed, and some of you do not. But Christ is calling us all, and my business now is to say to each of you what the crowd said to the beggar, ‘Rise! be of good cheer; He calleth thee.’ If you will fling away your hindrances, and grope your path to His feet, and fall down before Him, knowing your deep necessity, and trusting to Him to supply it, He will save you. Your new sight will gaze upon your Redeemer, and you will follow Him in the way of loving trust and glad obedience.

Jesus Christ was passing by. He was never to be in Jericho any more. If Bartimaeus did not get His sight then, he would be blind all his days. Christ and His salvation are offered to thee, my brother, now. Perhaps if you let Him pass, you will never hear Him call again, and may abide in the darkness for ever. Do not run the risk of such a fate.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 10:46-52

46Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. 47When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” 50Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” 52And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

Mar 10:46 “Jericho” It is one of the oldest cities in the world and was often called the “City of Palms.” The name means “the perfumed.” It was a very fertile and beautiful area. In Jesus’ day there were two Jericho’s, the old city and a new Roman one about a mile away. It was about 18 miles northeast of Jerusalem at a ford of the Jordan River.

“as He was leaving” Mat 20:29 has “going out”; Luk 18:35 has “approaching.” This confusion is a sign of eyewitness accounts. Remember there were two Jerichos in Jesus’ day. He could have been leaving one and approaching the other.

“a large crowd” These were pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem for the Passover, along with interested townspeople. Many of the priests of the Temple lived at Jericho. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was very dangerous because of robbers (i.e., the parable of the Good Samaritan); therefore, people traveled in large groups.

“a blind beggar. . .was sitting by the road” There is a Greek manuscript variant in this phrase. The noun for “beggar” is a rare term (cf. Joh 9:8). Usually the concept is expressed by a participle (i.e., MSS A, K, W, and Textus Receptus, cf. NKJV). However, the noun (i.e., prosaite) is in MSS , B, L (cf. NASB, NRSV, TEV, and NJB). Manuscript D has a synonym (i.e., epaite, both formed from the root “to ask”), which is found in the parallel of Luk 18:35. These variants have no affect on the interpretation of the passage.

“Bartimaeus” This word means “son of Timaeus.” It is very unusual for Mark to record the names of people whom Jesus healed or exorcized. Interestingly, Matthew has two blind men (cf. Mat 20:30). Exactly why this occurs is uncertain, but it is a regular difference between Matthew and Mark/Luke.

“son of Timaeus” This word in Aramaic meant “unclean.” This was an attempt to explain the name Bartimaeus to a Gentile readership.

“was sitting by the road” This was probably where the blind beggar sat every day hoping for alms (i.e., required Jewish offerings to the poor).

Mar 10:47 “Jesus the Nazarene” Mark uniquely spells out the title as Nazarnos (cf. Mar 1:24; Mar 10:47; Mar 14:67; Mar 16:6). Matthew’s Gospel says “He shall be called a Nazarene” (cf. Mat 2:23).

The village where Jesus grew up was called Nazareth. It is not mentioned in the OT, the Talmud, or in Josephus. It apparently was not settled until the time of John Hyrcanus (i.e., a Hasmonaen), who ruled from 134-104 B.C. The presence of Joseph and Mary from this village implies that a clan of David’s line settled here.

There may be an etymological connection between the name Nazareth and the Messianic title Branch, which is netser in Hebrew (cf. Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15; Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12; Rev 5:5; Rev 22:16).

It was apparently a term of reproach because of its location far from Jerusalem in a Gentile area (cf. Joh 1:46 and Act 24:5; even though this, too, was a prophecy, Isa 9:1). This may be why it was included in the charge placed over Jesus’ head on the cross.

SPECIAL TOPIC: JESUS THE NAZARENE

“‘Son of David'” This was a Messianic title (cf. 2 Samuel 7), which had nationalistic implications. This title is very rare in Mark (cf. Mar 10:47-48; Mar 12:35).

“‘have mercy on me'” This is an aorist active imperative, which denotes intensity. It was a common prayer in the Psalms (cf. Psa 51:1).

Mar 10:48 “Many were sternly telling him” This is imperfect tense. He was crying again and again and some in the crowd were scolding him again and again (cf. Luk 18:39).

Mar 10:49 “Jesus stopped” Even on His way to die, Jesus had time for a blind beggar! This is yet another prophetic sign from Isaiah for those who would spiritually see!

“‘Take courage, stand up. He is calling for you'” Usually in Koine Greek every phrase is connected with the previous phrase by a conjunction or a pronoun that refers to something in the previous context. When these connectors are absent (as they are here) they draw attention to the statements. These are emphatic, staccato statements. The first and second are present active imperatives and the last a present active indicative.

Mar 10:50 “Throwing aside his cloak” This cloak was used for (1) sleeping in and (2) collecting food and alms. In a sense this was a symbol of his faith that he would be healed.

“he jumped up” These are graphic eye-witness details remembered by Peter.

Mar 10:51 “‘What do you want Me to do for you'” Jesus was forcing him to state his faith request.

“‘I want to regain my sight'” Healing the blind had Messianic significance (cf. Isa 35:4-5; Isa 42:7; Isa 42:16; Isa 61:1). This was one of the proof-signs the Pharisees had been asking for.

Mar 10:52 “‘your faith has made you well'” This is literally “saved” (i.e., sz) in a perfect active indicative form. This term is used in its OT connotation of physical deliverance (cf. Jas 5:15).

“began following Him” Luke 18:45 adds, “glorifying God.”

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Jericho. This is the second mention in N.T. Compare Mat 20:20, the first. Over 100,000 inhabitants (according to Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, 368-403. Works vol. i. 702).

as He went out = as He was going out.

The three c ases of healing here were: (1) as He drew near (Luk 18:35); (2) “as He was going out”; and (3) after He had left “two” (not beggars) who sat by the wayside. See App-152.

of = from. Greek. apo. App-104.

blind. The wonder is, not that there were four, but that there were only four. Blindness and eye-diseasesare very common in the East; said to be one in five.

Bartimmus. Aramaic for “son of Timnus”, as explained. See App-94.

sat = was sitting.

by = beside. Greek. para. App-104.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

46-52.] HEALING OF BLIND BARTIMUS ON DEPARTURE FROM JERICHO. Mat 20:29-34. Luk 18:35-43. On the three accounts referring to one and the same miracle, see on Matt. I will only add here, that a similar difference of number between Matt. and Mark is found in the miracle in the neighbourhood of Gergesa, ch. Mar 5:2.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Let us listen to the record of one of our Lords most striking miracles.

Mar 10:46-47. And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

If he could not see, he could hear, and he made good use of his hearing. If thou hast not every spiritual ability, yet, soul, dost thou use such ability as thou hast? Thou canst hear the gospel. Then search into the Word, and labour to understand it. Art thou doing that? Alas! men talk of what they cannot do, but they are not doing what they can.

Mar 10:48. And many charged him that he should hold his peace:

Hush! Be quiet! Do not disturb him! Hear what an eloquent sermon he is delivering. Ay, but he thought of his Poor blind eyes, and of the only hope he now had before him of having them opened.

Mar 10:48-49. But he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

How soon they changed their hotel. The very persons that would have kept him back now help him on. Ah! when Christ speaks to his people, if they have been indifferent about the good of men, they also grow warm in heart, and they are ready to help and take interest in the case.

Mar 10:50. And he, casting away his garment,

Throwing off his old beggars cloak.

Mar 10:50-51. Rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

He knew what he wanted, which is more than some people do. It is better, however, to know what is wanted by the soul even the salvation of God.

Mar 10:52. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.

And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Christs cures do not take many minutes. When he comes to save, he saves men at once. He says, Light be, and there is light.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Mar 10:46. , Bartimus) A proparoxyton [accented on the antepenult] as the simple name . Timus seems to have been a man at that time known at Jericho; and Bartimus seems to have been made a beggar only by reason of his blindness [and not previously].- , blind) This epithet had become an equivalent to a surname. Bartimus was very well known in the time of the apostles. [As to the other blind man associated with him, see the note Mat 20:30.]-, the way) On the highway to Jerusalem there was the greater opportunity of begging.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mar 10:46-52

8. BLIND BARTIMEUS HEALED

Mar 10:46-52

(Mat 20:29-34; Luk 18:35 to Luk 9:1)

46 And they come to Jericho:–Jericho, where Bartimeus was healed, has passed through an eventful history, having been thrown down and rebuilt a number of times, and having now been a complete ruin for many centuries. The real site of ancient Jericho is about two miles northwest of this village at the foot of the mountains which there rise abruptly from the plain. This is known both by the ruins in that place and by the presence of the large spring now called “Elisha’s fountain,” near which the city stood when Elisha healed the waters of the spring. (2Ki 2:18-22.) Mounds of rubbish, made up of broken pottery, ashes and the dust of unburnt bricks, the chief building material of the ancient city, mark the site. In the days of our Lord, Jericho was an important city, having been embellished by Herod the Great.

and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side.–Matthew (Mat 20:30) says “Two blind men.” Both pleaded for mercy and were healed. Only one name is given, probably the most noted. There is no contradiction here since Mark selects the most prominent one for his history, and simply says nothing about the other. Luke (Luk 19:35-43) mentions the healing of a blind man as Jesus entered Jericho which Matthew and Mark omit. Here are two separate and distinct cases of healing the blind–one as Jesus enters the city, the other as he leaves. He was “sitting by the way side.” That is, the road that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem. The previous clause tells what he was doing–“begging.”

47 And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out,–He had heard about Jesus, and his wonderful cures. Other blind men had been made to see, other men in trouble had been helped. Here in the Son of David was his only hope. A shrill cry rises on the air above the noise and bustle of the crowd.

and say, Jesus, thou son of David,–He addressed him not as Jesus the Nazarene. His faith takes hold of something higher and deeper. He recognized him as a royal descendant of David and successor to his throne, the Messiah. (Chron. 12:35.) The angel of the Lord had once applied this title to Joseph. (Mat 1:20.) It was a popular designation of the Messiah, and by the use of it Bartimeus acknowledged the Messiahship of Jesus.

have mercy on me.–The poor man expressed both a confession of misery, unworthiness and helplessness, and an expression of confidence in the ability and willingness of Jesus to help him.

48 And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace –They tried to stop his piercing noise. They feared that the Master might be disturbed by this unseemly noise, and did not like it themselves.

but he cried out the more a great deal,–The rebuke of the multitude served only to arouse his earnestness, for he believed in the ability and willingness of Jesus to heal him. It was a trial of faith, but his faith was not to be overcome–opposition only encouraged him to press his claims the more.

Thou son of David, have mercy on me.–In this cry he bore testimony to the widely-scattered stimulus given to the Redeemer’s cause, since the beginning of the festal journey, amongst the masses. When the soul is awakened there are plenty to cry, “Hold your peace,” and sometimes of those who profess to be in the triumphal procession.

49 And Jesus stood still, and said, Call ye him.–Luke (Luk 18:40) says Jesus “commanded him to be brought unto him,” which is the same in substance. The whole attitude and tone of the people now change. They who had tried to silence are now all anxious to help him, such a change does Jesus’ interest make.

And they call the blind man,–Probably the same ones who had just tried to stop his cries for help. This was perfectly natural with such a crowd. Popular feelings often swing from one extreme to the other as in this case.

saying unto him, Be of good cheer: rise, he calleth thee.–Yes, when Jesus calls for him, he has the key that will unlock the avenue to all hopes. There is no hesitation with him.

50 And he, casting away his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus.–His outer garment, a large piece of cloth which was folded around the body, covered the more tightly-fitting garments, and might impede his movements. He wanted to get to Jesus as quickly as possible. This act of Bartimeus denoted haste, and earnestness upon his part, in order to come to Jesus. Directed by his voice, or led by the hands, now willing, around him. He leaped up in haste, with the least possible delay, and came to Jesus. If you would come to Jesus you must “cast away” all your sins. They must be left behind. Hearty repentance is essential to seeing Jesus’ face as a Savior. Then, having forsaken these, you must “come to Jesus,” in his appointments and ordinances. There is where he “stands still,” and waits for you. There he will meet you with the word of salvation.

51 And Jesus answered him, and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?–This poor afflicted man had only made a general petition for mercy. Jesus now calls forth his particular and special request. What mercy dost thou desire?

And the blind man said unto him, Rabboni,–There were three titles used by the Jews to their teachers, Rab, master, as the lowest degree of honor Rabbi, my master, of higher dignity; Rabboni, my great master, the most honorable of all.

that I may receive my sight.–Surely an object worth seeking, worth the most persistent crying to the Lord. And yet spiritual sight is infinitely greater than this boon; but how few, comparatively, cry out for it. The soul coming to Jesus must know and state clearly what it wants. Remember that spiritual sight will bring spiritual responsibility.

52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.–Or saved thee in respect to physical blindness. Mark intimates the dignity of the crisis in which the Lord now stands, by the circumstances that he heals the blind man simply by words. “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” Mark brings out the most important point, that so necessary was faith in the recipient to this healing that Jesus could even say his faith had made him whole. So with all healing physical or spiritual. His faith saved him by leading him to use the means necessary to arrest the attention of Jesus and to secure the blessing desired. In the same way does faith of a sinner save him. Faith alone, or faith without action, could not have opened the blind man’s eyes, nor can it save a sinner from his sins. “Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.” (Jas 2:24.)

And straightway he received his sight,–Mark’s characteristic “straightway” comes in with large significance. Even while the gracious words are being uttered, the optic nerve is thrilling and the retina clearing, and the eyes that were turned towards Jesus under guidance of the sense of hearing, light up with rapture as they see the lips that are speaking their enfranchisement, and the eyes in whose liquid depths shines the soul that felt for him in his misery. He is now complete physically, having all his faculties in use.

and followed him in the way.–Luke (Luk 18:43) says: “Glorifying God.” He joins in the glad songs of the festal procession. Luke adds, “And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.” Faith does not literally heal, but faith is essential to healing. Faith here was perfected (Jas 2:22); he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, he confessed it, he cast away all hindrances, he came to Jesus, he told his need, he was healed. There are other cases of blindness healed recorded in the New Testament, and each was somewhat peculiar to itself. One occurred in or near Capernaum. (Mat 9:27.) In that case Jesus healed two instantaneously by a touch, and made their faith the condition of healing. Another was at Bethsaida. In that case (Mar 8:22) the restoration was gradual. He anointed the man’s eyes with spittle, then laid his hands upon him, and he saw men as trees, walking. Then again Jesus’ hands were laid on his eyes, and he saw all things clearly. In both these instances Jesus forbade publication. The next was in Jerusalem. (Joh 9:1.) The man had been blind from birth, and was well known. In this case Jesus spat on the ground at his feet, and made an ointment with which he anointed the blind man’s eyes. He then told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash, which the man obeyed and returned restored to sight.

The account of Bartimeus proves again the power of Jesus to heal. It also reflects additional credibility on the history of his previous miracles. Being blind this man could not have seen the previous miracles, hence he could have known of them only from the reports of those who saw them. This was sufficient evidence to produce his faith.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

CHAPTER 46

Jesus Stood Still

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

(Mar 10:46-52)

In the tenth chapter of Joshua, at the command of a man, the sun stood still! We are told, There was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man (Jos 10:14). Here is something even more remarkable than that. Here is a man who caused the God who made the sun to stand still!

As he was coming up out of Jericho on his way to Jerusalem to redeem his people, our Lord Jesus heard a poor, blind beggar crying for mercy. At the sound of his cry, we are told, Jesus stood still! What a wonderful, amazing picture we have before us! Here is the omnipotent God stopped in his tracks, held fast by the cry of a needy soul for his mercy.

He was on his way to Jerusalem to accomplish the redemption of his people, to fulfill the will of God. Nothing could stop him. Nothing could cause him to pause. Nothing could detour him from his work. Neither Herod, nor Satan, nor the Pharisees, nor his disciples, not even his own mother could stop our Savior or cause him to pause in his path, as he went about to do his Fathers business. But one, solitary, helpless soul, one blind beggar crying for mercy, looking to him for help, believing him, crying to him, stopped the Son of God in his tracks. At the cry of a needy sinner for mercy, Jesus stood still! The Son of God will never ignore the cry or refuse the faith of a sinner seeking mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ is constrained by his very mission to seek and save the lost (Joh 6:37). What a joyful picture this piece of our Redeemers earthly history gives us! Let us turn aside from the trifles of this world to see this great sight. Surely, there are lessons to be learned here that are of more value than gold.

An Unexpected Believer

Bartimaeus was an unexpected believer. None of the Lords disciples expected to see this man exercising faith in Christ. But faith is frequently found where it is least expected. There were great multitudes who followed the Lord Jesus as he walked along and taught the people, Some for loaves and some for love, Some out of curiosity and some out of conviction, Some for greed and some for grace. But there were few, very few who believed on Christ. Many who saw his miracles yet believed him not. But here is a blind man, a man who never saw any of our Lords miracles, a man who knew the Savior only by hear-say, by the testimony of others, who believed him.

What a picture Bartimaeus is of us! His father, Timaeus, whose name means an honor or honorable, was, like our father Adam, an honorable man. Bartimaeus was the blind son of an honorable man, who had been reduced to abject poverty, begging for bread. The Son of God came to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death (Isa 35:5; Isa 42:6-7; Isa 49:9; Isa 61:1; Luk 4:18). Robert Hawker rightly observed, Such is every man’s state, though he waiteth on the highway of ordinances till Jesus pass by; and the Spirit of Jesus put a cry in his heart for spiritual light and understanding.

Bartimaeus simply heard other men and women talking about the Savior. We read that he began to cry after the Savior, When he heard. He simply heard others talking about the Redeemer and the wondrous works of mercy he had performed. Blessed gossip! Perhaps he heard how the Master had healed a blind man on his way into Jericho (Luk 18:35-43). Without question, he had heard who Christ is. He called him by his name, Jesus. He addressed him as Lord. And he acknowledged him as the Messiah God had promised, calling him the Son of David. He heard about the Lords mighty miracles of mercy. He heard that Jesus passed by. And he knew he might never pass his way again.

Hearing these things, Bartimaeus believed the Son of God. His faith puts us to shame. We have books of evidence, libraries of theology, volumes of biographies, yet, how little there is of this childlike confidence and faith in Christ. Even among true believers, simple, confident, unhesitating faith is found where we least expect it. The humble soul believes God and walks in peace, while the learned, well-read theologian is harassed with doubts and questions. This faith is the gift and operation of God the Holy Spirit. Who but God the Spirit could have convinced Bartimaeus of these things? No one but God the Spirit could have put such a cry in his heart, a cry that none could stifle, until the mercy needed had been granted.

Use of Means

Bartimaeus availed himself of the means he was given that he might obtain mercy. And if we hope for mercy, we must avail ourselves of every means of good to our souls. Yes, God is sovereign. Salvation is of the Lord. Every chosen, redeemed sinner shall be saved. I am fully aware of those blessed facts of divine revelation, and rejoice to proclaim them. Yet, the Scriptures make it clear that every man is responsible for his own soul. We are responsible to use the means of grace God gives us.

When this blind man heard that Jesus passed by, he was found sitting by the highway side, crying for mercy. He took up a hopeful position by the highway side. There he would be likely to hear any good news that might be spread. There he was most likely to meet with and be seen by the compassionate. Though he was blind, he was not deaf. And he used what he had to obtain the good he needed.

Bartimaeus employed the means given him to obtain alms to relieve his physical needs. But the Lord God has ordained specific means of grace, which he is pleased to use for the salvation of his elect and the good of our souls. To despise them is to despise his grace. To neglect them is to neglect his grace. To use them is to be in the path of mercy (Mat 18:20). Do not forsake the house of God, where he meets with his people (Heb 10:25). Do not forsake the reading of Holy Scripture, which are able to make you wise unto salvation (2Ti 3:15). Do not abandon the preaching of the gospel. It is Gods pleasure to save sinners by the instrumentality of gospel preaching (1Co 1:18-23; Rom 10:17). Do not forsake private prayer. Though God promises covenant mercy to his chosen, he declares, I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them (Eze 36:37).

Discouragements Overcome

“And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me” (Mar 10:48). What discouragements Bartimaeus had to endure and overcome. He exemplifies the fact that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Mat 11:12). As soon as a sinner is brought into serious concern for his souls everlasting welfare, enemies of Christ and his soul try to stifle all conviction and crush the infant desire for mercy, grace, and salvation. Even before Christ has been formed in the heart as their hope of glory, some of Gods elect are sharply tried by the foolish counsel of those around them and by the accusations of Satan.

Those very people who should have encouraged Bartimaeus faith greatly discouraged him. They charged him to hold his peace, suggesting that he was too poor, too dirty, too blind, too worthless to obtain the mercy Christ bestows! But Bartimaeus needed mercy. He knew that Christ could give him the mercy he needed. He knew that he might never get this opportunity again. Consequently, the opposition he met with was hardly noticed by him.

Christs Call

“And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee” (Mar 10:49). How the Son of God loves needy sinners! Our Saviors love for this poor, needy soul is to be seen in everything he did for him. The Lord Jesus graciously blinded the eyes of his body for a season, that he might open the eyes of his soul forever. In time the Son of God sent someone to tell this man about his greatness and grace. The Lord Jesus Christ passed his way in mercy, love, and grace. He heard the mans prayer. He commanded him to be called. Then he personally called Bartimaeus. What a call his call was! What a cause for comfort! The disciples said, Be of good comfortHe calleth thee! And when he did, the Lord Jesus spoke a word of grace to him. Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. What a word of grace! The grace poured into his lips as this poor sinners Surety in eternity now poured from his lips into the chosen sinners heart! Then, he went on to Jerusalem to redeem him!

Faith Obtains Mercy

Faith always gets what it seeks Mercy! Look what this man did when the Savior called him. He arose, cast off his garment, and came to Christ. Such are the sweet results of Christs effectual call. The poor sinner is enabled, by the same grace that calls him, to cast away every thing of his own, all the filthy rags of his own righteousness, and come to Christ, just as he is, poor, and blind, and wretched, and needy, and receive all from Christ. Immediately he received his sight. And as soon as the sinner comes to Christ, he receives his sight. When the Master told him to go his way, Bartimaeus followed Jesus in the way. Christ, who is THE WAY, became his way. So it is with all who are called by grace. They follow Christ in the way of faith, in the way of his doctrine, in the way of his ordinances, in the way of his worship, in the way of his example.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

And they

Cf. (See Scofield “Mat 20:30”)

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

they came: Mat 20:29-34, Luk 18:35-43

as he went: Luke says that this took place “as he was come nigh unto Jericho,” and afterwards records an event which took place in that city. But the words [Strong’s G1722], [Strong’s G3588], [Strong’s G847], [Strong’s G1519], , may be rendered, “When he was nigh Jericho,” which is equally true of him who is gone a little way from it, as of him who is come near it; and as it is probable that Jesus stayed some days in the neighbourhood, this might occur as he went out of the city during that time, and he might afterwards re-enter it.

begging: Luk 16:20, Luk 16:22, Joh 9:8, Act 3:2, Act 3:3

Reciprocal: 2Sa 20:13 – the highway Mat 9:27 – two Mat 20:30 – two Luk 16:3 – to beg Act 13:6 – whose

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A PARABLE OF LIFE

Blind Bartimus, the son of Timus, sat by the highway side begging. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.

Mar 10:46-52

We may take the story of the blind man of Jericho as a parable of our life.

I. A beggar.He sat by the wayside begging. So do we. We are by the wayside of life, begging. We are all beggars to God.

II. Blind.So are we, morally. Here is a man who is selfish, utterly given up to following his own way; he will not deny himself anything which he can get; yet he calls himself a Christian. That man is blind.

III. He cried out.When once we realise that Jesus is close to us, we, too, cry out.

IV. The Lord called him.Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. How often He has called you by the teachings of the pulpit, by the altar, by the whisper of conscience; but some of you have not hearkened, have not done as the blind man did: he, casting aways his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

We all need to pray that we may receive our sight, to see our sins, our folly, our weakness; that we may see the love and mercy and forbearance of Jesus; that we may see the wondrous things of His love, and learn His way to be the right way, and be enabled henceforth to walk therein.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Chapter 4.

Blind Bartimus

“And they came to Jericho: and as He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimus, the son of Timus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace; but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”-Mar 10:46-52.

The Accounts of the Miracle.

-How Reconciled.

The Value of Divergencies.

I shall not discuss the differences between the various accounts the three Evangelists give of this particular incident. No two of them tell the story in exactly the same way. Matthew and Mark, for instance, both agree that the miracle took place as Christ was leaving Jericho. Luke says it took place as our Lord was entering the town. But even Matthew and Mark do not agree among themselves, for Mark only mentions one blind man, while Matthew says there were two. Various ingenious attempts have been made to reconcile these differences. The fact that Mark mentions only one blind man, while Matthew mentions two, may perhaps be explained on the ground that Bartimus was far the more prominent and active of the two, and so overshadowed his companion that, in the memory of those who witnessed it, the miracle came to be specially identified with Bartimus. But the discrepancy between Matthew and Mark on the one side, and Luke on the other, does not admit of such easy explanation. Bengel suggests that what really happened was this-that Bartimus made his first appeal to Christ as He entered the city, but that Christ did not answer his appeal then; so Bartimus, taking a blind friend along with him, waylaid Jesus as He went out of the city the next morning; that this time his appeal was answered, and both he and his friend were cured. Others, again, convinced that the two accounts cannot be reconciled, say that what really happened was this, that there were two different miracles performed by Jesus at Jericho, one as He went into the city, and the other as He left it. This, however, is a suggestion of despair, and lands us in more and greater difficulties than it removes. There was only one miracle performed at Jericho. But if we cannot reconcile in every detail the accounts the Evangelists give us of it, that need not trouble us. The fact that there are slight divergencies in the various narratives does not discredit them; it does the very opposite, it adds to the weight of their witness. For quite obviously it shows that we have here three independent testimonies. If they slavishly copied one another in every detail, we should suspect that we had in them only three versions of one and the selfsame story. But the very divergencies and contradictions show that what we actually possess is three separate and independent accounts. And in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.

The Lord, the Needy One, and the Crowd.

Let us now turn to the story, as Mark, in his own vivid and characteristic way, tells it. There are three actors or sets of actors in it-the Lord, the crowd, and Bartimus. We may gather many a profitable lesson from a study of the conduct of our Lord in this incident. For every miracle that our Lord ever did is, as John says, a sign. It is an index to His character and spirit. It is a window into His soul. And His dealings with Bartimus throw light upon His purposes of grace. “Thy gentleness hath made me great,” says one of the Psalmists (xviii. 35). Bartimus might well have taken that for his motto for the rest of his days. It is an illustration of how the gentleness of the Lord stooped to a poor blind beggar, and made life rich and glad for him. We might gather salutary lessons of warning from the conduct of the harsh and unfeeling crowd, that would fain have hushed Bartimus’ cries, and so prevented him from finding his Deliverer. Surely, if ever a crowd came near falling under that stern condemnation the Lord pronounced upon those who put stumbling-blocks in their brothers’ way, this crowd did, when, as Bartimus lifted up his voice and cried for help and healing, it bade him hold his peace. But it is upon Bartimus I want to concentrate attention.

The Blind Man and his Hope.

It is interesting to notice that Mark is the only one who has preserved the name of Bartimus for us. The probability is, as Archbishop Trench suggests, that by the Lord’s gracious dealings with him, Bartimus was drawn into the circle of the disciples, and was sufficiently well known in the Church of later days to make it a matter of interest to many that he, and no other, was the object of Christ’s healing power. At the time at which we are introduced to him in this narrative, however, Bartimus was only a blind beggar. He took his stand on the side of the road leading to Jerusalem. He chose that particular spot because of the number of pilgrims passing along on their way to Passover at Jerusalem. And Bartimus knew, like the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, that there was a close and intimate connection between religion and philanthropy; that no persons were so likely to have pity on him in his blindness as those who had the love of God in their hearts.

The Passing Throng.

Pilgrims who usually travelled on that Jerusalem road went in companies, for it was a road of evil reputation. On this particular morning Bartimus, with that quick and subtle instinct the blind possess, knew it was not an ordinary band of pilgrims that was passing. It may be, as some suggest, that instead of the singing and laughing groups that went by, this one moved on hushed and silent, still held in wondering awe by the appearance of the Christ. I am inclined myself, however, to favour a simpler and more obvious explanation, and say that it was the size of the crowd that communicated itself to Bartimus. With that sharpened sense of hearing which often comes to the blind as a partial compensation for the loss of sight, Bartimus knew it was no ordinary band, that it was a throng, a multitude. He seems to have made inquiries of some passer-by as to what all the excitement was about, and he received for answer the information that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,” Mark says, “he began to cry out, and say, ‘Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me'” (Mar 10:47).

And “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Now, something must be assumed, in order to understand this cry. Bartimus must have heard of Jesus. And he must have heard also of His mighty works. Remember once again that, only a short time before, Christ had performed the mightiest of all His miracles, in raising Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the grave four days. That miracle had put all Juda into a ferment of excitement. News of it had no doubt reached Jericho, and had come amongst others to the ears of Bartimus. It had stirred hope within him. It had made him long that the same Jesus would come his way; for the Jesus who could raise a dead man to life could, he argued, restore sight again to his blind eyes. And now that very Jesus was actually passing, the Jesus who had raised Lazarus, the Jesus into whose presence he had longed to come.

The Blind Man and his Opportunity.

Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. It was the opportunity he had longed for, but scarcely hoped ever to obtain. Quick as a flash the prayer leaped to his lips, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” And that is the first thing I want you to notice about Bartimus, that he was a man who recognised his opportunity and seized it. Bartimus was, as Dr Glover says, like those wise virgins whom our Lord speaks of in His parable. As soon as ever the cry is made that the bridegroom cometh, he trims his lamp of prayer and faith, and goes out to meet Him. He is like those servants who, when their Lord cometh, are found watching. He had often thought of Jesus; often prayed in his heart that Jesus might pass his way; and so, though the Lord came suddenly and unexpectedly Bartimus was not unprepared. Supposing that Bartimus had not seized his opportunity? He would never have had another, for Jesus never returned that way again. Bartimus, if he had missed this opportunity, would have missed healing, sight, eternal life. All this is a commonplace about opportunity. The neglect of opportunity is often punished by the loss of it.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.”

The Unready and their Loss.

There were two Saxon kings named Ethelred, and of the reign of the second of them Freeman says it was “the worst and most shameful in our annals. This country of ours was raided and harried in every direction. And the secret of the national disgrace and shame is to be found in the nickname they gave the king; they called him Ethelred the Unready.” The unready man is always doomed to loss and shame. It is so in spiritual, as well as merely material things. That is why the Bible lays such stress upon to-day. That is why it insists that now is the day of salvation. That is why it makes a reiterated appeal to us to be ready. Opportunities of grace come swiftly and suddenly to us, and, if not seized, they pass. Jesus, for instance, came one day to a Samaritan village, and the inhabitants would not receive Him. John and James were so angry they wanted to call down fire from heaven. No, Jesus would have no fire from heaven. And yet those Samaritans were punished, sorely, terribly punished. For this is what I read, “They went to another village.” Jesus left them. They missed their chance. And men may miss Christ to-day, unless they are ready to call to Him when He passes by them, and to welcome Him when He knocks at the door of their hearts. There comes to us gracious seasons of spiritual emotion. Noble impulses are stirred within us. Our hearts melt and become tender in response to some moving appeal. The Lord Jesus is calling us. But if we refuse to act. What happens.? The light fails and the glow cools, the gracious impulse departs, perhaps never to return.

Divine Patience and its Limits.

We glory in the patience of our Lord. The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. But it is not a limitless patience. I read a solemn sentence like this, “My Spirit shall not strive with man for ever.” And again, “Ephraim is turned to his idols, let him alone.” I read of some folk whom the Apostle describes as being “past feeling,” people whose opportunity is gone, Let us take warning by these statements. “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” Let us cry to Him. Let us make our appeal to Him. Lest it should ever have to be said to us, “Jesus of Nazareth has passed by,” and we should be classed amongst the “unready,” who missed the tide, and lost their chance.

The Blind Man and his Faith.

Next let us see in Bartimus a man of strong and vigorous faith. It comes out in the very words of the appeal he addressed to Jesus. The answer the passers-by gave to his question was that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. “Jesus of Nazareth;” so they spoke of Him. There is no suggestion that they saw in Jesus any glint of the heavenly and the Divine. But it is not Jesus of Nazareth Bartimus calls him, “Jesus, Thou Son of David,” he cries, “have mercy on me.” “Thou Son of David!” this blind beggar gives Jesus the Messianic title. Physically blind though he was, he saw further into spiritual things than the multitude. He had heard about Jesus, about His wonderful words, and still more wonderful deeds. He had meditated upon it all in his heart. And while other people were quarrelling and debating who Christ was, this blind man had made up his mind that this Jesus Who was giving sight to the blind, and cleansing to the leper, and life to the dead, was none other than the promised Christ. Scribes and Pharisees spoke of Christ as an emissary of Beelzebub. Bartimus was persuaded he was the long-looked for Messiah. And the faith of his soul expresses itself in his cry, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!”

-A Faith not daunted by Discouragement.

There are all shades of faith and unfaith recorded for us in the New Testament, from the blank unbelief of the Nazarenes and the hesitating and halting faith of the father of the demoniac boy, up to the centurion’s superb and splendid faith, which compelled the wonder and admiration of our blessed Lord Himself. Bartimus’ faith was akin to that of the centurion. It was faith of the heroic and intrepid sort. And the strength and courage of Bartimus’ faith come out in this-that it was not daunted by discouragement. When he began to cry out many rebuked him, Mark tells us, “that he should hold his peace.” Some commentators say they rebuked him because they were offended by his application to Jesus of the Messianic title; but my own belief is that when they tried to hush Bartimus, they thought they were being kind to Christ. Perhaps Christ had still that rapt and exalted expression on His face which, as we read in Mar 10:32, filled those who followed Him with wonder and awe. They felt that Christ had great concerns and cares of His own. And so, when Bartimus cried out, they tried to silence him; they felt it was something like sacrilege to intrude upon Christ just then; they felt that it was an impertinence on the blind beggar’s part to claim attention from One Who was obviously occupied with great thoughts and cares.

Mistaken Kindness.

They were cruel to Bartimus, in their efforts to be kind to Christ. It only showed, of course, how completely they misunderstood the Lord. We may write down this as axiomatic. We are never really kind to Christ if we are harsh or stern to the least of His people. Christ came to seek and save the lost, and we are defeating the very purpose for which Christ came, when we keep the least and the lost away from Him. Bartimus, however, refused to be silenced. His faith was not to be daunted by discouragement.

The Faith that Wins the Blessing.

The effect of the rebukes of the crowd was this, according to Mark’s account, “He cried out the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mar 10:48). Bartimus’ faith was a faith that bore up and pressed on, and persevered. And that is the kind of faith that wins the blessing. There are plenty of voices to bid us hold our peace when we cry to Christ. Worldly Mends laugh at us. Commonsense says that it is useless. A guilty conscience urges that it is impossible that Christ should notice us. We need the faith that can bear up against all these things. We shall reap in due season, if we faint not! You remember how John Bunyan stuck to his praying, in spite of sore temptation. This is how he describes his own experience, “Then the Tempter laid at me very sore, suggesting that neither the mercy of God, nor yet the blood of Christ, did at all concern me, therefore it was but in vain to pray. ‘Yet,’ thought I, ‘I will pray.’ ‘But,’ said the Tempter, ‘your sin is unpardonable.’ ‘Well,’ said I, ‘I will pray.’ ‘It is to no boot,’ said he. ‘Yet,’ said I, ‘I will pray.’ And so I went to prayer to God. And as I was thus before the Lord, that Scripture fastened on my heart. ‘O man, great is thy faith,’ even as if one had clapped me on the back, as I was on my knees before God.” That is it exactly. It is the faith that will not be discouraged that gets the blessing. It is persevering and believing prayer that finds the answer. We fail because we are so easily daunted. Here is a prayer for us all: “Lord, increase our faith.”

Faith Triumphant.

The crowd was for passing Bartimus by, but as soon as his cry reached the ears of the Lord, He stood still, and said, “Call ye him.” Our Lord never turns a deaf ear to the cry of need. And the very people who had before rebuked Bartimus, now that Christ takes notice of him, change their tone, and say, “Courage, rise, He calleth thee.” Bartimus did not need a second invitation. With impetuous eagerness he cast away the outer garment that rather impeded his movements, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him and said, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man said unto Him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight (Mar 10:51). And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight” (Mar 10:52). Nearly every sentence in this colloquy suggests thought. But I pass everything by, just to say that here we see faith triumphant. Here we see prayer answered. Is any true, deep, earnest prayer ever unanswered? “Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing,” says the Psalmist (cxlv. 16). “Every one that asketh receiveth,” says our Lord (Mat 7:8), “and he that seeketh, findeth.” So let us, as Dr Glover says, sow the seeds of prayer on the heart of God. There is no hard ground, or rocky soil, or thorny ground there. His heart is the good soil of tender and gracious love. Let us scatter the seed of prayer, and we shall get a harvest of blessing. According to our faith it shall be unto us.

The Man of Loyal Obedience.

A final word about the end of Bartimus’ history-And he “followed Him in the way” (Mar 10:52).

One of the greatest sorrows of our Lord’s life was that so many took His benefits without giving Him their hearts. “Were there not ten cleansed?” He asked one day. “Where are the nine?” They had accepted His gift, they neglected the Giver. He healed numbers of sick folk and leprous folk, and blind folk and lame folk, and palsied folk, during the years of His brief ministry. Where were they all, when Jerusalem rang with the cry, “Crucify Him”? Apparently there was not one grateful enough to lift up his voice on His behalf. But, however disappointed Christ may have been in others, He was not disappointed in Bartimus; for this was the use Bartimus made of his new found sight, “he followed Him in the way.” He did not go home to his friends, he clung to Him Who had healed and saved him, “he followed Him in the way.” His experience of Christ’s mercy was followed by a life of obedience.

Is that Obedience Ours?

We too have experienced the saving mercy of Christ; are we following in the way? How many there are who receive Christ’s benefits yet neglect Him still! Are we amongst them? “Happy,” says Bishop Chadwick, “is the man whose eyes are open to discern and his heart prompt to follow the print of those holy feet.” And so Jericho was kind to Christ. Jericho gave two new disciples to Christ. At the time when others were turning their backs upon Him, two men-Zacchus, the chief publican, and Bartimus-gave their hearts to Him as He trod the way that led to the cross. Are we also with them and following Him in the way?

Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary

6

Jesus came to Jericho after crossing the Jordan on the way to Jerusalem. As he and his disciples with a great number of other people were leaving that city, they passed a blind beggar sitting by the wayside.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

[Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.] Some suspect the evangelist here guilty of a solecism, by making a tautology; for it was neither necessary, as they think, so to render the Syriac word in Greek; nor is it done so elsewhere in proper names of that nature. For it is not said by any evangelist, Bartholomeus, the son of Tholomeus; Bar Abbas, the son of Abbas; Bar Jesus, the son of Jesus; nor in the like names. True, indeed; but,

I. When the denomination is made from a common name, and not a proper, then it is not so ill sounding to interpret the word: which is done once and again; Mar 3:17; Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder; Act 4:36; Barnabas, which is, A son of consolation.

II. Bar Timai may be rendered otherwise than the son of Timaeus; namely, either a son of admiration; or, which is more proper, a son of profit. The Targum in Est 3:8; To the king ariseth no profit (‘Timai’) from them. The evangelist therefore, deservedly, that he might shew that this Bartimaeus was not named from this, or that, or some other etymology, but from his father’s name, so interprets his name, Bartimeus, the son of Timeus.

III. Perhaps there was a Timeus of some more noted name in that age, either for some good report or some bad: so that it might not be absurd to the Jews that then conversed there to say, This blind Bartimaeus is the son of the so much famed Timaeus. So it is unknown to us who Alexander and Rufus were, Mar 15:21; but they were without doubt of most eminent fame, either among the disciples, or among the Jews.

IV. What if Thima be the same with Simai, blind; from the use of Thau for Samech among the Chaldeans? so that Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus might sound no more than the blind son of a blind father.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

WE read in these verses an account of one of our Lord’s miracles. Let us see in it, as we read, a vivid emblem of spiritual things. We are not studying a history which concerns us personally any more than the exploits of Csar or Alexander. We have before us a picture which ought to be deeply interesting to the soul of every Christian.

In the first place, we have here an example of strong faith. We are told that as Jesus went out of Jericho, a blind man named Bartimus “sat by the wayside begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Bartimus was blind in body, but not in soul. The eyes of his understanding were open. He saw things which Annas and Caiaphas, and hosts of letter-learned Scribes and Pharisees, never saw at all. He saw that Jesus of Nazareth, as our Lord was contemptuously called-Jesus, who had lived for thirty years in an obscure Galilean village-this very Jesus was the Son of David-the Messiah of whom prophets had prophesied long ago. He had witnessed none of our Lord’s mighty miracles. He had not had the opportunity of beholding dead people raised with a word, and lepers healed by a touch. Of all these privileges, his blindness totally deprived him. But he had heard the report of our Lord’s mighty works, and hearing had believed. He was satisfied from mere hear-say, that He of whom such wonderful things were reported, must be the promised Savior, and must be able to heal him. And so when our Lord drew near, he cried, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Let us strive and pray that we may have like precious faith. We too are not allowed to see Jesus with our bodily eyes. But we have the report of His power, and grace, and willingness to save, in the Gospel. We have exceeding great promises from His own lips, written down for our encouragement. Let us trust those promises implicitly, and commit our souls to Christ unhesitatingly. Let us not be afraid to repose all our confidence on His own gracious words, and to believe that what He has engaged to do for sinners, He will surely perform. What is the beginning of all saving faith, but a soul’s venture on Christ? What is the life of saving faith, when once begun, but a continual leaning on an unseen Savior’s word? What is the first step of a Christian, but a crying, like Bartimus, “Jesus have mercy on me”? What is the daily course of a Christian, but keeping up the same spirit of faith? “Though now we see Him not, yet believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” (1Pe 1:8.)

We have, in the second place, in these verses, an example of determined perseverance in the face of difficulties. We are told that when Bartimus began to cry out, “Jesus, thou Son of David have mercy on me,” he met with little encouragement from those who were near him. On the contrary, “many charged him that he should hold his peace.” But he was not to be stopped. If others did not know the misery of blindness, he did. If others did not think it worth while to take such trouble, in order to obtain relief, he, at any rate, knew better. He cared not for the rebukes of unfeeling bystanders. He heeded not the ridicule which his importunity probably brought on him. “He cried the more a great deal,” and so crying obtained his heart’s desire, and received his sight.

Let all who wish to be saved, mark well this conduct of Bartimus, and walk diligently in his steps. Like him, we must care nothing what others think and say of us, when we seek the healing of our souls. There never will be wanting people who will tell us that it is “too soon,” or “too late”-that we are going “too fast,” or “too far”-that we need not pray so much, or read our Bibles so much-or be so anxious about salvation. We must give no heed to such people. Like Bartimus, we must cry the more, “Jesus have mercy on me.”

What is the reason that men are so half-hearted in seeking Christ? Why are they so soon deterred, and checked, and discouraged in drawing near to God? The answer is short and simple. They do not feel sufficiently their own sins. They are not thoroughly convinced of the plague of their own hearts, and the disease of their own souls. Once let a man see his own guilt, as it really is, and he will never rest till he has found pardon and peace in Christ. It is they who, like Bartimus, really know their own deplorable condition, who persevere, like Bartimus, and are finally healed.

In the last place, we have, in these verses, an example of the constraining influence which gratitude to Christ ought to have upon our souls. Bartimus did not return home as soon as he was restored to sight. He would not leave Him from whom he had received such mercy. At once he devoted the new powers, which his cure gave him, to the Son of David who had worked the cure. His history concludes with the touching expression, he “followed Jesus in the way.”

Let us see in these simple words, a lively emblem of the effect that the grace of Christ ought to have on every one who tastes it. It ought to make him a follower of Jesus in his life, and to draw him with mighty power into the way of holiness. Freely pardoned, he ought to give himself freely and willingly to Christ’s service. Bought at so mighty a price as the blood of Christ, he ought to devote himself heartily and thoroughly to Him who redeemed him. Grace really experienced will make a man feel daily, “What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits?” (Psa 116:12.) It did so for the apostle Paul: he says, “the love of Christ constraineth us.” (2Co 5:14.) It will do so for all true Christians at the present day. The man who boasts of having an interest in Christ, while he does not follow Christ in his life, is a miserable self-deceiver, and is ruining his own soul. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they,” and they only, “are the sons of God.” (Rom 8:14.)

Have we had our eyes opened by the Spirit of God? Have we yet been taught to see sin, and Christ, and holiness, and heaven, in their true light? Can we say, One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see? If so, we shall know the things of which we have been reading, by experience. If not, we are yet in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, and have everything to learn.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mar 10:46. And they come to Jericho. Mark specifies this, and this shows that our Lord entered the city before the blind man was healed, so that Lukes account (chap. Luk 18:35) must refer to a second entrance. On the location of Jericho, and the date of this miracle, see Mat 20:29.

As he went out from Jericho. Probably on some excursion, from which He returned to meet Zaccheus (Luk 19:1-27), after which He began the journey to the neighborhood of Bethany.

The son of Timeus, Bartimeus. Some think the father was well known, but the order in the original suggests that the son was the well-known personage. Bar = son, as Mark seems to explain.

A blind beggar. He was probably begging as he sat, as the E. V. states, but the original does not necessarily mean this. Why Matthew (Mat 20:30-34) mentions two blind men, and Mark and Luke but one, has been variously explained; but it is altogether unnecessary to find a contradiction in the accounts. The prominence of this one is evident from the narrative before us, which is in many respects the most exact and vivid of the three.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Subdivision 1. (Mar 10:46-52; Mar 11:1-33; Mar 12:1-44; Mar 13:1-37.)

The King.

The first subdivision has also its three parts. The first of these has its central significance in the barren fig-tree, which the Lord curses for its barrenness, a figure scarcely to be mistaken by any who look below the surface, and which in Mark is woven together with the story of His purification of the temple, His Father’s house. Israel, alas, for this had to be driven out of that which they had profaned. The “Canaanite (or merchantman) in the house of the Lord” had found in the favored people of God its sorrowful fulfilment.

The second part shows us, along with their hostility to the Lord, His judgment in detail of their condition. This comes out in His answers to their various and evil-designing questions and efforts to entangle Him in His talk, – efforts which end for them in disastrous confusion. He closes it with His unanswerable question to them with regard to David’s Son; and then denounces to the people the heartless and ostentatious religiousness of the scribes.

The third part announces (for disciples, ears alone) the coming of the rejected Son of man in glory, to deliver His believing people out of the great final tribulation into which the nation has come because, rejecting Him who came to them in His Father’s name, they have received him who comes in his own.

The connection all through, as generally in Mark, is close and intimate with Matthew’s Gospel; Mark, however, omitting much, especially of the dispensational details, as the marriage of the King’s son; and in the prophecy of the final scenes, all that has reference to the Church and to the judgment of the nations, the separation of the sheep from the goats.

1.(1) In the three synoptic Gospels alike, the Lord’s presentation of Himself to the people as their King is prefaced by the miracle at Jericho, which is expressly wrought in answer to an appeal to Him as Son of David. Matthew mentions two blind men, but Mark only one, whose name he (and not Matthew) gives. Bartimaeus is simply the son of Timaeus, so that he gets his personal name from his relationship. Timaeus is in Greek,* “one that is prized,” and “the son of one that is prized” would well represent the state of Israel in her blindness of unbelief still “beloved for the fathers, sakes” (Rom 11:28). It is surely a striking name for one whom we have already looked at as on other grounds (see notes on Mat 20:29-34) foreshadowing the remnant of Israel in days to come, when. God is preparing the way of His King to come to Zion. They need and will find, spite of the opposition of the mass by whom they are surrounded, in Jesus of Nazareth, One who is sent to “preach recovering of sight to the blind” (Luk 4:18). To Him they will come, “casting away the garment” of religious self-righteousness, which has been ever the hindrance with the people to whom they belong. They will receive sight and follow Jesus.

{*A Greek name need scarcely be a difficulty, where Greek had been almost the common language for so many years, and where Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nicodemus, Stephen, are all Greek. Its being Greek (the common synonym of Gentile) is in fact spiritually significant, Israel’s father Abraham, God’s Timaeus, having been called in uncircumcision, according to the apostle’s argument in Rom 4:1-25.}

Such spiritual sight given in Jericho, the world under the curse, into which Christ has come, and which still converts blind beggars into joyful followers of the Lord, is even now His witness. He had to come under this curse to redeem us from it, and the deliverance at Jericho, may well be the pledge of His victory at Jerusalem and elsewhere, though He go to present rejection at the hands of men. The blessed Servant has anticipated it all, and sees with no uncertainty the path before Him. That very rejection shall only give Him occasion for deeper service.

(2) So they come near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage (the “house of unripe figs”) and Bethany (the “house of affliction” or “humiliation”)* significant names both for Him; and now He sends two of His disciples to bring to Him the colt upon which He is to ride, proclaiming His Kingdom of peace, into Jerusalem. Mark, as little as possible touching the dispensational side of things, omits from his account the mother ass (see Matthew). The acclamations of the multitude hail the “coming kingdom of our father David.” There seems at present no opposition. He simply enters Jerusalem, goes into the temple and looks round upon all things there. Then, it being now evening, He withdraws and goes out to Bethany.

{*More generally taken now as “house of dates,” but quite conjecturally.}

Matthew does not notice this first visit of silent contemplation on the Lord’s part, but puts the cleansing of the temple, which did not really take place till the next day, in connection with the triumphal entry. This has of course been charged upon him as a discrepancy. It is in fact the substitution of an order of thought for the order of time; and this is not infrequent in the Gospels.

This simple looking round upon everything and then turning the back upon it is very solemn. It is not judgment that is inflicted, but He finds nothing to His satisfaction, and leaves it to them, and leaves them with it. His own personal position is outside it all. The temple as His Father’s house should have been His own. There, if anywhere in Israel, would have been the throne of God, and here was the King of this kingdom, the Son of the Father; and He turns His back on it. Leaving it, He leaves the city also, for Bethany, the “house of humiliation.” He can only abide there.

(3) On the morrow, as He returns to the city, He hungers. A spiritual hunger was, in fact, upon Him. The zeal of His Father’s house was consuming Him, with all that that house implied, as established among men – a place of approach to Him, not for Israel only, but for all nations. This had been committed to Israel’s care, and their privileges upon which they prided themselves, only to look down with disdain upon the Gentiles, were really responsibilities on their behalf. The blessing of the earth depended – and still depends – upon Israel’s blessing. As God’s vine they had failed, and the vineyard had been laid waste; but He had suffered a remnant to come back, according to His own figure as to them, to be as “a fig-tree planted in” the desolate “vineyard” (Luk 13:6), to see if yet there might be fruit for Him.

Here, then, the significance of the present act is seen. The returned people stood before God with its profession of faith in Him, in striking contrast with the nations round, for whom plainly as merely heathen; “the time of figs was not yet.” The fig-leaf was the promise of fruit wherever found; and therefore the Lord comes to it to find this. There was none: and for this He pronounces its doom.

No more is said about this here, but He goes on to Jerusalem and the temple, and what He had found at the beginning of His ministry (Joh 2:13-16) He finds unchanged at the end of it. Greed was profaning the very house of God, and that which should have been a house of prayer had become a den of robbers. He purges them all out, assuming for a moment the authority which was His; but the effect is only to bring the chief priests and scribes together to plot for His destruction. As yet the fear of the people holds them back.

We return then to the actual destruction of the fig-tree, which they find next morning dried up from the roots. The Lord uses it to impress upon His disciples the power of faith in God. Not a tree merely, but a mountain would disappear in this way from the path of faith, where faith laid hold of the Invisible for it. But He joins with believing prayer the need of a tender spirit of forgiveness towards any against whom the heart might retain the sense of wrong, lest the Father’s government should be made to remember one’s own offences.

The Lord leaves the application both of the fig-tree and the mountain to be made by His disciples. They were evidently not yet prepared to realize the doom that Israel as a nation were bringing upon themselves, or that they might be such an obstruction as He pictured to the path of faith. The divine foresight of the end would not prevent the most assiduous tenderness in warning and entreaty till the end should come. God has taken care even to proclaim by the mouth of Jeremiah that His own prophecies of coming judgment might be set aside by a nation’s repentance (Jer 18:7-8); and has even given us in Nineveh an example of this (Jon 3:10).

But Israel went on unrepenting until it was in fact, as a nation; sunk like the mountain of which the Lord speaks into the sea of nations round her; and the fig-tree died withered up because it had no fruit for Him who sought it. The blessing of which the Word still gives assurance for them can only be through a veritable resurrection (Eze 37:1-28).

2. The next section is almost entirely similar to Matthew, save in the omission of two parables, and in the addition by Mark of the beautiful and significant incident of the widow’s mites. It gives, as already said, the Lord’s judgment in detail of Israel’s condition, in her chosen leaders, who unite in opposition, though veiled, against Him. Everywhere they are met, refuted, their disguise stripped off, until He closes argument with His own triumphant question how Christ can be the Son of David. This is followed by His denunciation of the scribes, and His appraisal of all their ostentatious giving to the temple treasury as less in value than the widow’s “two mites which make a farthing.”

(1) The question of authority is the one first raised; upon the face of it unutterable folly; for His works bore witness of Him, and it was impossible to suppose that divine power, such as was manifest in them, could have been gained unlawfully. He refuses, therefore, to answer their question, except they answer first His own. If competent to discern as to Himself (and if not, it would be of no use to answer them), they should know as to the baptism of John, whether it was from heaven or of men. If they knew, let them answer.

But they dare not answer. On the one side they cannot excuse themselves, if it were from heaven; for not being his disciples: on the other, they could not deny his claim for fear of the people. And the only refuge left for them is in what for them is a complete and yet most insincere humiliation; they cannot tell!

(2) The parable of the two sons which Matthew gives is here omitted, and that of the vineyard comes into the second place. The thought of the vineyard was familiar to them from the prophets, who had pressed upon them the claims of God as to it; and they had built the sepulchres of these prophets, whom they could not deny that their fathers killed. With the murder of the One who spoke to them in their hearts, how could they deny that they were in the succession of the parable? Then came their own Scriptures to prove that the corner stone of God’s building was one rejected by the builders. Clearly they could understand that all this spoke of them, and feel it enough to be maddened by it.

(3) Now they break up into parties, (Pharisees and Herodians) which unite together, however, in dexterous combination. They do not question His authority any more: they know that He is true and teaches the way of God in truth. Nor will the fear of man shut His mouth.

So they have a question to ask, an important one, touching closely all ranks and conditions among them, and quite apt to kindle dangerous passions. Pharisees and Herodians were divided about it: here it was for Him to settle: Should they give tribute to Caesar? Aye, or no?

But they cannot dig deep enough to hide from Him the hypocrisy of that question, that they were merely, as He tells them, tempting Him. Yet He will not decline it: let them only bring Him the tribute money. And they bring it: and there is the image of Caesar stamped broadly upon it.

They cannot deny, – they are not suffered to ignore the fact, – that this is Caesar’s money. But how much lay hid under this for those that were still capable of entertaining such questions. How long they had given up any full, entire reliance upon the Almighty, the God of their father Abraham, and by profession their own! They had leaned upon another arm than His. They had coveted the riches of a world which Abraham had refused. They were trafficking with Caesar’s money, and must pay him back his money. Issachar in their father Jacob’s prophecy had proved but too surely their type: Issachar, the “bony ass, couching between the hurdles: and he saw the land that it was good, and rest that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became servant to tribute.”

Give Caesar then what is his: no use to expect divine help to ignore what their sin had brought them into. No! and yet a way there was – a way which they had never taken: give God also His own! how surely then would the burden pass from their back, and the rest they longed for be obtained! “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” “And they marvelled at Him.”

(4) But they are not yet silenced; and after the Pharisee and the Herodian appears the Sadducee: a not unusual order at any time. With them we find the intrusion of mere human thought into spiritual things, and which with its own beggarliness would beggar heaven. But they know neither the Scriptures, – when did an infidel ever know the Scriptures? – nor the power of God. The Lord proves to them how the simplest sayings of God may contain what would enrich us for ever and we do not find it there. Shall we ever awake to the need we have of putting under adequate tillage the rich land which God has given us? As to the Lord’s argument here, we can add little or nothing to what has been said in Matthew.

(5) As to the next question, Mark shows us under the tempting spirit of which Matthew speaks a certain effect nevertheless produced in the man who asks it. How apt we are to fight with the truth just when it is gaining access into our hearts! and how contrary often are the thoughts which unite to move us! In the scribe before us we find a further effect of the answer given to his question, and the Lord Himself pronounces him “not far from the Kingdom of God.” We are not told that he ever entered it; but we have good reason for hope that he had reached the place in which he was as the result of a seeking which could not fail of divine guidance. It needed some boldness to proclaim so heartily his acceptance of the truth, (simple as it may seem and is,) that love to God and to one’s neighbor is “more than all whole burnt-offering and sacrifices,” and this in sympathetic admiration of Jesus of Nazareth, and in the midst of those who were His open adversaries.

With the exception of this, Matthew’s account is almost exactly that of Mark, and we cannot add to what is said of it in the former Gospel.

(6) After the scribe’s confession; “no one any longer dared to question Him.” But He now turns upon His silenced enemies with a question on His own part. The charge against Him was that “He made Himself the Son of God.” The creed of the scribes was that Messiah was simply Son of David. He produces David himself therefore in proof that He must be more: otherwise how, as in the 110th psalm, could the father call his son his lord? To this they have, and could have, no answer.

(7) He proceeds to warn the people against the scribes. Mark does not however reproduce here the detailed judgment which is given in Matthew. He speaks of their love of display, of human applause, of leadership, their very prayers a hypocrisy, while they devoured in their greed the substance of the poor and unprotected. Such were the religious chiefs of the nation, and their character was one most easily to be discerned surely. Yet these blind leaders were as blindly followed.

(8) He turns the page, and shows us amid such a state of things what the eye of God could discern; and His heart delight in; the act of a poor widow, too poor to tempt even the rapacity of a scribe, yet not too poor to put into the temple-treasury a gift beyond all the rich gifts of the wealthiest worshipers. “Two mites which make a farthing:” really about three quarters of a farthing! but the value of it, as our Lord declares, was not according to the market – according to its buying capacity, but intangible and spiritual. The two mites were all the means she had: “all her living.” She had put her heart in with it: a heart that had no reserve, – that would keep nothing back from God. The value of it was that of sacrifice, and could not miss appreciation by One who was Himself the Great Sacrifice, or by Him who spared not for us His own Son.

But this was one among all that had cast in; and the commendation takes the form of condemnation; the joy of approbation is only as of a sweet note amid dissonance. Nay, the existence of this one verity of goodness and devotedness seems only to male worse the awful falsehood and self-service and arrogancy of pretension all around. Israel remains unhealed, unhelped, with her sin upon her, and going on to the culminating sin of sins – the Cross.

And, as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. There is naturally no difference. The lesson here is lesson for us all, and the exception is of divine grace only. Thus the Cross was not man’s sin only, but the grace that meets his sin: and

“The very spear that pierced Thy side

Drew forth the blood to save.”

3. But before the Cross is reached, the veil is once more for a moment drawn aside, and we are given to see the One rejected and disowned of men coming in the glory of heaven when unbelief shall be possible no more, and resistance beyond a moment’s possible thought. We have been already through this great prophecy in Matthew, whom Mark in what he gives of it almost entirely resembles. No doubt there are certain differences, and for these and for the resemblances alike there must be spiritual reasons which we should be able to give some account of. But for this the Gospels in their entirety must be better known, and each part apprehended in the light of the whole. Too little believing work has been done in this direction to enable us to say much to the purpose as to it. That there is divine wisdom in it all it should not need to say; but one may have to confess ignorance, which the many with whom we share it prevent being felt with the shame which should belong to it. To avoid mere repetition the notes on Matthew must be referred to throughout.

(1) The introductory portion no doubt takes in, in its general characteristics, the present time; though Christianity, as such, is not contemplated in it. It partakes in this way in the character of Old Testament prophecy, in which the present dispensation has no place; save, indeed, as you may call a type a prophecy, and then we can find such parabolic utterances not seldom. The prophecy of our Lord here has, in Matthew’s version of it, quite similarly its Christian portion couched in this parabolic style. The time had not yet come for plainer speech. Mark and Luke alike omit all this Christian part; while the indefiniteness of this introductory portion leaves room for what is not explicitly found there.

Mark, as well as Luke, emphasizes in a special manner the persecutions that the disciples would have to endure, which in Luke are declared to take place before the signs among the nations. They are, therefore, persecutions of the early Christian days, such as the Acts show us to have taken place as soon as the new message of salvation was proclaimed. In this way the testimony to governors and kings was to be given; and they were, without any anxiety about it, to rely entirely upon the Spirit of God for all that they should say. liven the natural love of kindred would be destroyed by the spirit of hostility to Christ. He that endured to the end would be saved.

(2) The last clause, while as a general principle it applies to all, has certainly a special reference to the time of the end, and the Lord goes on immediately to the abomination standing in the holy place, “where” (above all) “it ought not:” the very place in which idolatrous worship would be the most open defiance of Him who had peremptorily forbidden it. This, as we have seen in Matthew, undoubtedly refers to days that are yet to come, after the present dispensation is ended by the removal of the saints to meet the Lord in the air, and when the “remnant of His brethren” as Micah declares, “shall return to the children of Israel” (Mic 5:3): that is, when those converted to God in Israel will no longer find their place as now in the body of Christ, but share the national hopes and promises of the ancient people of God.

All the warnings of the great tribulation following here are almost word for word as we find them in Matthew, with the omission only of the reference to the sabbath, and the danger of deception as to His being in the desert or the secret chambers.

(3) The signs which precede the coming of the Lord follow, and then the Son of man; coming in the clouds of heaven; sends forth His angels to gather together His elect from the four winds, – Israel, once more His people, from their long dispersion.

(4) The parable of the revival of Israel’s fig-tree from her winter sleep, with what follows to the thirty-second verse, is again almost word for word with Matthew. But Mark alone, in recording the Lord’s declaration that “of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,” inserts “neither the Son.”* This the Lord’s character as the Son of God in service sufficiently explains. “The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth.” And to the Corinthians the apostle says, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” It is not a question of His divine knowledge, but of what He knew as about His Father’s business, as the apostle at Corinth knew nothing but the Crucified One.

{*It is found, however, in some copies of Matthew: see notes Mat 24:36.}

It has been urged against this that it is not in this sense that no man or angel knoweth; but this as an objection has no force. For the point of our Lord’s words is the inaccessibleness to man of this knowledge. There was none to whom one could go for this knowledge: neither man nor angel could communicate it, nor the Son either, as the apostle of His Father’s will. It is a pregnant example of how we need to apprehend the divisions of Scripture according to their proper significance, in order to get the details rightly. “Take ye heed, watch and pray,” the Lord adds, “for ye know not when the time is.”

Notice the interests which Christ has here. He is going up to where He was before, – to the Father’s presence and joy; yet He presents Himself here as having His house on earth, leaving it for a time and coming back to it, to those who have been entrusted with the work and authority of it in the meantime: a theme upon which Matthew dwells more at large. The master of the house comes back at an unknown hour, “at even, midnight, cock-crowing, or in the morning.” Later it cannot be, for He of whom this is spoken Himself brings the day. But with the uncertainty, watchfulness is imperative: the true disciple must not be caught asleep.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

This chapter concludes with the recital of a famous miracle wrought by our blessed Saviour upon blind Bartimeus, in the sight of a great multitude which followed him.

Where note, 1. The blind man’s faith, in acknowledging Jesus to be the Messiah; for so much the title of the son of David signified.

2. His fervency, in crying so earnestly to Christ for mercy and healing: Have mercy upon me, thou son of David. A true sense of want will make the soul cry unto Christ with earnestness and importunity.

Observe, 3. The great compassion and condescension of Christ towards this poor blind man: he stood still, he called him and enlightened his eyes. A mighty instance of Christ’s divine power! He that can open blind eyes with a touch of his finger, and that by his own power, is really God: his touch is an omnipotent touch.

Observe, 4. Although Christ well knew the condition of this blind man, yet, before he will restore his sight, he must sensibly complain of the want of sight, and cry unto him for help and healing. Christ knows all his creatures’ wants, but takes no notice of them till they make them known to him by prayer.

Observe, 5. The way and course which the blind man takes to express his thankfulness to Christ for recovered sight: He rose, and followed Jesus. Mercy 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 praiseth God best that serveth him most: the life of thankfulness consists in the thankfulness of the life.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mar 10:46-52. And as he went out of Jericho, blind Bartimeus sat by the way-side Matthew (Mat 20:29) says, there were two blind men. It seems this Bartimeus was the more eminent of the two, and spoke for them both. See on Mat 20:29-34. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth Of some of whose miracles he had doubtless received information; he began to cry out, Jesus, thou son of David, &c. Our Lords name was no sooner mentioned than this blind man, who was well acquainted with his fame, conceived hopes of obtaining a cure; and being deeply impressed with a sense of his own affliction, he cried out so vehemently that the people rebuked him, as they will not fail to rebuke all who, from a sense of their guilt, depravity, and misery, cry after the Saviour of sinners. But he cried the more a great deal An example worthy to be imitated by those who are concerned to obtain the cure of their spiritual diseases. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called He would not perform the miracle till the blind man came to him, that, by the manner of his walking, the spectators might be sensible he was truly blind. And they call the blind man Some of the people, having their expectations raised of seeing Christ work a miracle, ran immediately to call the man and his companion; saying, Be of good comfort Take courage; rise, he calleth thee And therefore he doubtless intends to grant thy request. And he, casting away his garment Through joy and eagerness; rose, and came to Jesus The other blind man also following as fast as he could. And Jesus said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee What is the mercy which thou so earnestly entreatest? The blind man said, Lord, that I might receive my sight The other also, doubtless, made the same request. and Jesus, who had compassion on them, touched their eyes, and said to each, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole The strong persuasion which thou hast entertained of my power and goodness, and thy confidence therein, makes thee fit to receive this cure which I now bestow on thee. And immediately he received his sight As did his companion likewise; and they followed Jesus in the way

Travelled with him, probably all the way to Jerusalem, being deeply affected with a sense of his power and goodness, and earnestly desirous to show their gratitude, by declaring openly, unto all the persons they met, what a great miracle Jesus had performed for them. Thus Jesus, by his touch, says Erasmus, cures the mind that is blinded with worldly lusts, and gives light for this end, that we may follow his footsteps.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CII.

BARTIMUS AND HIS COMPANION HEALED.

(At Jericho.)

aMATT. XX. 29-34; bMARK X. 46-52; cLUKE XVIII. 35-43.

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, Bartimus 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. [Bartimus 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 Bartimus 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 Bartimus 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]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

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!

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 Lords 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.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Mar 10:46-52. Blind Bartimus.This story is remarkable for the use of the Messianic title, Son of David, which Jesus does not reject. Critics have taken this as evidence that the reserve about the Messianic claim of Jesus was no longer being practised. But the blind beggar might have jumped to the conclusion, without any change of attitude on the part of the disciples, and his use of the term would not necessarily exert great influence. Certainly from now on Jesus does not enforce silence in this regard. The appeal of the beggar is not rebuked like the confession of the demoniacs. The name Bartimus is given only in Mk.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 46

To Jericho, approaching gradually towards Jerusalem.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Mar 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

So much detail to this account must have some reason, though it is not clear. Possibly to illustrate the realness of the account, that this really happened, it was not a made-up story of some later century writer trying to fool the Christian public.

The impression I have of this situation is that Bartimaeus may have been waiting or wishing that the Lord would come along. He was on the roadway area, he had someone telling him who was coming by and the word cry is a word that relates to screaming or the shriek of the raven. When he was encouraged to back off, he cried even more even a lot more according to the passage. This man was on a mission and was going to do what he had to do to complete that mission.

This was a man known to the folks in the crowd; he was named by name, and by his malady as well as by his fathers name. The naming of Bartimaeus and his father would indicate that there was some significance to the crowd of this occasion. Possibly that the towns-folks knew of Bartimaeus and his blindness to be fact of life and that the healing would be so totally validating of the Lord’s ability.

Lightfoot suggests of Bartimawus “Some suspect the evangelist here guilty of a solecism, by making a tautology; for it was neither necessary, as they think, so to render the Syriac word in Greek; nor is it done so elsewhere in proper names of that nature.” A solecism is a totally unnecessary use of a phrase or word while tautoalogy is using two different words of the same meaning. He further suggests that the phrase “blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,” might only mean “a blind son of a blind man.” This might lead to the fact that Matthew stated that there were two blind men – thus maybe a father and a son, both being blind.

We should note that Matthew states that there were two blind men while Mark only mentions Bartimaeus. This might indicate that Mark knew Bartimaeus or knew of him and that he wanted to focus on him alone rather than the two as he was writing to his readers. It is also just possible since the two followed Christ that they became known to the early church and the recipients of Mark’s letter would have known him.

The two blind men of Matthew might have been a father and son, both blind. (Luke records this happening, but mentions only one blind man as does Mark, yet does not name him.)

Enough speculation, but it is evident that Mark had a purpose for naming the man and identifying him so clearly. It might be noted also that this is the only reference to the man in the Bible.

The man called the Lord the Son of David. The Net Bible mentions the possible link to Solomon the son of David that some thought had healing powers according to Josephus. “Jesus was more than a Nazarene to this blind person, who saw quite well that Jesus was Son of David. There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).” At the very least the man recognized the Lord’s ties to the Davidic kingdom in some manner and may even have understood that the kingdom Christ had offered was this same Davidic Kingdom or Millennium.

It certainly is of interest to someone that has compassion for those with physical problems. This man was not only blind, but to stay alive he was forced to beg for what he could gain from the compassion of others. Today we have people feeding on the compassion of others, we call them homeless – they beg at street corners, fast food entrances and freeway approaches. They are multitudes and most are doing it because they are too lazy to work and many make more money panhandling than many at their daily job.

Compassion is a good thing when it is directed toward one that cannot care for themselves, but it is a very bad thing when directed at those that could help themselves if they just would.

When I was a child there was a little office with two or three people in it way down in the basement of our county courthouse in Nebraska. That office was a place of derision; it was a place no one wanted to go. If you were there it was because you were in dire trouble financially and nowhere else could you gain assistance.

Today that office is not an office but rather a whole building, and it is not a place to avoid but a place to seek. To be there is to have arrived. You are on the public dime and probably will never get off, because misplaced compassion tells us to take care of all less fortunate whether they are unfortunate by their own choice or not.

In my childhood, welfare was the abnormal and for those that had real need, and it was a meager assist at that. Today the system tells us that the assist must be adequate to their need no matter what they think their need be. Some make more money on the welfare system than the average working person. Need has certainly been redefined in our society. Indeed, so has democracy. Today we are straining toward communism while most of the world is fleeing its failed principles.

The public wanted this man to be quiet, but he was quite insistent upon the Lord helping him in his need. Christ hearing his plea stopped and asked that he be brought to Him.

A simple request and a simple solution to that request – go because thy faith has made you whole. Christ went on His way and the man followed.

I’m sure that you could get into symbolism and allegorical interpretation with this passage and make some beautiful pictures but the simple fact is that this is an account of one more of the miraculous things that Christ did while He was here on earth. He was a compassionate man who cared for people and their needs. It would seem from our text that He is on His way to His crucifixion yet He took a moment to assist one in need.

There was no need of proving who He was to the crowd, many of them if not most had rejected Him and His teaching so another miracle could not have made much difference in the lives of those around Him. He simply responded to the physical need of one that was showing faith in Him.

The continued focus of the Lord on those with physical and spiritual needs ought to be a part of our own lives as well. We ought not focus on the physical and leave out the spiritual, but we ought to deal with the physical if we can as we deal with the spiritual.

This is a difficult task in our society due to the many that purport to have physical needs but have them due to their own laziness. Churches are inundated with requests for assistance today but often are taken by lazy folks that turn their buck by preying on honest compassionate folks.

With all the social agencies available to care for needs it is wise in my mind to just refer people to these agencies that are much more capable of assuring the “need” that is presented to them.

This allows the congregation to concentrate on their membership’s needs in a more profound and pointed manner.

Many years ago we were struggling to make ends meet when I had a physical problem that removed me from my job for several weeks. Our little church where we attended gathered around us and held us above water until the problem was over. They offered food, cash and other gifts of talent and caring.

What a blessing to be on the receiving end of such an outpouring of Christian love. This sort of assist can be much more useful in the life of the church than giving an assist to some lazy person seeking an easy buck.

Some might suggest that helping with all comers physical need can be an opportunity to helping with spiritual needs. Well, yes that is a distinct possibility, but more to the point it sounds more like casting pearls before swine in our society. Yes, God can use the gospel anytime that He wishes and we should be sensitive to His leading when someone requests assistance but be careful to seek that leading before doing your giving.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

10:46 {9} And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

(9) Only Christ being called upon by faith heals our blindness.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

3. The healing of a blind man near Jericho 10:46-52 (cf. Matthew 20:29-34; Luke 18:35-43)

Mark probably included this incident in his Gospel because it illustrates how Jesus would open the spiritual eyes of His disciples that were still shut (cf. Mar 8:22-26). This is the last healing miracle that Mark recorded.

"This second account of the blind being healed (see Mar 8:22-26 for the first account) concludes this central section of Mark (Mar 8:27 to Mar 10:52) and serves as ’bookends’ of this section. Recorded as they were and where they were may be suggestive of the trouble the spiritually blind disciples were having in grasping the need for the death of Christ and the need for faithfulness in taking a stand for Christ in the midst of opposition.

"This passage is the only place in Mark where someone called Jesus ’Son of David.’ That Jesus accepted this title and healed the man is evidence that He affirmed the truth that He is indeed the Messiah." [Note: Bailey, p. 87.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jericho stood about five miles west of the Jordan River and six miles north of the Dead Sea.

Scholars have attempted to harmonize this account with the other two in the Synoptics. A few believe that the accounts represent three separate events. Some believe there were two healings, one as Jesus entered Jericho (Luk 18:35) and another as He left Jericho (Mat 20:29; Mar 10:46). Still others believe there was only one healing, and it happened somewhere between old Jericho and the new Jericho that Herod the Great had built one mile southwest of the old city. [Note: E.g., Zane C. Hodges, "The Blind Men at Jericho," Biblitheca Sacra 122:488 (October-December 1965):319-30.] I prefer this view since the three accounts are quite similar. Another view is that the beggars approached Jesus as He entered the city but He healed them as He departed from it. The various descriptions of what happened argue against this theory.

Mark was the only evangelist to record the more prominent of the two beggars’ names. This is in harmony with his interest in individuals and detail. Perhaps Mark’s original readers know Bartimaeus.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER 10:46-52 (Mar 10:46-52)

BARTIMAEUS

“And they come to Jericho: and as He went out from Jericho, with His disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and said, Call ye him. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good cheer; rise, He calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him, and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man said unto Him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight, and followed Him in the way.” Mar 10:46-52 (R.V.)

THERE is no miracle in the Gospels of which the accounts are so hard to reconcile as those of the healing of the blind man at Jericho.

It is a small thing that St. Matthew mentions two blind men, while St. Mark and St. Luke are only aware of one. The same is true of the demoniacs at Gadara, and it is easily understood that only an eyewitness should remember the obscure comrade of a remarkable and energetic man, who would have spread far and wide the particulars of his own cure. The fierce and dangerous demoniac of Gadara was just such a man, and there is ample evidence of energy and vehemence in the brief account of Bartimaeus. What is really perplexing is that St. Luke places the miracle at the entrance to Jericho, but St. Matthew and St. Mark, as Jesus came out of it. It is too forced and violent a theory which speaks of an old and a new town, so close together that one was entered and the other left at the same time.

It is possible that there were two events, and the success of one sufferer at the entrance to the town led others to use the same importunities at the exit. And this would not be much more remarkable than the two miracles of the loaves, or the two miraculous draughts of fish. It is also possible, though unlikely, that the same supplicant who began his appeals without success when Jesus entered, resumed his entreaties, with a comrade, at the gate by which He left.

Such difficulties exist in all the best authenticated histories: discrepancies of the kind arise continually between the evidence of the most trustworthy witnesses in courts of justice. And the student who is humble as well as devout will not shut his eyes against facts, merely because they are perplexing, but will remember that they do nothing to shake the solid narrative itself.

As we read St. Mark’s account, we are struck by the vividness of the whole picture, and especially by the robust personality of the blind man. The scene is neither Jerusalem, the city of the Pharisees, nor Galilee, where they have persistently sapped the popularity of Jesus. Eastward of the Jordan, He has spent the last peaceful and successful weeks of His brief and stormy career, and Jericho lies upon the borders of that friendly district. Accordingly something is here of the old enthusiasm: a great multitude moves along with His disciples to the gates, and the rushing concourse excites the curiosity of the blind son of Timaeus. So does many a religious movement lead to inquiry and explanation far and wide. But when he, sitting by the way, and unable to follow, knows that the great Healer is at hand, but only in passing, and for a moment, his interest suddenly becomes personal and ardent, and “he began to cry out” (the expression implies that his supplication, beginning as the crowd drew near, was not one utterance but a prolonged appeal), “and to say, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” To the crowd his outcry seemed to be only an intrusion upon One Who was too rapt, too heavenly, to be disturbed by the sorrows of a blind beggar. But that was not the view of Bartimaeus, whose personal affliction gave him the keenest interest in those verses of the Old Testament which spoke of opening the blind eyes. If he did not understand their exact force as prophecies, at least they satisfied him that his petition could not be an insult to the great Prophet of Whom just such actions were told, for Whose visit he had often sighed, and Who was now fast going by, perhaps forever. The picture is one of great eagerness, bearing up against great discouragement. We catch the spirit of the man as he inquires what the multitude means, as the epithet of his informants, Jesus of Nazareth, changes on his lips into Jesus, Thou Son of David, as he persists, without any vision of Christ to encourage him, and amid the rebukes of many, in crying out the more a great deal, although pain is deepening every moment in his accents, and he will presently need cheering. The ear of Jesus is quick for such a call, and He stops. He does not raise His own voice to summon him, but teaches a lesson of humanity to those who would fain have silenced the appeal of anguish, and says, Call ye him. And they obey with a courtier-like change of tone, saying, Be of good cheer, rise, He calleth thee. And Bartimaeus cannot endure even the slight hindrance of his loose garment, but flings it aside, and rises and comes to Jesus, a pattern of the importunity which prays and never faints, which perseveres amid all discouragement, which adverse public opinion cannot hinder. And the Lord asks of him almost exactly the same question as recently of James and John, What wilt thou that I should do for thee? But in his reply there is no aspiring pride: misery knows how precious are the common gifts, the every-day blessings which we hardly pause to think about; and he replies, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. It is a glad and eager answer. Many a petition he had urged in vain; and many a small favor had been discourteously bestowed; but Jesus, Whose tenderness loves to commend while He blesses, shares with him, so to speak, the glory of his healing, as He answers, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. By thus fixing his attention upon his own part in the miracle, so utterly worthless as a contribution, but so indispensable as a condition, Jesus taught him to exercise hereafter the same gift of faith.

“Go thy way,” He said. And Bartimaeus “followed Him on the road.” Happy is that man whose eyes are open to discern, and his heart prompt to follow, the print of those holy feet.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary