Healing the Blind at Jericho

All three synoptic gospels record the story of Jesus healing the blind near Jericho as He was headed up to Jerusalem near the end of His life (see Matt. 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52, & Luke 18:35-43).  Matthew recorded that there were “two blind men sitting by the way side,” whereas Luke and Mark only recorded that there was one man.  Mark recorded that it was “blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,” and all three recorded that the blind “cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.”  Though the people tried to stop the blind men from disturbing Jesus, they were undeterred and were desperate to receive His help.  Jesus asked them this question: “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”  On one hand it seems like a somewhat surprising question, for it was obvious to all what they wanted—they were blind and they desired to see.  But really for any question Jesus asked He already knew the answer, so it must have been for them that He asked what they wanted.  It reminds me of the classic statement in the Bible Dictionary: “The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them.”  These two blind men needed to ask in faith that He would heal them, and when they did He gave them sight because of that faith: “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.”  Perhaps that poignant question of the Savior is open for all of us who seek His blessings: “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”  When we have the faith of these blind men and their perseverance in seeking Him, surely He will likewise answer us with blessings as He did them.

                This story has perhaps some parallels with the parable of the Good Samaritan.  The most obvious connection is that the Savior was walking on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.   Matthew says incident occurred when He “went out of Jericho” and they were “going up to Jerusalem” (v17, 29).  The parable of the Good Samaritan also took place on the road “from Jerusalem to Jericho” (Luke 10:30).  Both stories are about people who were in great need of help and rescued on that road.  In the parable the priest and Levite “passed by on the other side” not wanting to help, and in the story of the blind men the people similarly refused to help the blind men: “And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace” (Matt. 20:31).  The people seemed to have been embarrassed by these blind men’s loud cries and they didn’t want them to attract the attention of Jesus—they sought to ignore the blind who needed help just as the priest and Levite ignored the injured man in the parable.  Of course the manner of healing was different between the two stories, but in the parable the Samaritan helped the injured man because “he had compassion on him” just as Jesus “had compassion on them” and healed them (Luke 10:33, Matt. 20:34).  Jesus of course was the epitome of the Good Samaritan of His parable, and both the healing of the blind men and the parable teach us of His great healing power.  These stories remind us that we should be more concerned with compassion than convenience, looking for those on our roads who need mercy shown to them.