CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 18:35. As he drew nigh to Jericho.—St. Matthew speaks of two blind men cured as Jesus departed from Jericho (Luke 20:29 ff.); St. Mark of one blind man named Bartimæus (evidently the man here mentioned) healed as Jesus went out of Jericho. So far as the numbers are concerned, no special difficulty need be felt. The second and third evangelists simply record one case of healing in which there were details of exceptional interest. But, so far as the place of healing is concerned, there is a discrepancy which no harmonist can solve. If, however, we knew all the circumstances of the case, the discrepancy might disappear. It might turn out that there was an old and a new town at Jericho, and that departing from the one corresponded to entering the other. This conjecture is highly improbable, but is possible. Meantime the discrepancy exists, and is a testimony to the fact that the narratives of the evangelists are independent of each other.
Luke 18:39. Rebuked him.—Not because he addressed Jesus as “Son of David,” but because they thought his cries would be wearisome and annoying to our Lord.
Luke 18:41. What wilt thou?—The question seems a strange one. What else could the blind man wish for in preference to the gift of sight? We need to remember that with sight would come the call to work for his livelihood—a prospect which did not, however, deter Bartimæus from asking the boon.
Luke 18:43. Gave praise to God.—St. Luke frequently concludes narratives of miracles in this way (cf. chaps. Luke 13:17, Luke 9:43, Luke 5:26). “He, of the three evangelists, takes most notice of the glory given to God on account of the miraculous acts of the Lord Jesus” (Alford).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 18:35-43
Bartimæus.—The blind man, Bartimæus (Mark), is seated by the wayside. That is his usual place—begging his usual occupation. But another idea fills his mind to-day. He has heard much of Jesus of Nazareth. The country is filled with the rumour that He is on His way to Jerusalem to be crowned King of the Jews. To the blind man it has, somehow, become clear that this is the Christ promised to the Fathers. He is prepared to confess his faith in Him, for he has a great boon to ask of Him. He has taken up his usual place since early morn, and is watching anxiously for the first sign of Christ’s coming, when he hears the sound of a multitude approaching. He asks the bystanders, or the first comers, “what it meant.” They answer and tell him, “Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.” Now, then, his great opportunity has come. He lifts up his voice, in the words of that most eloquent and simple prayer he has prepared, and he repeats the prayer till the time of answer came: “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Note what obstacles this man’s faith overcame.
I. His circumstances.—He was but a poor blind man, a customary object of charity. He who was passing by was a great Teacher, a Prophet of the people, reputed to be the Messiah, and probably the future King of Israel. Moreover, He was in the heart of a procession, engaged in teaching, and much engrossed in this momentous crisis of His public life. But Bartimæus was not to be hindered by any of these things. As to the difference in rank between himself and Jesus, he made nothing of it, or rather he made an encouragement of it. When He heard the name, Jesus of Nazareth! his heart leaped up within him. “This is the very person I want to meet. I am poor; He is the friend of the poor. I am blind; He is the healer of the blind. I am a despised and forgotten waif by the roadside; He is the King of Israel, the gatherer of outcasts—the Healer of the broken-hearted, the One who remembers the forgotten.” If, then, any one is hindered from coming to Christ by considerations of environment, be this the answer of faith. The worse your circumstances, the more need you have of Christ, the more evident is it that you are of those to whom He is offered, and for whom He is intended. When He is nigh, let no argument find place in your heart that the time is unsuitable, or that there may be a more convenient season.
II. The desire of worldly advantage.—Here was a great procession coming. In an ordinary case Bartimæus would, doubtless, have laid himself out to make a harvest of the passing caravan. On this occasion he made up his mind to forego that altogether. He weighed the two things, and he said to himself, “No, no alms to-day; I will direct my whole efforts to getting a cure from Jesus of Nazareth.” He did not attempt both things, but deliberately sacrificed the alms-getting for the eyesight. Doubtless he would have been a fool to do otherwise. Yet that is the folly men are committing every day, and not the thoughtless alone among men. Those who have some glimpse of the priceless value of spiritual light and peace, yet let year after year leave them as it found them, because they are too busy in the world to seek salvation, or too much afraid of losing present advantage to set aside its claims, even for a season, and “count their cost” of their immortal nature. Jesus and his multitudes are passing by while some of us are busy gathering pennies by the wayside. A soul in earnest, a soul prepared for the Master’s grace, will hold it of such urgent moment that everything must stand aside till this great question is settled.
III. The opposition of Others.—We are not told what were the motives of the crowd in trying to silence Bartimæus. Perhaps the vulgar notion that it was improper for a common beggar like him to take up the time and attention of Jesus; perhaps that, with all their popular enthusiasm for Jesus, they were not pleased at the blind man for the boldness of his expression that Jesus was the Christ. It is not easy to conceive any obstacle in the way of the spiritually anxious more stumbling than this, when the professed, and sometimes even the real followers of Christ, object to the ardour of their expressions, or the evident feeling they show. “This is going too far. It is extravagance. It disturbs the Church.” The real meaning is, it puts us about, it suggests an uncomfortable suspicion that we are not in earnest, when we see some spirit-stirred ones counting all things loss to win Christ, and overturning the cold, formal decency of the Church with their new-born fervour. As soon as the cry, with its unusual title and its imploring tones, meets the Saviour’s ears, He comes to a standstill, and commands the blind man to be brought to Him. This is how Christ finds those that inquire after Him. We know that He is found of those who seek Him not, surprises those that look not for Him, singles out for search those that had forgotten Him. How certainly then, as this story shows, is He the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. It was a moment of rare triumph for Jesus. He is attended by a joyful crowd. But He turns—how characteristically!—from the happy throng to the one miserable man who needs His help. The pertinacious vitality of faith had proved itself in this instance, and it met, according to Christ’s method, with an instant and abundant reward. It was proved, not only by the blind man’s firm conviction of Jesus’ Messiahship, but by his irrepressible expression of it, by his conquest of the obstacles put in his way, by his joyous alacrity when Jesus called him, by his prompt application of Christ’s offered grace to his most particular need. And now, as all the Evangelists add, the proof was crowned by the first use he made of the new gift of sight. “He followed Jesus in the way.” From this conduct the Lord received honour, both direct and indirect, for all the people, when they saw it, swelled His praises. These two forms of service to Christ re-act upon each other. If all who know about Him were to profess Him, there would be much increase of spiritual life in the Church. If all who profess Christ were to experience what they profess, there would be much increase of spiritual heat. If all who have experienced Christ were to live up to their experience of His mercy, the Church would be like a mass of molten metal in the midst of a cold world—the world, indeed, would be set on fire, and the whole earth would be filled with His glory.—Laidlaw.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 18:35-43
Luke 18:35-43. Bartimæus.—The story of Bartimæus shows us a man in difficulties, and exhibits his conduct when face to face with the three powers of life:
1. Self.
2. The world.
3. God. We shall see what the world did for him, what he did for himself, and what Divine love did for him.
I. The world.—The world gave him pity and alms, but it could not give him sight. He wanted power; it could only give compassion. He wanted eyes; it could only give a dole. Its gifts made him feel his dependence most keenly.
II. What Bartimæus did for himself.—He was self-reliant. He would not be silenced. He is heedless of the crowd. The more opposition, the more endeavour. But he is also single-minded. He must run no risk of failure in reaching Christ. He throws aside his long robe. It might impede his progress. What was raiment, compared with the dowry of eyesight?
III. What Christ did for him.—The best human efforts cannot achieve everything. Man and the world are not the only factors of life. Before Christ the demeanour of Bartimæus is changed. He stands as one who waits. What he needs must be waited for. The man of independence is to learn dependence. And Christ acts towards him with love—love that shows sensibility, decision, judgment, and capability. He is quick to discern need, decisive in His command, deliberate in His dealing, and powerful in His gift.—Carpenter.
I. The situation (Luke 18:35-39).
II. The cure (Luke 18:40-42).
III. The effect produced (Luke 18:43).
A Wayside Miracle.
I. The beggar’s need.
II. The beggar’s cry.
III. The beggar’s urgency.
IV. Jesus’ response.—
1. The same cry can reach Him still.
2. He will listen, and help us.—Watson.
A Confession of Faith.
I. A confession of faith in Jesus as able to give sight.
II. A confession of faith in Him as Messiah, at whose coming the eyes of the blind should be opened.
Luke 18:39. “Rebuked him.”—The blind man saw Jesus with the eye of faith, and prayed to Him as his Saviour; while the world, who could see His person, saw Him not. And yet the blind world, which did not see Jesus, rebuked the blind man, who saw and worshipped Him; but he was nothing daunted by the rebuke, but cried to Him the more earnestly. Thus the blind recovered sight, and they who saw were blind.
Luke 18:41. Vague Prayers.—Poor Bartimæus had no difficulty in answering Christ’s question. He could not for an instant mistake or forget the nature of his want. He cried to Jesus for mercy, when he heard that He was passing by, because he felt a particular want, and believed that Jesus only could supply it. He felt that this was his only chance, and a fastly fleeting one. And so, on Christ’s approach and direct inquiry, he was ready with a direct and unhesitating answer. Faith was supplemented here by an accurate knowledge of the heart’s plague and sorrow; and He who waited for this avowal said at once in reply, “Receive thy sight; thy faith hath saved thee.” We often kneel in the Divine Presence, as this man did, and call to the Saviour for mercy. Were He to cross-examine us as to the meaning of our words, would our answer be ready? Does each heart know its own bitterness so well as to be able at once to ask for the boon we specially need? Or is there unreality, is there vagueness in our language, when we pray?
I. In our confession of sin, do we use vague and unreal words, not meaning them? Let us practice ourselves in meaning something by our confessions of sin. This exercise, and its accompaniment of seeking forgiveness, are an indispensable part of all worship. It has respect to time past, the ineffaceable, irretrievable past.
II. But the other part of prayer has respect rather to the future.—“To obtain mercy” that is one thing: “to find grace to help in time of need”—that is the other. Even more in the latter case is there the risk of vagueness and unreality in our prayers. The petitions which we seem to bring to the throne of grace may be neutralised by our inability to answer the searching inquiry of our Lord, “What wilt thou that I shall do for thee?” The very endeavour to bring something definite, something real, something learned by experience and examination, whenever we profess to approach God’s mercy-seat with words of prayer on our lips, will help to give point and meaning to our worship. Then will the question of the text sound in our ears with less of reproof than of encouragement.—Vaughan.
Luke 18:42. “Thy faith.”—In replying to the request of the blind man, Jesus says, “Thy faith,” and not “My power,” in order to impress upon him the value of that moral act, and that certainly in view of the still more important spiritual miracle yet to be wrought in him.
Luke 18:43. “Followed Him.”—All that he cared for was seeing; all that he cared to see was Christ.