#154 Lu. 18:35-43  JESUS AND THE BLIND MAN AT JERICHO

Introduction:

    In our text last Sunday Jesus repeatedly His warning to the
twelve apostles that He was going to Jerusalem to be put to death.
The apostles did not really understand.  They just could not
accept the idea that Jesus would be put to death.  Nevertheless,
the closer they got to Jerusalem the more they had a sense of
impending doom.
    In our text today, they arrive at the city of Jericho.
Jericho was located a little less than 20 miles from Jerusalem.
This means that they had less than twenty miles to go until they
would reach the city where He would be crucified.  By this time
the sense of impending doom must have been building rather strong
in the disciples. Their encounter with the blind man at Jericho
must have been a refreshing welcome experience and must have done
a lot to boost their spirits.

I.  A comparison with other gospel records of the event

    V. 35, "And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto
Jericho..."  At this point it would be well for us to make a
comparison between the different gospel accounts of this event to
establish just where the event took place.  Yet we should not get
so involved in where the event took place that we fail to look for
the spiritual lesson taught by the event.  After all, the
spiritual lesson is far more important than where it took place.
    Nevertheless, the critics of the Bible make such a big issue
over what appears to them to be a contradiction that we, as
Christians, ought to take special notice of the records to settle
in our minds that there is no contradiction.  It does, however,
appear at first to be a contradiction.
    Since our text is in Luke, let us take a look first at Luke's
account.  Luke said, "And it came to pass, that as he was come
nigh unto Jericho..."  Luke says only that Jesus and His disciples
have come near to Jericho.    He says nothing about them entering
into the city nor does he say anything about them leaving the city
before they encounter the blind man.  Luke does not deny that they
have entered the city.  Nor does he deny that they are leaving the
city.  He just says nothing about it.
    If this were the only record, we would conclude that they did
encounter the blind man as they approached the city before they
ever entered it.
    However, this is not the only record.  Matthew clearly places
the encounter with the blind man at the time they leave the city.
Note Matthew 20:29.  "And as they departed from Jericho, a great
multitude followed him."  Then he told about the healing of the
blind as they were leaving the city.
    The critics of the Bible say, "Aha!  We've got you.!  The
Bible really does contradict itself!  Matthew says that Jesus
healed the blind man as they leave the city and Luke says that He
healed him as they arrive at the city."
    Not at all!  There is no contradiction in what Matthew and
Luke have said.  The critics fail to take into consideration
what Mark said.  In the first part of Mark 10:46 Mark says, "And
they came to Jericho..."  Now in this first part of the verse,
Mark agrees with Luke.  He agrees with Luke that they have arrived
at the city.  Then in the next part of the verse Mark said,
"...and as he went out of Jericho..." In this part of the verse
Mark agrees with Matthew.  In other words, Mark says that Luke was
right.  It was after they arrived at Jericho as Luke says.  Then
he says also that Matthew was right.  It was as they were leaving
the city as Matthew says.  Mark says that they both were right.
There is no contradiction.
    While we are on the matter of supposed contradictions let us
notice one more thing.  Matthew says that there were two blind men
who were healed.  Both Mark and Luke mention only one.  The
explanation is very simple.  There were two of them.  Matthew
mentions both men.  Mark and Luke mention only one.  There is no
contradiction.

II.  The blind man and his cries for mercy

    But now let us get down to our text and see what took place.
Since Luke mentioned only one blind man we will focus our
attention only on that one.  (V. 35), "...a certain blind man sat
by the way side begging."  Luke speaks of him as being a certain
blind man.  Mark names him.  He tells us that his name was
Bartimaeus.  He even tells his father's name, which was
unimportant to the purpose of Luke.
    This certain blind man was sitting just outside the gates of
the city of Jericho.  He was there begging.  He was there every
day except on the sabbath or whenever he was sick and could not
get there.  He sat there every day begging for whatever coins he
could get.  Since he was blind he could not work and was totally
dependent on begging.  I think we can safely say that he would
never get very much, but at least he received enough to get by.
     V. 36, "And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it
meant."  Since he could not see, he listened.  No doubt he could
easily tell that a large crowd was passing by.  A large crowd
would easily attract his attention because he would have a better
chance of a good collection.  It was to be expected at this season
of the year that large groups would pass by.  People were on their
way to Jerusalem to observe the passover and it was not uncommon
for them to travel in large groups.
    But he must have sensed that there was something different
about this group.  It was not just a large crowd.  There was an
excitement to the voices that he would not normally hear.  So he
asked somebody what was taking place.  "What's going on?"
    V. 37, "And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by."
Now there was a name that caught his attention.  He had most
certainly heard that name.  He had heard of the great miracles
that Jesus had performed.  He had heard of Jesus healing the sick,
casting out demon spirits, making the lame to walk, causing the
dumb to speak and making the blind to see.  Now this was the thing
that had especially interested him---making the blind to see.  I
am sure he had often said to himself, "Oh how I wish I could go to
Galilee where Jesus is.  Or I wish He would come this way."  Not
that he expected it to ever happen, but he could wish.
    He had even heard some say that they believe Jesus to be the
Christ that the prophets had promised.  He had given a  great deal
of consideration that.  He thought that Jesus just might be the
Christ.
    At any rate he could tell by the voices that the people in the
crowd were pretty excited about Jesus being there and when he
learned that Jesus was right there in front of him, he got pretty
excited himself.  V. 38, "And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me."
    Note that this blind man did not say, "Jesus of Nazareth have
mercy on me."  He surely knew that Jesus was of the city of
Nazareth, but he did not call Him "Jesus of Nazareth."  "He said,
Jesus, thou son of David..."  It was predicted by the prophets
that the Christ would descend from David.  The term, son of David,
means just that.  It means, "Jesus, thou descendant of David."
However, the way that Jews used the term was to speak about that
special descendant of David, the Christ.  And that is the way more
and more Jews of that day were using the term with reference to
Jesus.  They were identifying Jesus as the Christ.  It seems that
this blind man had come to that conclusion.  He was so certain
that Jesus is the Christ that He identified  Him as such.
    He not only identified Jesus as the Christ, but he called on
Jesus for mercy saying, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on
me."  What he said was equivalent to saying, "Jesus, thou Christ,
have mercy on me."
    V. 39, "And they which went before rebuked him, that he should
hold his peace..."  Just who all were involved in rebuking Jesus I
am not certain.  But it is not likely that the disciples were
involved.  Whoever it was went before Jesus.  That is, they went
ahead of Him.  It is most likely that the apostles and other
disciples followed Him rather than being in front of Him.  It is
most likely that it was the sight seers who went before Him.  They
rebuked this blind man and demanded that he leave Jesus alone.
    (V. 39), "...but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David,
have mercy on me."  By this time the blind man was desperate.  He
knew that if he kept silent and let Jesus go by he would never
have another opportunity to be healed.  So he cried out all the
louder and there was desperation in his voice.  "Thou son of
David---thou Christ---have mercy on me!"

III.  The response of Jesus to his cries

    V. 40, "And Jesus stood..."  Jesus just stopped.  He stopped
so as not to pass the blind man by.  When He stopped, He stopped
the whole procession.  He stopped and it must have seemed the
cries of the blind man were louder than ever.  "Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me!"
    (V. 40), "...and commanded him to be brought unto him..."
Jesus told somebody nearby, "Bring him to me."  But they did not
have to bring him.  Mark says that the blind man just threw off
his robe so that he would not get tangled up in it and he walked
toward the sound of Jesus's voice.  He couldn't see where he was
going, but he stumbled in that direction.
    (V. 40), "...and when he was come near, he asked him."  That
is, Jesus asked him a question.  V. 41, "Saying, What wilt thou
that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive
my sight."  I do not know how long this man had been blind.  I am
sure that ever since he had heard of Jesus restoring sight to the
blind, he had longed for an opportunity to be healed.  I can
almost hear the tremble in his voice as he says, "Lord....that I
might receive my sight."
    V. 42, "And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith
hath saved thee."  Matthew says that Jesus also reached out and
touched his eyes.  V. 43, "And immediately he received his
sight..."
    Here was a man who was in great need.  Here was a man who
could not help himself.  Here is a man whose only hope was the
mercy of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Here is a man who had
the faith to believe that Jesus is the Christ of God.  Here is a
man who had the faith to believe that Jesus could heal him.  Here
is a man who would not let this grand opportunity pass him by.
Here is a man who called on the Lord for mercy.  And here is a man
who received the mercy of the Lord.
    Jesus said, "...thy faith hath saved thee."  To most of those
who heard those words they must have thought that Jesus was
talking strictly about being saved from his physical blindness.
And Jesus did save him from his physical blindness, but in view of
the fact that the man called Him the son of David, the Christ, I
think that Jesus must have also saved him from his sin.  I think
Jesus saved him from the very fires of hell.

IV.  Following Jesus and glorifying God

    (V. 43), "...and followed him, glorifying God..."  Remember
that Jesus and the great crowd of people had been walking along
until Jesus had stopped and commanded that the blind man be
brought to Him.  Now that the man is healed, Jesus again moves
forward and the great crowd does also.  But right close behind
Jesus was that man who had been blind.  He follows Jesus.  He
follows just as close as he can.  And every step of the way he
praises God for what had been done for him.  The people thought
they had a hard time trying to get him to shut up before he was
healed.  It would have been even harder to shut him up now that he
is healed.  I can almost hear him saying, "Thank you, God for
giving me my sight.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you for giving me my
sight.  Hey, you!  Listen to me.  I can see you.  I can see you
now.  Jesus has healed my eyes and made me to see!  I believe He
is the Christ!  Don't you?  Don't you believe He is the Christ.  I
do; don't you?"  And on and on he would go.
    (V. 43), "...and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise
unto God."   All the people of the crowd joined in and glorified
God.  They glorified God that God had sent Jesus and that Jesus
had healed the eyes of this man.  They expressed their amazement
and their joy.  So it is today when one who is lost in sin gets
saved.  Not only does that person praise God, but all who are
aware that the salvation of a lost soul has taken place glorify
God.

Conclusion:

    I think I am safe in saying that we have no physically blind
person here this morning.  At least, we have none who are
physically blind.  But we may have somebody here who is in far
worse condition than being physically blind.  We may have somebody
here who is lost in sin and headed for the everlasting fires of
hell.  I am here to tell you that you can do nothing to keep
yourself out of those fires.  Turning over a new leaf and stopping
your bad habits won't keep you out of hell.  Doing good deeds
won't keep you out of hell.  You have only one hope of staying out
of hell.  That hope is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  You need to
do as that man did.  You need to call on Jesus for mercy.  You
need to trust in Him to save your soul.  Please do not let
anything stand in your way.  Call on Jesus right now.  That man
cried out loud.  You do can call on Him silently and Jesus will
hear you.  He will hear you and save you when you call on Him and
trust in Him to take care of your eternal destiny.
    Won't you come this morning and trust Jesus to save your soul?
Come now.  Come not only to trust Jesus and be saved, but come and
be a follower of Jesus.  Won't you come forward to be a follower
of Jesus Christ?  Won't you come and praise Him for His goodness
to you?  Won't you come forward to give your life to Him in
service?  If you are already saved and hold membership in a
Scriptural church somewhere else and you feel that the Lord would
have you here then we invite you come and present yourself for
membership in this church.