And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
Jesus leaves Jericho in a crowd, and a blind beggar sits by the road. The scene raises three questions: why Jericho, why a beggar, and why the Gospels place the healing differently.
Jericho: Where Grace Meets a Cursed City
Jericho already had a long history in Israel's story. One commentator runs through it:
William Kelly"And they came to Jericho." This was the city that first opposed Israel's entrance into the promised land. It fell by the mighty power of God when His people submitted to His word through Joshua. This was the city that brought the predicted curse on the man and his sons who built it again. This was the city whose waters were healed, and whose land had its barrenness taken away by grace through the prophet. And this is the scene of a remarkable display of kind power, in answer to the faith that owned the promised Seed and King.
Another writer draws out what the visit says about the reason Jesus came at all:
Hamilton SmithThe Lord enters Jericho, the city of the curse. He does not come in judgment to carry out the curse, but in lowly grace that was about to bear the curse.
A Blind Beggar as a Picture of Us All
Mark notes two things about the man: he cannot see, and he begs. One writer holds that picture up as a mirror:
W. W. FeredayA blind beggar! Yet so pitiable a sight is a true picture of every man's condition by nature, if only men could see it! "Nothing to pay" — that is the Lord's account of us all, and what is that but beggary? "The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe," is the apostle's sad description (2 Cor. 4:4)... Bartimaeus was needy, and he knew it... The Saviour had never visited Jericho before, and He never passed that way again. A week later He lay dead in the tomb.
One writer widens the picture from the man to the whole nation:
Hamilton SmithPassing out of the city we hear of a blind man sitting by the roadside begging. May we not say that the physical condition of the blind man sets out the moral condition of the nation? The Messiah was present with grace and power to bless. But the nation as a whole was blind — blind to the glory of His Person, and blind to its own deep need. All they could see in Jesus was a despised Nazarene.
The Man With a Name
Mark gives the man a name, and the name is really a relationship. One commentator finds meaning in that:
F. W. GrantBartimaeus is simply the son of Timaeus, so that he gets his personal name from his relationship. Timaeus is Greek for "one who is prized." So "the son of one who is prized" would well represent the state of Israel in her blindness of unbelief, still "beloved for the sake of their forefathers" (Rom. 11:28).
Leaving Jericho or Approaching It?
Matthew and Mark say the healing happened as Jesus left the city. Luke's account reads as though it happened on the way in. Commentators differ on the solution. One points to what excavation uncovered:
F. B. HoleArchaeologists have been digging in the Jericho area. They have uncovered the foundations of two Jerichos: one the old original city, the other the Roman Jericho a short distance away. The blind man understood the begging business and planted himself between the two! Luke, writing for Gentiles, naturally has the Roman Jericho in mind. The other Gospel writers are naturally thinking of the original city.
Others solve it from the wording itself, and reject the idea of two separate healings:
William KellyIt is pointless to imagine separate occasions, one on entering and the other on leaving Jericho. For Matthew and Mark are explicit that the miracle was done on going out from the town. Luke's phrase is so undefined that it fits that statement. He does not say "as he drew near" or "when he came near" to Jericho, but while He was in the neighbourhood. This was as true when He went out as when He came in.
Why the Timing Matters
The timing of this miracle matters. A commentator ties it to what God was doing with Israel at that moment:
William KellyHere the call on the Son of David exactly suits the ways of God. Christ was presenting Himself to the people for the last time, about to complete His rejection — to their own utter ruin for the present. It is the starting point for His last Messianic offer to Jerusalem. There the blind who cried in faith were made to see, and those who said they saw were made blind for their unbelief and hostility.
Summary
- Place — Jericho was the cursed city; Jesus walks into it not to carry out the curse but on His way to bear it.
- Person — A blind beggar by the roadside is the honest portrait of every person: no sight, and nothing to pay.
- People — The nation had the Messiah in front of it and saw only a Nazarene; the man who could not see was the one who saw.
- Name — Mark alone records him as the son of Timaeus, a man named by his relationship, "beloved for the sake of their forefathers."
- Point — The King's last offer to Jerusalem opens here: with a cry of faith from a man who had nothing to pay.