And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
A blind beggar sits at the roadside outside Jericho, hears a crowd, and asks what is happening. The answer names Him only as Jesus of Nazareth. The beggar calls back with a royal title nobody else in that crowd was using.
The man who knew he was blind
The crowd could see, and saw only a man from Nazareth. Commentators point to the nation as the one that was truly blind.
Hamilton SmithThe Messiah was present with grace and power to bless, but the nation, as such, was blind both to the glory of His Person, and to its own deep need. All they could see in Jesus was a despised Nazarene.
That blindness is not only an old problem. One writer holds up this beggar with nothing to pay as an honest portrait of us all.
W. W. FeredayA blind beggar! Yet such a pitiful sight is a true picture of what every man is by nature, if only people 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 world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers," is the Apostle's sad description (2 Cor. 4:4). ... Bartimaeus was needy, and he knew it.
The name the crowd gave Him
The bystanders hand him a label, not a confession. "Nazareth" carried no dignity.
J. N. DarbyThe crowd, when Bartimaeus asked what the noise was, said to him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. To the Jews that name said nothing; Nazareth was a name people linked with shame. But there was faith in the blind man's heart, and it matched the place Jesus had taken among His people: the man says, "Son of David." He sees that Jesus of Nazareth had a right to that title.
The title he chose instead
"Son of David" was not a guess. Scripture had already written down what that promised One would do.
Hamilton SmithThe people may speak of Jesus as a Nazarene, but faith can discern in that lowly Man the Son of David, the One of whom it is written that He would "open the blind eyes" (Is. 42:7). So the blind man can cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
He had a right to make that claim. He made it at the last possible moment.
W. W. FeredayHe was born of the stock of Israel, so he had every right to look for a king of David's line. That king would open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. He would make the lame leap like a deer, and teach those who could not speak to sing (Isa. 35:5-6). Bystanders sought to silence him, but to no purpose. ... Had he missed this opportunity, he would never have had another, for the Lord never visited Jericho again.
Where this title sits in Mark's account
Mark almost never uses this title for Jesus. That makes its place here stand out.
William KellyThis title fits the moment here all the more, because this is the first time it appears in Mark, and you could say the only time — though Matthew uses it often, from his opening chapter to the chapter that matches this one. ... This, and Mark 11:9-10 as well, may show how truly God guided Bartimaeus.
A cry for mercy, not a claim
He used the highest title he knew, and then asked for the one thing nobody can earn.
Leslie M. GrantHe recognized in Christ the glory of the true King of Israel, and he asked for nothing on the ground of his deserving it, but pled only for mercy. Such a cry is always enough to make the Lord stand still.
What mercy actually gave him
He asked for sight. He got that, and something he had not thought to ask for.
F. B. HoleMercy was what the blind man longed for, though the people, who did not understand mercy of a divine kind, would have silenced him. But he did get mercy, and it went beyond what he had in mind. It not only gave him sight, it made him a follower of the One who showed him that mercy. ... His may have been only a little faith, for he did not rise to the height of calling Him Son of God. Yet little faith receives a full answer just as great faith does.
And no condition was attached. He was told to go, and free men choose.
F. B. HoleThen, Bartimaeus, no terms are imposed upon you; go north, south, east, or west, as you desire. You are free! Which way did he go? "And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way." Moved by grace he entered the path of discipleship.
Summary
- Need — Bartimaeus knew he was blind and had nothing to pay. The crowd could see, and understood nothing.
- Name — the crowd gave him a name of shame, "Jesus of Nazareth." Faith heard past it and answered, "Son of David."
- Ground — the title rested on written promise. David's King would open blind eyes, so the plea stood on God's word, not on merit.
- Mercy — he claimed no merit and asked only for mercy, and a cry like that stops the Lord where He stands.
- More — the answer overflowed what he asked: sight, and then a place as a follower on the road.