And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
A blind beggar outside Jericho hears that Jesus is passing, and the crowd tries to shut him up. He shouts louder, using a royal title nobody else there was using.
The crowd that tried to silence him
Their reaction is easier to understand than it looks. One writer names what the crowd lacked, and what will change their minds.
J. N. DarbyWe must look for rebukes when faith is at work. It seems to them troublesome and unreasonable — and why? They do not share the same spiritual urgency, but he had true faith. "He cried out all the more." And the Lord will stop, though people would not. Their minds will change then, when they see that the Lord pays attention to the cry.
Another writer notices the timing. Jesus does not answer the first shout, and hearing was not the problem.
Leslie M. GrantHis loud crying out irritated many, and they demanded that he be silent. But people's opinions did not turn him aside: he cried out all the more for mercy from the Son of David. The Lord Jesus had certainly heard him at his first cry. Yet He waited to have him called, until the man had proved the persistence of his faith.
"Son of David" — a title the crowd never used
The crowd had told him it was Jesus of Nazareth. He answered with a different name altogether, and the contrast is the point.
Hamilton SmithIn contrast to the crowd, Bartimaeus was conscious of his need, and of his own helplessness to meet it. As always, it is the needy soul that is drawn to Jesus, and that discerns His glory. The people may speak of Jesus as a Nazarene. But faith can see in that lowly Man the Son of David. He is the One of whom it is written that He would "open the blind eyes" (Isa. 42:7).
That confession was rare. One writer lists everyone who greeted Jesus this way during His lifetime.
C E StuartSon of David! Very few greeted the Lord this way while He was here in His humiliation. The blind men in Galilee (Matt. 9:27), Bartimaeus and his companion (Matt. 20:30-31) here at Jericho, the Syrophoenician mother (Matt. 15:22), and the children in the temple (Matt. 21:15) are the only examples given to us. Only blind men, who could not see Him, a woman who was not of Israel's descent, and children greeted Him as the Son of David. Learned scribes might claim to have a difficulty here. The people just mentioned had none. He was — and they owned it — the Son of David.
Why the claim was right — and urgent
Jesus never corrects him. One writer shows why a blind Israelite could rightly ask mercy of David's heir — and why the moment could not wait.
W. W. FeredayBartimaeus cried out loudly: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." He received no rebuff from the Saviour for addressing Him by this title... As one born of the stock of Israel, he had every right to look for a king of David's line. That king would open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, make the lame leap like a deer, and teach the tongue of the mute to sing (Isa. 35:5-6)... Had he missed this opportunity, he would never have had another, for the Lord never visited Jericho again.
What he asked for, and what he got
He asked for mercy. That one word set him apart from the people around him.
F. B. HoleMercy was what the blind man craved, though the people, who did not understand mercy of a divine kind, would have silenced him. Mercy, however, he got. It went beyond his thoughts, for it not only gave him sight but enlisted him as a follower of the One who showed the mercy. Bartimaeus showed his faith by addressing Jesus as the Son of David, though others spoke of Him only as Jesus of Nazareth. His may have been only little faith, for he did not rise to the height of calling Him Son of God. Yet little faith receives an abundant answer as surely as great faith does.
A cry that a crowd cannot drown
The scene is loud, and the man calling out is only a beggar by the road.
C E StuartOne knows what a noise a passing crowd makes. The tramp of feet and the talking could easily drown out the voice of a wayside beggar. But the Lord heard it. No noise, however great or distracting, keeps a petition for mercy from reaching His ear. "He stood still." All progress was stopped.
Summary
- Need cries. The man who felt his own helplessness was the one who called out; the crowd around him felt no such need.
- Need is rebuked. Opposition to a cry of faith is normal; the crowd found his shouting troublesome and unreasonable.
- Need persists. Jesus heard the first cry, yet He waited. The shouting only grew louder.
- Need is heard. No crowd noise can drown a plea for mercy; the Lord stood still, and the whole procession stopped with Him.
- Need is answered beyond itself. He asked for mercy and received sight — and became a follower of the One who gave it.