The Blind can See
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2014 · 10 August 2014
Matthew 20:29-34, “Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. 30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” 31 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” 32 So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” 34 So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.”
A very simple story, easy to understand and not even unusual in the life of Christ for stories like this happened thousands of times. So much so perhaps that as John said, all the books of all the world couldn't even contain them. Why this story? Why is it here? As Jesus goes to Jerusalem to die, why stop in the progress of such a great event as the Passover where He is to be the lamb, slain from our sin. Why include a story of two blind men?
Well, one overpowering reason is indicated by the word "compassion" in verse 34. Jesus had great compassion. While the world wanted to silence these kind of people, Jesus wanted to hear what they had to say. While the world wanted to make sure they didn't get in the way, Jesus wanted to be sure He stood with them. While the world did not want them to articulate their needs, Jesus wanted to meet their need.
Jesus could have been preoccupied with His disciples, which were to carry on the legacy after His death. He could have been distracted by the thought of dying itself and becoming the sacrificial lamb. He really didn't have time to stop and take care of a couple of blind men of which there were many. And yet He has time. And Jesus Christ is not too busy redeeming the entire world to give sight to two blind men who have nothing to offer Him but their problem.
But that may be a more profound lesson than we have thought. Blindness, in fact, is a matter of record in the Bible. It is quite common, physical blindness and spiritual blindness. Physical blindness occurred quite frequently in the ancient world. Poverty, lack of medical care, unsanitary conditions, brilliant sunlight, blowing sand, certain kinds of accidents, war, fighting, all of these things could cause physical blindness.
But even more common than physical blindness was spiritual blindness. And metaphorically the gospels and the epistles speak more often of the blindness of the heart. In fact, it's summed up in the words of John 1: 9-11 which says, "That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own and His own received Him not.”
Or in the John 3:19 where it says, “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Or Romans 11:25 which says, “Blindness in part has happened to Israel.” Or 2 Corinthians 3:14 which says, "But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted.” Or Jesus' words in Matthew 23:16, "Woe to you blind guides, you blind Pharisee," Jesus said, you are blind to God. You are able to see physically, but you are spiritually blind to God.
Now the case of these men is interesting because while they are physically blind, they appear to have unusually clear spiritual sight. Physically they see nothing, however spiritually they see very well. And they will see even better when the Lord Jesus is finished with them, because they will also see physically. Why are people spiritually blind? They're blinded by sin. Matthew 6:23 says, “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded.” So Satan has double blinded them. And then God may add a triple blindness when He sovereignly makes the eye blind, as Isaiah 6 indicates, in a judicial punishment of unbelievers. So we see then that many people are blinded by sin and doubly blinded by Satan and triply blinded by God. And it is into the darkness of man's spiritual blindness that Jesus comes.
Do you remember when He announced His arrival in Luke 4:18, He said He had come to give sight to the blind? And He was not primarily speaking of physical blindness, instead He was primarily speaking of spiritual blindness. He said in John 8:12, "I am the light that lights the world, whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness." He came to give spiritual light to blind eyes.
And sometimes He gave physical sight to blind eyes. He did that for three reasons. First of all, He was demonstrating that He was the Messiah. Secondly, it was part of millennial preview. He was showing them what it was going to be like in His Kingdom when all of that kind of thing was turned over and there was glorious wholeness and healing in the Kingdom. And thirdly, it was a matter of symbol or picture.
Every time He healed someone of physical blindness, He was in effect saying that's only a symbol of what I want to do to the soul. Every time He unstopped the ears so that someone could hear sound, He was in effect saying and that is exactly what I want to do to the heart so you can hear and understand the Word of God. And every time He raised someone from the dead physically, He was saying I am able to give life to the soul as I am able to give life to the body.
And that is why Jesus found it no more difficult to forgive sins than to heal someone. And when posed with that question, that's what He said, "What's the difference? I am showing you by My absolute control over the physical world and the natural laws that I also have control over the spiritual world and the supernatural laws.
And so, in the case of these two blind men, you have Messianic proof. And you have a heavenly preview. And you are given a marvelous picture of what He is able to do to the heart. And then you have the reality, after this incident these two blind men can see and are saved, redeemed souls. They see physically and they see spiritually. And they demonstrate to us that no matter how involved our Lord is, His heart of compassion always reaches out to those who cry for His help.
Now let's look at the scene in verse 29. It's a very simple story and a simple scene. "As they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him." Jesus had finished His ministry in Galilee. He also finished His ministry in Peraea, the area east of the Jordan, of a few weeks there and now He is on His way to Jerusalem. So He has to cross the Jordan River again to the west.
And so by now Jesus is ready to leave. He spent the night and now He is going to Jerusalem. He must move to the Passover. And so we pick it up in verse 30, "And behold two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by cried out saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David." Now, it says in verse 29, "As they departed from Jericho" this happened. Mark says, in the comparative passage, "As they were leaving Jericho." But Luke 18:35 says, "As He came near Jericho."
Isn't this a biblical error? Two have Him leaving, one has Him coming." John McArthur believes that as Jesus is moving with this crowd and they come to the gate, then all of a sudden the cries of these blind men are heard at which point He returns to the city to confront them. Note that each gospel writer is not comparing what the others says, they are not copying the same extraneous source. They are writing from their own heart under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And it still makes sense.
Now, verse 30 says, "And behold," and that is a term of exclamation that is not here because of these blind men, like that was some big deal. The reason they put a "behold" in there is because of what they said, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David." They call Him by His Messianic title. Two beggars, Mark says, who were begging, Luke says, sitting by the wayside, Matthew says, screaming out the Messianic title. Where did they get their information and faith?
Now, at this point we find another fact. Luke only discusses one of the two blind men, the more prominent one, but never says there was only one. Now Mark goes a step further, he gives us the name of one of them in Mark 10:46. His name is Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. Matthew just wants us to see the majesty of Christ. Luke emphasizes the same, but Mark names this man’s name. Maybe he was well-known. So that when Mark’s letter is read, it's as if Mark is saying, "And you know who one of those guys was? It was your friend Bartimaeus.”
Verse 30 says, "When they heard Jesus pass by, they cried out saying, Have mercy on us." And then in verse 31 at the end, "They cried again saying the more, Have mercy on us." The word "cry" here means to scream. It's used in the New Testament of the screaming of demon possessed people in Mark 5. It's used of the loud anguish cry of a mother giving birth to a child. And the desperation is powerful and dramatic. And they screamed, "Have mercy on us."
They did not say, "God, we have been treated unfairly, why don't You make it right." They recognized that they needed mercy. "Take pity on us. Look at our sad situation." There's a sense of true humility in that. They wail with an intense desire to be healed, but they make no demands and they make no claim to being worthy. And they are so persistent. Verse 31, "The multitude rebuked them that they should hold their peace and they screamed louder." The world always tries to keep people from getting to Jesus, don't they?
It isn't really different now. People get disgusted with beggars and if you've ever been in a part of the world where there are a lot of them, you really do kind of slough them off and they do get in the way. But their hearts were right. "Have mercy on us, take pity." They felt their deep need. They knew they deserved nothing. They were quite different from the Pharisees who sought no mercy because they believed on the basis of merit, they possessed a right to everything. And they were persistent.
There's a third thing here is that their perception was correct. As blind as they were physically, they were able to see spiritually because they shouted, "O Lord, Son of David," that's the Messianic title. For it says in Matthew 1:1, “In the beginning of the genealogies of Jesus that He is the Son of David, Son of Abraham.” That is the most common Jewish term for the coming king. They believed that He was the Messiah. There wasn't any doubt in their mind that this was their only chance.
And He indeed was the Son of David. And when the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in Luke 1:32, we read, "He shall be great and be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father, David, and He shall reign and the end of His Kingdom shall never come." It's the same thing they called Him in Matthew 21: 9 when He came into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, "Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest."
When you have come to the point of all the faith that is possible, the Lord will meet you at that point of faith and take you all the way to redemption. And that is what He does with these two blind men. And so, we see their sad plight, their heartfelt plea, their strong persistence and their sound perception. Verse 32, "And Jesus stood still and called them and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?" He stood still, He stopped the whole procession.
Here was a great moment in which He did three things, gave Messianic proof again, gave a heavenly preview, and a marvelous picture of what He would do for the heart. It was a time to demonstrate His credentials all over again, but it was more than that, it was a moment of tender compassion on behalf of two needy people. And He called them. How did He call them?
Well, in Mark's account it seems as though He called them with a messenger. Someone ran back to these guys who were over there by the gate. And he ran back and in Mark 10:49 it says, "Be of good comfort, rise, He calls you." And in Mark 10:50 it says, "The blind rose up and threw off his garment and went to Jesus." Maybe he figured he would come back and be able to see enough to find it again.
This is to evoke out of their hearts a greater expectation, this is to confirm in the crowd exactly what He was doing. And the response is a simple plea of verse 33, "They said to Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened." You see, they are confessing they are blind and that needs to be made very clear. And that leads to their supernatural privilege, verse 34, "And Jesus had compassion on them, He touched their eyes, immediately their eyes received sight."
Now it says that Jesus had compassion. And that's the real message, He felt their need. He felt their pain. He hurt for them. There is such a tenderness in Him. He reached out and He touched their eyes. And doctor Luke adds in Luke 18:42, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And instantly all physical laws were set aside and just as God creates something out of nothing, Christ created seeing eyes.
Oh, Jesus used many methods. Sometimes He touched, sometimes He didn't. Sometimes they touched Him. Sometimes He spoke, sometimes He merely thought a thought and they were healed. Sometimes He put fingers in ears, sometimes He used clay, and sometimes He used spit. He healed in many, many different ways. But always His healings were total, complete and instantaneous which defied any natural explanation.
Now this takes us to a final point. They had a sad plight, strong persistence, sound perception, a simple plea, supernatural privilege and a submissive pursuit. The end of verse 34 says, "They followed Him." That's just a little statement but it is a beautiful statement. In Mark 10, "Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you." Well, which way did they go? Their way was His way from that point on.
You do not have to have faith in the New Testament record to be healed. There were plenty of people healed in the New Testament who didn't have faith, but you'll never find salvation without faith. When Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you," that's exactly what He meant. They were truly saved.
There is another reason that these guys really had a transformed life. It says they followed Him. Somebody might say, "Oh yeah, but they were just following Him to Jerusalem." But it says in Luke 18:43, "They followed, glorifying God. And the multitude started chanting praises to God.” I hope that you have been touched by the compassion of Jesus. And if you have cried out for Him, He will make you see spiritually. Let's pray.