Luke 18:35-43 ESV
As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
Discussion Questions:
We have already seen Jesus perform miracles to prove that he is from God. And so, to have a similar miracle placed here, we know that it has to have an additional layer of meaning. But, from a casual reading it is not so obvious to see what that deeper meaning is.
This miracle of healing the blind man is found in the three synoptic Gospels. However, in each one of the accounts there are seeming inconsistencies and much has been written to show how these can be harmonized. But for our study, I would like us to try to focus exclusively on the account written in Luke, assuming that he only included the details needed to bring out what he saw as the lesson.
The general question before us today is: What is the deeper meaning that Luke is trying to bring to our attention?
In order to answer this we would like to explore the following aspects that Luke gives us:
- What is the significance that Jesus is first referred to as “Jesus of Nazareth”, the blind man calls him “Son of David” and then the blind man addresses him as “Lord” (Gr. kyrios)?
- What is the significance of the blind man making such a commotion that the crowd rebuked him which made him cry out all the more?
- What is the significance of Jesus asking him, “What do you want of me?”
- What is the significance of the Greek word “sozo” in verse 42 meaning “well” (ESV translation)?
Discussion Summary:
This short account is full of meaning on many levels. It taught the crowd about who Jesus really was and how he fulfilled prophecy. It taught the apostles what following Jesus really meant. It teaches all believers the elements of true faith: the mind, the heart and actions.
The crowd called Jesus, “Jesus of Nazareth.” They saw him only on the human level – at best, a prophet. The blind man called him “Son of David” because he saw him on a spiritual level. He recognized Jesus as the Messiah (Luke 1:69, Jeremiah 23:5). This man who could not see, “saw” more than the religious rulers at the time who could not understand how the Messiah was David’s son and David’s Lord (Matthew 22:41-45). This man also showed his loyalty and allegiance to Jesus by addressing him as “Lord.”
The apostles had just seen the rich, young ruler walk away because of his wealth (18:18-23). Now they were seeing a man who had nothing, not even his sight, doing everything in his power to follow Jesus. They saw his persistence in not letting the opportunity pass him by to regain his vision so that he could walk after him. Jesus saw beyond the man’s social status. He saw the man’s heart. The apostles had to learn this lesson.
All believers see in this story what true faith consists of. The blind beggar had the understanding of who Jesus was. His heart wanted to follow Jesus and so he asked for the impediment of his blindness to be removed. His words and actions showed that he was looking for more than “healing.” He wanted to be “made whole” in the deepest sense of the word “sozo.” He was looking to be delivered, to be saved. In God’s eyes all believers are blind beggars. We are all in filthy rags of our own righteousness. We all need the healing power of Jesus’ sacrifice so that we can follow our Lord Jesus.
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