“See What I Mean?”

 Luke 18:31-43 

Jesus tells his Twelve hand-selected disciples they were going up to Jerusalem, and everything written by the prophets about the ‘Son of Man’ would be fulfilled. He tells them that the ‘Son of Man’ would be handed over to the Gentiles who would mock, insult, spit on, beat and kill him. Moreover, on the third day he would rise again. Yet, the Twelve did not understand any of what Jesus was saying. The meaning of the ‘Son of Man’ being turned over to Gentiles to be killed was hidden from them. That Jesus would rise on the third day would have made no sense to them since in their thinking the Messiah would defeat the Romans, not be killed by them. Moreover, the resurrection was understood to be on the ‘last day’ and not in the middle of history (John 11:24). We are told the Twelve didn’t understand, it was hidden from them and so they didn’t know what he was talking about (Luke 18:31-34). Ironically, Jesus had told them about his suffering and death twice before, but they still didn’t grasp it! (9:22, 43-45) Remember that Israel had been turned over to their Gentile oppressors (Assyria, Babylon) because of their sin and idolatry. Now Jesus would be handed over to Gentiles to bear God’s wrath, but not for his own sins, but as a substitute for the sins of his people.

Then Luke tells us how Jesus drew near to Jericho. Jericho is where another Jesus, Jesus is Greek for Joshua (Jesus = Joshua), began to take possession of their ‘Promised Land’.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to bring about a ‘New Exodus’ (Luke 9:31). His enthronement on a Roman cross would be followed by his bodily resurrection which would bring about the beginning of the ‘New Creation’.  So as Jesus approaches Jericho he encounters a blind man begging by the side of the road. The blind man hears the crowd and when he asks about it, he is told that “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” The blind man cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those there rebuke him and tell him to be silent. Their rebuke of the blind man is not unlike the disciples rebuking those who were previously bringing their babies to Jesus (Luke 18:15). Despite the opposition, the blind man cries out again, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Ironically, this blind man sees very clearly that Jesus is the Davidic Messianic King that God had promised David (2 Samuel 7:14). Jesus stops and commands that the blind man be brought to him. When the blind man came near Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man wants to recover his sight so Jesus tells him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” The blind man, known as Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46, sees Jesus very clearly as the coming Davidic king and has faith enough to ask Jesus to restore his sight. Surely he is contrasted with the Twelve disciples who could not see or comprehend the death and resurrection of Jesus even though Jesus had told them twice before. They were essentially blind to what the prophets have foretold about the ‘Son of Man (See Daniel 7:13-14).

Immediately the man received his sight, followed Jesus and glorified and praised God. The man’s confession shows that Jesus is the ‘Son of David’ and also Daniel’s ‘Son of Man’ (2 Sam 7:12-14, Daniel 7:13-14).  Clearly the disciple’s preconceptions about the Messiah had blinded them to God’s plan for the ‘King of Israel’. By contrast, ‘Blind Bartimaeus’ saw clearly by faith and praised God having experienced the ‘mercy of God’. Just as previously the ‘humble and contrite’ tax-collector who had cried out in the temple received mercy (Luke 18:9-14), now the once ‘blind man’ is apparently healed spiritually. The blind man’s spiritual sight or faith had made him well. The man’s response to the miracles working of Jesus becomes the source of spontaneous praise and all the people also praised God! (Luke 18:35-43).