All about Seeing
TRANSLATION
(31) And taking the twelve aside, Jesus said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. (32) For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit on. (33) And they will flog and kill him. And the third day he will rise again.” (34) But they did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what he was talking about.
(35) And as he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. (36) When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. (37) They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. (38) And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (39) And those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he cried out even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (40) Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him. When he approached, Jesus asked him, (41) “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” (42) Then Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight. Your faith has healed you.” (43) And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. When the people saw it, they all gave praise to God.
OBSERVATIONS
Luke carefully structured this passage around the theme of blindness and sight, both physical and spiritual. The first indication of this was in Jesus’ use of “see” when he forewarned the twelve about his going to Jerusalem to fulfill prophecy by experiencing rejection, being shamefully treated, and then dying and rising from the dead (vs. 31). The disciples could not comprehend what Jesus was telling them because of spiritual blindness indicated by three phrases: “they did not understand any of this,” “its meaning was hidden,” and “they did not grasp” (vs. 34).
Ironically, as they were on their way to Jerusalem near Jericho, a blind beggar at the roadside accosted them. Twice he cried out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” While we may never know whether his use of this messianic title for Jesus was sincere or simply a ploy to get attention and elicit sympathy, Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. By asking “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus acknowledged that the beggar had correctly identified him and that he was prepared to respond to his plea. When the man said, “Let me recover my sight,” Jesus healed him with the declaration, “Recover your sight, your faith has made you well” (vss. 41 & 42).
Luke used the phrase, “recovered his sight,” a third time emphasizing that Jesus had worked an amazing miracle (vs. 43). In following him and glorifying God, the beggar demonstrated that Jesus had not only given him physical sight but had also opened the eyes of his heart to grasp Jesus’ true identity and the purpose for his coming. In closing the segment, Luke again used the same word, “the people when they saw it,” (vs. 43) as Jesus had in admonishing disciples to “see” (vs. 34).
OUTLINE
I. The disciples failed to see what Jesus was telling them about his upcoming death. (31-34)
II. Jesus restored the sight of the blind man near Jericho, both physically and spiritually. (35-43)
IDEA STATEMENT
We cannot see the truth until the one who restored sight to the blind opens the eyes of our hearts.
APPLICATION
The prayer of Psalm 119:18 should constantly be on our lips: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” Later in Psalm 119 the author added another principle: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Ps. 119:130). In essence, we cannot see clearly unless the Lord gives our hearts the capacity to grasp the insights we need to know.
This was true before we trusted Christ when we were blind to the truths of the Gospel. Paul wrote about this to the Corinthians: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). This remains true after we come to Christ as we struggle to understand the great truths of the faith. We are so often like the disciples, unable to comprehend what the Lord would have us see because we simply do not trust him to open the eyes of our hearts. Our prayer should be the one voiced by Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, both for ourselves and for others: “I keep on asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:17-19).