Standing
still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
Luke 18:40-43
Luke 18 [34.] They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said. As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging. Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
Luke 18 [40.] Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do?”
He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
Luke 18 [42.] Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
Luke 18 [43.] Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
Luke 19 [1.] He entered and was passing through Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
Meaning:
As Jesus came near Jericho a blind beggar sitting by the road heard the crowd and learned that “Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.” He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” and when people told him to be quiet, he cried out all the more (Luke 18:35-39). These verses tell how Jesus answered him. Mark names the man as Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46), and Matthew mentions two blind men (Matthew 20:29-34). Just before this, Luke told us that the twelve could not understand what Jesus said about his suffering (Luke 18:34). The disciples who could see were spiritually blind; the blind man saw who Jesus was.
- “Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him”
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and to the cross, surrounded by a large crowd. Yet a single cry for mercy made him stop. The crowd had tried to silence the beggar, but Jesus called for him to be brought near. Mark records that the man threw away his cloak, sprang up and came to Jesus (Mark 10:50).
- “What do you want me to do?”
Jesus surely knew what the blind man needed, but he invited him to ask. The question honours the man as a person and draws out his faith. Only a little earlier, in Mark’s account, James and John had been asked a similar question and had wanted places of honour; the blind man asks only for mercy (Mark 10:51). The beggar’s answer is simple: “Lord, that I may see again.” He calls Jesus “Lord,” and his request shows that he believed Jesus could do what no one else could.
- “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
Jesus heals with a word. Luke uses the same phrase that Jesus spoke to the Samaritan leper (Luke 17:19) and to the sinful woman, “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50). The Greek word can mean both “healed” and “saved,” and here both are true. In his first sermon in Nazareth Jesus had announced that he was sent to proclaim “recovering of sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18), and he told the messengers of John the Baptist, “the blind receive their sight” (Luke 7:22). Isaiah had foretold that in the day of God’s salvation “the eyes of the blind will be opened” (Isaiah 35:5).
- “Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God”
The healing was instant and complete. The man who had sat by the road begging now followed Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. His first response was praise, and the crowd joined in: “All the people, when they saw it, praised God.” Luke often ends miracle stories with people glorifying God, as when the paralysed man was healed (Luke 5:25-26).
The Significance of Luke 18:40-43
- Persistent prayer is heard
The beggar would not be silenced, and Jesus stopped for him. This echoes the parable at the start of the chapter, which teaches that we “must always pray, and not give up” (Luke 18:1).
- Seeing and following
True sight leads to discipleship. The healed man did not simply go home with his new eyes; he followed Jesus and gave glory to God. Faith that has received mercy shows itself in following and in praise.
Cross-References:
Mark 10:52: "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." Mark’s account of the same healing.
Luke 4:18: "to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind" The mission Jesus announced at Nazareth.
Isaiah 35:5: "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped." The prophecy of the age of salvation.
Conclusion: Jesus stopped on his way to the cross for a blind beggar who cried for mercy. He asked what he wanted, healed him with a word and said his faith had healed him. The man immediately received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God, and all the people praised God with him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible