Blind Men Of Jericho
BLIND MEN OF JERICHO
MATTHEW 20:29-34
How much do we make time for people, especially those in deep distress?
The last lap of the journey to Jerusalem was the road from Jericho, leading up the Wadi Qelt. On either side of the lower reaches of the wadi lay New Testament Jericho, a new foundation built by Herod the Great as his winter residence, in imitation of contemporary Roman town-planning and architecture. Its site (Tulul Abu el-Alayiq) was about a mile south of Old Testament Jericho (Tell es-Sultan).
The incident of 20:29-34 is Matthew’s counterpart to the narrative of the healing of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52; however, it features two blind men where Mark (cf. Luke 18:35-43) has only one. (For a similar Matthaean duplication cf. the two Gadarene demoniacs of 8:28ff. alongside the one of Mark 5:1ff. and Luke 8:26ff. But such duplication is not restricted to Matthew; compare the “two men” of Luke 24:4 with the “young man” of Mark 16:5 and the “angel” of Matthew 28:2.) A further point to consider here is the close resemblance between the present incident and the earlier one of 9:27-31; here, however, there is no stern warning not to broadcast the act of healing, for it was performed in full view of the “great crowd” of Galilean pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the Passover. As on the earlier occasion (cf. also 15:22), Jesus does not refuse to be called “Son of David,” though he is not recorded as laying claim to the title himself. One old Syriac manuscript makes the blind men say: “Lord, let our eyes be opened and let us see thee” (20:33). The incident illustrates the perseverance of the blind men in the face of discouragement, the compassion of Jesus, and the power of God which inhered in his word and touch. On receiving their sight, they not unnaturally joined the others who were following him up to Jerusalem.