Bartimaeus at Jericho

Sight given by Jesus. Sight restored. Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43; Matthew 20:29-34.

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What led up to it

Jesus is on His last journey to Jerusalem, a few days before His death, with a large crowd travelling with Him. Three Gospels tell this account. Mark names the man. Matthew speaks of two blind men. Luke places it as Jesus approaches Jericho, the others as He leaves.

What happens

A blind beggar sitting by the road hears the crowd and asks what is happening. Told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing, he shouts for mercy. People tell him to be quiet, and he shouts louder. Jesus stops and has him called. He throws off his cloak, jumps up, and comes. Jesus asks, "What do you want Me to do for you?" He answers, "Let me see again." He receives his sight and follows Jesus along the road.

Before and after

Just before Jericho, Mark records James and John asking Jesus for the seats of honour, and Jesus asking them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" A few verses later He asks a blind beggar the very same words. And Luke carries the story straight on into the town: Jesus stops a second time, for Zacchaeus the tax collector, who could not see Him over the crowd and climbed a sycamore fig (Luke 19:1-10). Two men in one town who could not see Him, for opposite reasons, and He stopped for both, a few days from the cross. Then He told a parable because He was near Jerusalem (Luke 19:11). He was still teaching with the city in sight.

In their shoes

Bartimaeus learns everything by ear. He hears a crowd, has to ask someone what it is, and has one chance to be heard before it passes. The people around him try to silence him, and then, once Jesus has noticed him, the same people tell him to take courage. He leaves his cloak behind, which for a beggar may be most of what he owns. Jesus does not assume what he wants. He asks. And the word "again" suggests a man who once could see and lost it.

The place and the time

What the old books and the archaeologists can add. Each paragraph names its source.

The Jericho Bartimaeus knew was the City of Palms, about six hours' walk from Jerusalem and the first stop for pilgrims going up to Passover. Springs and aqueducts watered a rich plain, and its streets held, in Edersheim's picture, pilgrims from Galilee and beyond the Jordan, priests, traders and the traffic of the caravan road from Arabia and Damascus. It was also the central station for collecting taxes, which is why Zacchaeus lived there.

Source: Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1883), Book IV, chapter XXIV.

Herod's successor Archelaus brought water to the plain and planted it with palms, so that, in Smith's words, "Jericho was once more a city of palms when our Lord visited it." Josephus calls it the most fruitful country in Judea, with its palms and its balsam trees, whose sap was gathered as it dripped "like tears." A blind man sitting by that road would have known it by its sounds and its smells.

Source: Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884 edition), entry "Jericho"; Josephus, The Wars of the Jews (Whiston translation), Book I, chapter 6.

Jericho lies in the Jordan Valley some 250 metres below sea level, the lowest city in the world, and in this period it held palaces and a winter resort for Jerusalem's wealthy. From it, the road to Jerusalem climbs about a thousand metres. Jesus and the crowd were about to begin that climb.

Source: Wikipedia, "Jericho," revision of 23 September 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Smith's says that in later times beggars had fixed places, at street corners, at the Temple gates or at the gates of houses, and cites this very verse. Those unable to work through bodily infirmity were usually cared for by their relatives, so a man begging by the road may have had no one.

Source: Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884 edition), entries "Bartimaeus" and "Beggar, Begging."

The three Gospels do not agree on whether this happened as Jesus entered Jericho or as He left, and Matthew has two men where Mark and Luke have one. Edersheim suggests Bartimaeus was the spokesman of two, and on the other difference he says plainly that it is better to admit the problem than to force a harmony. Bartimaeus is one of very few people healed in the Gospels whose name is recorded.

Source: Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1883), Book IV, chapter XXIV; Wikipedia, "Healing the blind near Jericho," revision of 16 August 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The passage

Mark 10:46-52

46 Next, they came to Jericho. And as Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho with a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road.

47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 Many people admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man. “Take courage!” they said. “Get up! He is calling for you.”

50 Throwing off his cloak, Bartimaeus jumped up and came to Jesus.

51 “What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “Rabboni,” said the blind man, “let me see again.”

52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Luke 18:35-43

35 As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.

36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.

37 “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.

38 So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

39 Those who led the way admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

40 Jesus stopped and directed that the man be brought to Him. When he had come near, Jesus asked him,

41 “What do you want Me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “let me see again.”

42 “Receive your sight!” Jesus replied. “Your faith has healed you.”

43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Matthew 20:29-34

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

30 And there were two blind men sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

31 The crowd admonished them to be silent, but they cried out all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want Me to do for you?” He asked.

33 “Lord,” they answered, “let our eyes be opened.”

34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and at once they received their sight and followed Him.