Lange Commentary - Luke 18:31

Lange Commentary - Luke 18:31 - 18:43

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Lange Commentary - Luke 18:31 - 18:43

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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

3. Jesus and the Blind Man (Luk_18:31-43)

(Parallel to Mat_20:17-19; Mat_20:29-34; Mar_10:32-34; Mar_10:46-52.)

³¹Then [And] he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning [lit., for, ôῷ õἱῷ . ê . ô . ë .] the Son of man shall be accomplished. ³²For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated [outrageously handled], and spittedon: ³³And they shall scourge him, and put him to death; and the third day he shall riseagain. ³⁴And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew [comprehended] they the things which were spoken.

³⁵And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind mansat by the way side begging: ³⁶And hearing the multitude pass by [a multitude passingby], he asked what it meant. ³⁷And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. ³⁸And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ³⁹And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so muchthe more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁰And Jesus stood, and commanded⁴¹him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord [or, Sir], that I mayreceive my sight. ⁴²And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath savedthee [or, caused thy recovery]. ⁴³And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_18:31. And He took.—Comp. Lange on the parallels in Matthew and Mark. The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, which in Mat_20:1-16 precedes the repeated announcement of the Passion, and the request of the sons of Zebedee which follows it, and which is given by Matthew as well as Mark, Luke passes over. According to the Synoptics, the journey to the Passover is now continued steadily in the direction of Jericho. That, however, the Twelve were not the Saviour’s only companions in travel appears from the fact that He calls them to Himself, êáô ̓ ἰäßáí , Mat_20:17-19, in order to impart to them a weighty utterance. Perhaps the women, Luk_8:2-3, were also with him, and Salome comes forth from their circle with her petition. The visible distinction between the temper of our Lord and that of the disciples is brought into view by Mark in particular, Luk_10:32, with much graphic force. It is as if the feeling of Thomas, which he so strongly uttered, Joh_11:16, had now possessed itself of all the disciples. Perhaps Jesus considers just this discouraged state of theirs best fitted for the communication to them for the third time of a prophecy which He had already delivered twice to almost deaf ears. The greater the vividness which had been given by the just-reported conversation to the prospect of hundredfold reward, the more necessary does it appear to our Lord to obviate the earthly-minded expectation with which they follow Him, even on the fatal way; and of set purpose He severs them from the circle of the others, in order, by the very mystery in the manner of His communication, to prepare them the better for the weightiness of its matter.

ÔåëåóèÞóåôáé , ê . ô . ë .—The reference to the prophetic declarations on this occasion is peculiar to Luke. The Saviour speaks with emphasis of ðÜíôá ôὰ ãåãñ ., comp. Luk_22:37. The Messianic prophecies of suffering stand before His eyes as a great whole put in writing ôῷ õἱῷ ô . ἀíèñ . for the Son of Man, a dativus commodi by which the proper destination of the word of Scripture, that of being realized in Him, is intimated; an indirect proof that for every detail of the picture of His Passion which is now sketched, Luk_18:32-33, there must also be at least an intimation to be found in the prophetic record.

Luk_18:32. Delivered unto the Gentiles.—Luke in his more summary report passes over the first delivery to the high-priests and scribes, and the condemnation to death by the Sanhedrim. On the other hand he, like Matthew and Mark, mentions the prediction of the mocking, scourging, and maltreatment of our Lord, and has, in common with Mark, the special mention of the spitting on Him. The more than usual agreement of the Synoptics in the communication of these details is a strong proof for the credibility of this prediction, which can be weakened in no manner by any dogmatic doubt (De Wette and others). According to the Synoptics, the Saviour on this occasion speaks of His resurrection on the third day expressly. The gradual climax êáß , êáß , êáß , disappears therefore at once in an overwhelming antithesis.

Luk_18:34. And they understood none of these things, &c.—“An emphatic diffuseness.” Meyer. It is, of course, understood that this ignorance of the apostles was no wanton, but was yet in a certain sense a self-caused, ignorance; and that it had not reference to the sound of the words, but to the thing itself. Comp. Luk_9:45. How little, moreover, they understood our Lord, appeared immediately from the petition of the sons of Zebedee. Strikingly does Luke bring into view the totality of the misunderstanding, ïὐäὲí óõíῆêáí , and its ground, ἦí ôὸ ῥῆìá êåêñõìì ., ê . ô . ë ., and the natural consequence, ïὐê ἐãßíùóêïí . Because their heart stubbornly repels the only intelligible sense of the words, their understanding seeks in vain for a more endurable sense which, perhaps, might be given to these words. They are spiritually as blind as the Bartimœus who now comes into view is in body.

Luk_18:35. As He was come nigh unto Jericho.—Respecting the locality of the City of Palms, and respecting the difference among the Synoptics in reference to the number of the blind men, and the question whether the miracle took place at the entrance or the leaving of the city, see Lange, ad loc. For the various attempts to remove this difficulty, and their advocates, see Meyer, De Wette, and others. If one believes that the accounts must à tout prix be brought into agreement with one another, then without doubt the conjecture of Lange that the Saviour went in and out at the same gate of the city, and that the miracle falls into two parts, seems to deserve the preference before the view that a second blind man associated himself with Bartimæus, and, at all events, deserves the preference above the unlucky harmonistic expedient which makes this miracle take place twice. We believe, however, that a spiritually free view of the Evangelical reports must frankly allow such little discrepancies, and, no doubt, institute attempts to reconcile them, but by no means force them. Comp. the admirable remark of Olshausen, Comm. 1. p. 28, and that of Chrysostom, Prœf. in Matt., in respect to the difference of the Evangelists in minor matters: áὐôὸ ìὲí ôïῦôï ìÝãéóôïí äåῖãìá ôῆò ἀëçèåßáò ἐóôßí ̇ åἰ ãὰñ ðÜíôá óõíåöþíçóáí ìåôὰ ἀêñéâåßáò , ïὐäåὶò ἂí ἐðßóôåõóåí ôῶí ἐ÷èñῶí , ὅôé ìὴ óõíåëèüíôåò ἀðὸ óõíèÞêçò ôéíὸò ἀíèñùðßíçò ἔãñáøáí , ἅðåñ ἔãñáøáí , ê . ô . ë . [This itself is the greatest evidence of truth, for if all things had accurately agreed, no one of our enemies would have believed that they had not come together by a human agreement and written what they have written, &c.] Taking all together, we account it probable: 1. That here only one blind man was healed, and that when Matthew uses the plural, he, as is more his way, is less intent on giving the number than the description of the healed; and, 2. that the miracle did not take place before (Luke) but after the entrance of Jesus into Jericho (Matthew and Mark). Two narrators, of whom the one is an apostolic eye-witness, stand here over against one another, and it is not probable that the perverse temper of the people, Luk_19:7, would so soon and publicly have found expression if only a few moments before enthusiasm had been so powerfully awakened by the healing of the blind man, as we read Luk_18:43. Far more probable is it that the Saviour performed this miracle on His departure from Jericho, with the design also of leaving behind there an abiding impression. Only on the platform of a mechanical theory of inspiration can offence be taken at this want of diplomatic exactness in the statement of Luke. Whoever, on the other hand, regards his gospel with impartial view, will hardly be able to deny that, especially in the last period of the public life of our Saviour and in the history of the Passion, the exact chronological arrangement of the events is not to be expected, particularly from Luke, and that he in this respect often remains behind Matthew and Mark. The investigation of the cause of this phenomenon does not belong here.

Luk_18:37. That Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.—The people name our Lord according to the customary style. The blind man, who greets Him as Son of David, however, shows even by this that his faith has reached a higher grade.

Luk_18:40. Commanded him to be brought unto Him.—Luke relates, it is true, that the Saviour gave this command, but not that the blind man, upon this command being given, was led by others to Him. His account does not, therefore, conflict with that of Mark, who mentions Bartimæus throwing away his garment and coming to Jesus. Apparently we have to conceive the matter thus: that the blind man left none of the standers-by time to carry out the exact command of our Lord. As little do the accounts of the manner of the healing contradict one another, for the circumstance that Matthew alone mentions that Jesus here also, as often before, touched his eyes, is by Mark as well as by Luke neither directly nor indirectly controverted.

Luk_18:41. What wilt thou.—“Interrogat Christus, non tam cœci privatim causa, quam totius populi. Scimus enim, ut mundus Dei beneficia sine sensu devoret, nisi stimulis excitetur. Ergo Christus voce sua turbam adstantem ad observandum miraculum erigit.” Calvin.

Luk_18:43. All the people.—This statement of the impression which the miracle produced upon the whole people has been preserved to us by Luke alone. It is as if he would cause us to hear at the gate of Jericho the prelude to the Hosannas which were soon to resound far more mightily at the gates of Jerusalem, comp. Luk_19:37. That the Saviour Himself no longer desires to check this triumphant praise, appears even from the fact that He no longer imposes on the blind man any silence about what had been done, nor yet requires that he, like the demoniac, Mar_5:19, shall go home, but willingly allows Bartimæus to swell the enthusiastic throng and go before it. As to the rest, the mention of the doxology, to which the miracles of the Saviour several times give occasion, is peculiar to Luke, comp. Luk_5:26; Luk_7:16; Luk_9:43; Luk_13:17, and is wholly in the Pauline spirit. Comp. Rom_11:33-36.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The Saviour’s third prediction to His disciples of His Passion is richer in details than the two former ones. We may conclude from this that His own consciousness of His approaching fate gained continually in clearness, and that even the so-called Contingentia of the future—e.g., the spitting on Him—stood before His soul already as present. This can the less surprise us if we consider that even these here-mentioned particulars were not foreign to the prophetic image of the Messiah and His Passion, see, e.g., Isa_50:6; Psa_22:8. Phenomena of this kind create difficulty for those who know no higher basis for the prophetic viewing of the future than human presentiment alone, and will explain all phenomena in this sphere exclusively from within outward, instead of from above downward. On the other hand, we have simply to remind the reader, “After all human mediation and substratum is provided for, still the proper innermost nature of prophecy remains an every-time-renewed discovery of hidden things through the omniscient Spirit, an anticipating of the future beyond the preformations and germs of the present; in short, a speaking of God, out of which in its turn the prophesying history can alone form and comprehend itself. We have, therefore, no right to forbid every prediction, and although it stands there to explain it away out of principle, merely for the reason that we do not know how to make way for it in our understanding of history, because it appears to stand forth to us as a soothsaying prediction.” Stier. If this principle holds good even of predictions of the Old Testament, in how much higher measure must it then hold good of Him who is conscious of Himself being the end of the law and the centre of all prophecy, and whose capacity certainly no one will in any case be able successfully to dispute of knowing all, even to the minute details, which He had to know, in order, as the Founder of the kingdom of God, to accomplish His mission on earth.

2. Attention cannot be too often directed to the closeness with which the Saviour’s consciousness of His Passion attaches itself to the prophetical Scripture. He, the Son of the House, sees in the law and the prophets the Magna Charta of the kingdom of God, to which He, not less than its least subject, is bound. As if He had foreseen that hereafter the days would come in which it should be denied, in the name of science, that Israel’s prophets have ever decisively pointed to a suffering and dying Messiah, He points us to their testimony as to the clear mirror of His suffering as well as of His glory. For him who will really penetrate deeply into the sanctuary of the history of the Passion, it is of the greatest importance that he do not let the key of the prophetic Scripture be taken from Him. Here also plainly appears the truth of the maxim: titubante scriptura, simul titubat fides.

3. In the inquiry, what gave the Saviour courage and energy to go forward with so unterrified a step towards the way of suffering, we undoubtedly must not overlook the truth that He continually beyond His Passion foresaw the Resurrection on the third day. For him who really believes in the Humanity of our Lord, even His lofty courage unto death is a proof that the prediction of the resurrection in the gospel was by no means a bare vaticinium post eventum. On the other hand, it is entirely natural that in the degree in which the Passion pressed more vehemently in upon Him, the heart-exalting prospect of the Resurrection was not, it is true, in any wise shaken, but yet temporarily in His consciousness thrown into the background.

4. The incapacity of the disciples to understand our Lord’s announcement of His suffering, is a new proof of the truth that in the Christian sphere true spiritual understanding comes to pass through the organ of the heart. If the soul turns itself from a clearly uttered truth, then is also the understanding incapable of recognizing its substance and importance. Here also the well-known saying of Pascal holds good, that one must know human things in order to love them, but, on the other hand, must love Divine things if he would rightly understand them. Comp. the beautiful essay of Vinet, L’Évangile compris par le cœur.—At the same time, however, this incapacity of the disciples is an unequivocal proof of the indispensable necessity, as well as of the salutary influence, of their enlightenment through the Holy Spirit, in consequence of which they afterwards learned to regard that same Passion as absolutely necessary and worthy of God, which at first was so offensive to them, and for that very reason so incomprehensible.

5. Every healing of the blind related to us in the gospel shows in a striking symbol how the Saviour opens the eye of the soul also for the heavenly light; but in particular may the history of Bartimæus, in its beautiful gradualness of development, be called a type of this spiritual benefit pregnant with instruction. First there makes its way to him merely the report of Jesus, awakening slumbering remembrances, longings, and presagings; then it becomes evident to the people following Jesus that he has a longing for higher benefit than the multitude which only outwardly encircles the Saviour. As commonly, so here also, they do not want the sufferer to enjoy anything from Jesus apart from them, and seek to suppress his tone of lamentation, as a discord in the jubilant acclaim of joy. But this very reaction excites his longing faith to higher courage, and soon the sufferer cannot any longer rest till every hindrance yet separating him from Jesus is overcome; faith triumphs, and the first thing that he now sees is Christ Himself, before whose face he stands, and in whose light he now beholds the whole creation surrounding him as in the glory of the resurrection, “the image of the truth that in spiritual enlightenment Christ is the first, loveliest, and best of everything that one learns to recognize, upon whom, moreover, the simple eye of the spirit with good reason remains through the whole of life directed.” In conclusion, the following of Jesus, the preceding others, the united praise of God, the whole order of salvation, as well on the side of God as on that of man, lies here in nuce visibly before us, that is, if our eyes are opened.

6. “O, what power has the prayer of believers! There prayed Joshua, and the sun in the heaven stood still that he might fully beat down the enemies Now Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, which in mi[illigibel words found] course was soon to descend, also stood here still.” Bogatzky.

7. The last miracle again—the last performed on a man which is made known to us from the public life of our Lord (Mat_21:14 contains only a general notice)—presents before our eyes the high end of His manifestation in a striking manner, comp. Isa_35:5; Psa_146:8; and the homage which is here brought to Him at Jericho’s gate is a prophecy of the universal homage of the redeemed which hereafter shall be brought to Him, especially in His exalted character as the Light of the world.

8. It is an element of the pædagogic wisdom of our Lord, that He, the more His public life hastens to its end, rather seeks than avoids the opportunity to do miracles, and unconditionally accepts the homage of the healed. This also was soon to serve His weakly believing disciples as a counterpoise against the óêÜíäáëïí crucis.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Jesus the Light of the world, as well for the spiritually (the Twelve) as for the corporeally blind (Bartimæus): 1. He creates the light for the eye (Luk_18:31-34); 2. He opens the eye to the light (Luk_18:35-42).—How the Saviour labors to make His servants friends and intimate companions, Joh_15:15.—Jesus contrasted with His disciples: 1. His clear knowledge in contrast with their ignorance; 2. His lofty courage in contrast with their faint-hearted fear; 3. His willing precedence on the way of humiliation in contrast with their constrained following [“He longs to be baptized with blood, He pants to reach the cross.” Cowper.].—The Passion of our Lord the fulfilment of a Divine prophecy.—The relation of suffering to glory.—The courage of Christ unto death, and the shrinking from suffering of so many Christians.—Sluggishness of heart the deepest ground of the not understanding so many a word of the Lord.—Jesus and Joshua before the gates of Jericho: 1. What both find; 2. what both bring.—Whoever feels that he is spiritually blind can do nothing better than to beg.—Where the eye of the soul is yet closed, there must the ear of the body become so much more keenly alive to the report which ever flies before our Lord where He comes with His salvation: 1. Into a land; 2. into a home; 3. into a heart.—Happy for him who does not keep from the blind the knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.—How differently the Lord appears to diverse eyes: 1. To the superficial multitude He is Jesus of Nazareth; 2. to the eagerly longing Bartimæus He is the Son of David; 3. to the believing disciples He is the Son of the living God.—The Kyrie Eleison of the soul, which precedes its Hosanna. [ êýñéå , ἐëÝçóïí ìÝ —Miserere mei Domine. In some of the German litanies, as well as in the Latin mass, this formula of supplication remains in the original Greek, being afterwards interpreted in the Latin or German.—C. C. S.]—On His way to death the Saviour permits Himself to be detained not a moment by the dissuasions of His friends, but gladly by the cry of a blind man’s distress.—“What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” One must earnestly wish to be made whole by Jesus.—What a faith is it, that really heals the spiritually blind?—In order to be able to follow Jesus one must see Him; in order to follow Him aright, one must praise God.—The good example of a sinner healed finds imitation on the part of others.—Blind Bartimæus a guide to a truly Christian celebration of the communion; his history shows us: 1. The right temper for the communion, a. steady sense of wretchedness, b. eager longing for deliverance, c. courageous coming to Jesus; 2. the highest comfort of the communion, that the Saviour, a. knows us, b. calls us, c. hears us; 3. the fruit of the communion most to be desired: a. that our eyes may see Him, b. our feet follow Him, c. our tongues praise Him.

Starke:—Quesnel:—We know not, like Jesus Christ, the time of our sacrifice and death, but we know well that we are ever coming nearer to the moment, and we therefore greatly need to think thereon and prepare ourselves therefor, 2Ti_4:6.—Jews and Gentiles have alike shamefully laid hands on Jesus, why then blame we each the other?—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—As God dealt with His child Jesus, so does He deal with all believers: suffering must precede, afterwards follows joy.—Bibl. Wirt.:—To judge with fleshly thoughts concerning the kingdom of Christ is not well.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—The blind man a poor man.—Hedinger:—Would God we were blind, then should we see.—The Lord is in time of distress nearer to us than we think.—Canstein:—Is there indeed anything pleasanter for a sinner to hear than when he learns that the Fount of Light, the Chief Physician, Jesus, is coming towards Him?—Whoever lets Jesus pass by and detains Him not with his prayer is left helpless.—Many times do we experience from those that go before and have a guise of piety, the greatest temptation and the most numerous hindrances in our Christian life.—Faith cannot hold its peace; whoever believes, he speaks—Canstein:—How often does a God-fearing soul dwell in a wretched body.—God leads one man not like another.—The friendliness of Jesus in converse with all manner of men, especially the poor and needy, calls us to imitation.—Osiander:—We will rejoice from our hearts when to our neighbors also salvation is brought from God.—J. Müller:—The history of the blind man at Jericho a mirror of the spiritual recovery of man. [John Newton’s “Mercy, O thou Son of David,” gives the very soul of this scene.—C. C. S.]—Lisco:—Pray, and it shall be given you.

On the Pericope.—Scheffer:—The last journey of the Redeemer to Jerusalem.—F. W. Krummacher:—The stages on the journey to the cross.—Fuchs:—The Saviour on His last sorrowful journey to Jerusalem: 1. Submissive as to His own suffering; 2. compassionate towards the sorrow of others.—Ahlfeld:—The true evangelical fast-keeping: 1. Concerning the fasting mood; 2. concerning the fasting prayers.—Couard:—How we may celebrate the approaching Passion-week to the blessing of our heart and life.—Stier:—The present blindness of many Christians to the right understanding of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ: 1. How it is with the blindness; 2. whereby it is healed; 3. what we then see and experience.—Braune:—The light that breaks forth from the Passion of Christ. In the Passion of Christ we learn to esteem aright: 1. The sin of the world; 2. the woe of the time.—Burkhardt:—How it comes that even to well-disposed innocent souls the word of the cross is yet hidden for a while.—The happy blind beggar.—Bomhardt:—What the passing of Christ to His suffering says to us.—Staudt:—The prayer, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”: 1. Its necessity; 2. its power; 3. its nature.—Steinhauser:—What is it that we see when through Christ the eyes of our spirit are opened?

Van Oosterzee (from a missionary sermon):—“The sighing creation shows itself to our eyes like Bartimæus at Jericho’s gate. Not yet were his eyes unclosed, but already from afar the footsteps of the coming Saviour sound in his ears; already it is told him who approaches; already does he throw the mantle off that hinders him from making haste towards the Deliverer. Yet a little while and he has received his sight and follows the Lord, and heaven and earth sing praises at the sight to God and His Only-begotten.”

Footnotes:

Luk_18:41.— ËÝãùí (Origen: åἰðþí ) at the beginning of this verse is omitted by Tischendorf, [Meyer, Alford,] according to B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., X. It is at least doubtful.