User:Rbreen/Jesus healing the blind

Jesus healing the blind refers to a group of miracles attributed to Jesus in the Gospels.

Gospel of Mark (c. 66-70 CE)
The earliest of the Gospels, the Gospel of Mark, describes two miracles which involve the healing of blind people.

The blind man of Bethsaida
The story of the blind Man of Bethsaida occurs only in Mark. In the Gospel narrative, when Jesus comes to Bethsaida, a town in Galilee, a blind man is brought to him, and he is asked to touch him. He takes the man by the hand and leads him out of the village. He puts saliva on the man's eyes and touches him. Then he asks if the man can see anything; the man replies that he can see people, but they look like trees, walking. Jesus lays his hands on again, and the man's sigh is restored completely. Jesus tells him not to go back to the village but to go straight home. 

The exact location of Bethsaida in this pericope is subject to debate among scholars, but is likely Bethsaida Julias on the north shore of Lake Galilee.

Bartimaeus, the blind beggar
The other story in this Gospel tells of the cure of a man healed by Jesus outside of Jericho. It describes the cure of a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (literally "Son of Timaeus", one of the few recipients of healing who are given names). As Jesus is leaving the city with his followers, Bartimaeus calls out: 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' and persists even though the crowd tries to silence him. Jesus has them bring the man to him and asks what he wants; he answers that he wants to be able to see again. Jesus tells him that his faith has cured him; he immediately regains his sight and follows Jesus. 

Analysis
Apart from telling a miracle story that shows the power of Jesus, the author of the Gospel uses this story to advance a clearly theological purpose. It shows a character who understands who Jesus is and the proper way to respond to him - with faith. The beggar, on being called to Jesus, discards his cloak, symbolising the leaving behind of possessions. And the use of the title, 'Son of David' - the only occasion on which this is used in the Gospel of Mark - serves to identify Jesus as the Messiah.

Gospel of Matthew (c. 80-90 CE)
The Gospel of Matthew repeats the story of Bartimaeus, but changes it in a number of ways, and uses it twice: in one version, the blind beggar becomes two unnamed blind men, sitting by the roadside; there is no mention of a cloak; Jesus does not mention faith, but instead is 'moved by compassion'; and instead of simply announcing the cure, he touches their eyes.

A version of the same story is told earlier in the narrative, when Jesus is preaching in Galilee. On this occasion, he asks the blind men if they believe he can cure them, and when they assure them they do, he commends their faith and touches their eyes, restoring their sight. He warns them to tell nobody of this, but they go and spread the news throughout the district. (Matthew 9:27-31)

The naming of Bartimaeus is unusual in several respects: (a) the fact that a name is given at all, (b) the strange Semitic-Greek hybrid, with (c) an explicit translation "Son of Timaeus." Some scholars see this to confirm a reference to a historical person; however, other scholars see a special significance of the story in the figurative reference to Plato's Timaeus who delivers Plato's most important cosmological and theological treatise, involving sight as the foundation of knowledge.

Gospel of Luke (c. 90 CE)
The Gospel of Luke also describes the Bartimaeus story but handles it in a different way again; there is one unnamed blind man, and the author shifts the incident to take place as Jesus is approaching Jericho, so it can lead into the story of Zacchaeus.

Gospel of John (c. 90-100 CE)
None of these miracles occur in the Gospel of John. Instead, it d escribes an event known as healing the man blind at birth.

According to the Gospel, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Jesus replied:

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Having said this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means "Sent"). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

"How then were your eyes opened?" they asked. He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

"Where is this man?" they asked him. "I don't know," he said.

In this miracle, Jesus applies the title Light of the World to himself in John 9:5, saying:


 * When I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.

This episode leads into John 9:39 where Jesus explains that he came to this world, so that the blind may see.

Son of David
Vernon K. Robbins emphasizes that the healing of Bartimaeus is the last of Jesus’ healings in Mark, and links Jesus’ earlier teaching about the suffering and death of the Son of Man with his Son of David activity in Jerusalem. The story blends the Markan emphasis on the disciples’ 'blindness' - their inability to understand the nature of Jesus’ messiahship - with the necessity of following Jesus into Jerusalem, where his suffering and death make him recognizable to Gentiles as Son of God.

Paula Fredriksen, who believes that titles such as "Son of David" were applied to Jesus only after the crucifixion and resurrection, argued that Mark and Matthew placed that healing with the proclamation "Son of David!" just before "Jesus' departure for Jerusalem, the long-foreshadowed site of his sufferings." The title "Son of David" is a messianic name. Thus, Bartimaeus' exclamation was, according to Mark, the first public acknowledgement of the Christ, after St. Peter's private confession at Mark.

According to the Gospel account, as Jesus continues his journey after raising the daughter of Jairus, two blind men follow him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" When he had gone indoors, the blind men come to him, and he asks : "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They reply, "Yes, Lord". He then touches their eyes, and says, "According to your faith let it be done to you"; and their sight is restored. He warns them sternly, to tell nobody, but they go and spread the news of the healing 'throughout that district'.

Development
The story is a loose adaptation of one in Gospel of Mark, of the healing of a blind man called Bartimeus. In a practice characteristic of the author of the Matthew Gospel, the number of persons is doubled and unnecessary details removed. The same story is told later in the Gospel (Matthew 20:29-34) with almost identical details.

Significance
The author of the Matthew Gospel introduces the term 'Son of David' to indicate that the healings show Jesus as the Messiah.