I. OBSERVATION

A. Passage Selected: Mk. 10:46-52

Also in Matt 20:29-43 and Luke 18:35-43

B. Progression Stated: Logical and Ideological

C. Presentation Summarized:

1. Problem of the context 10:46

Matthew says two got healed. Mark and Luke only mention Bartimaeus. Perhaps the explanation is that Mark and Luke are being more specific and Matthew is condensing his account to save space. He’s done that many times before. Bartimaeus was perhaps the more well known of the two that got healed.

Another difference is that Matthew and Mark say Jesus was leaving Jericho and Luke says He was approaching Jericho. This looks like a contradiction, but it seems that there were two Jerichos—an old and a new city—and the healings could have occurred as the crowd was leaving old Israelite Jericho (Matt. 20:29; Mark 10:46) and entering new Herodian Jericho (Luke 18:35).

2. Pronouncement of the cure 10:47-52

a. The request [expression of faith] (47)

Again, we have the blind recognizing Jesus for who he is.

b. The rebuke [extinction of faith] (48a)

Shows their lack of love.

c. The second request [extension of faith] (48b)

d. The response [effects of faith] (49-52)

He stops to pay attention. He speaks to the crowd. He solicits the man’s faith. He saves the man - Greek word is “saved” not “healed”

Word cheer used in: Mat 9:2,22; 14:27; Mark 6:50; 10:49; John 16:33; Acts 23:11 In all of these references the basis of cheer is Christ.

II. INTERPRETATION