9. And as they were going out from Jericho, a large crowd followed him. And behold, two blind men were sitting by the way, etc. ^[235].

Let the things of the literal history [recorded] in the passage be true, namely, that when Jesus went out from Jericho with the disciples a large crowd followed him. And that there were two blind men sitting by the way of the exit-way from Jericho who heard that Jesus is coming by that place, and they cried out saying: Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David, and they agreed together when they cried out that which they are recorded to have said. And because the blind men requested to be shown mercy Jesus stood and called to them, so that he might call them after having stood, not while going around or passing by, and by way of inquiry he said to them, What do you want in order that I might do [it] for you? Further presenting [their] more particular request, the blind men speak to him desiring that their eyes might be opened from Jesus. And our philanthropic and sympathetic Savior has compassion on the blind men, and has compassion (I think) by these men having anticipated that the mercy of Jesus (if I may name it such) would be offered. Such is what those who cried out said: Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David and those who had believed so as to request that their eyes might be opened. When he touches their eyes <and> a healing power flows through the touch to [their] eyes, he causes the blind men to see again, and these men follow Jesus with thanksgiving. Indeed, when someone believes these things^[47] and knows that “if you do not believe, you will not understand” ^[236], let him receive the understanding that comes from having believed “according to the analogy of faith” ^[237], and having received [it] let him expound the things concerning these matters in accordance with the foundation of faith concerning them, interpreting them in accordance with “I believed, wherefore I spoke” ^[238]. And let this person not only believe in Jesus and in the things recorded in this passage, but also come to know the meaning concerning them. For he who remains in the truth of the faith and who, through the works of the word, abides “with the word” according to the promise of Jesus will know “the truth” and will be set free by it ^[239].^[48]

And as for us, since when we do not believe we do not understand the intention of the things said, but when we do understand we do so from having believed, do bear with these things that occur to us for this passage. Praying to him who saved us from that which veiled “the gospel” to us ^[240], let us offer [this reading] to the extent we are able. First, let us consider why it is that when the disciples of Jesus are going out from Jericho with the Savior a large crowd followed him. See, then, if you remember those things we suggested for the parable in the gospel according to Luke [which reads], “There was a man descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell in with robbers” ^[241], whether perhaps you can also understand that Jericho here is mentioned as a symbol of the earthly place that Scripture is in the habit of calling “world” (kosmos). When Adam (that is, mankind), therefore, descends “from Jerusalem to Jericho,” he fell in “with robbers.” But on account of the multitudes in Jericho (for a great crowd was in Jericho) let our Jesus,^[49] who was in [the city] along with the disciples, go out, undertaking (on account of having entered into Jericho) to lead those [out of the city] who desire to follow. For those who are in Jericho do not know to come out from the worldly way of thinking, unless they might observe not only Jesus going out from Jericho but also his disciples. And after seeing these things, a great crowd follows him. One who contemplates this passage can see this [group] as those who desire to live according to the word^[50] and are choosing to despise the world and the <whole> earthly realm, who follow Jesus and his disciples and are advancing in step with those who are going out from Jericho. Indeed, the great crowd follows Jesus, so that travelling behind him and accepting his guidance they might ascend to Jerusalem ***.

10. (A little further on, then, it follows that “when they were drawing near to Jerusalem they came to Bethpage, to the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent out two disciples,” etc. ^[242]). Then it is written next, as it were with the word showing the blind men who are presently to be healed, And behold, two blind men were sitting beside the way; when they heard that Jesus is passing by, they cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David.” You should also give attention in these passages to And behold two blind men, whether the [term] behold contains a demonstrative force.^[52] If indeed, then, we are able to closely follow what the word indicates about the two blind men and to see them, we might suggest that Israel and Judah were the blind men before the coming of Jesus, yet they are sitting beside the way by putting into practice the ways of life in the law and prophets. [They are] blind, on the one hand, because they do not see the true word in the law and prophets before the coming of Jesus to their souls; but, on the other hand, they cried out, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David because they perceive together their own <blindness>, in that they do not see the intention of the letters yet desire to recover their sight and to see the glory in them. As they were still blind and imagined nothing great concerning Jesus, but perceived him only according to the flesh, they called him son of David who came “from the seed of David according to the flesh” ^[243], since they could conceive of nothing greater than this. And the loud call which seemed to them to be completely in accordance with piety knew of nothing greater to say concerning the Savior than that he was son of David. If I say that the two blind men are Israel and Judah before the coming of Jesus to their soul, you should refer yourself to the <two> kingdoms, and contemplate the times of Rehoboam who divided the people of Israel and Judah. And look next at the prophets who prophesied sometimes to Israel and sometimes to Judah, and sometimes to both. You will find, when attending to the reading of the prophets, how they prophesied each to his own [people], and to Israel and Judah together when God announces that through Jesus he will complete a new covenant “with the house <of Israel and with the house> of Judah, not according to the covenant which” God “made with the fathers” who came out “from Egypt” ^[244]. And while indeed Israel (concerning whom we have given an account on many occasions, distinguishing it from the Israel according to the flesh) and Judah are similarly blind, hearing (it says) that Jesus is passing by, they cried out: for (I think) when they heard those who were proclaiming the things concerning the coming of Jesus and that he is passing by the Jericho which will pass away ([since Jesus] comes <in> it, but will go out from it), they were concerned that he might not pass by them without showing them mercy. Wherefore they had cried out to him, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David.” But, being beneficent, the Savior does not pass by, but he stands, in order that when he stands, the beneficence might not flow away and pass away, but having stood as from a spring it might come to those who are to be benefitted.

11. Standing, therefore, and being struck by their cry and request Jesus calls them to himself, already performing the beginning of [his] beneficence when he called them, for he did not call in vain and with no intention of being for the advantage to those to whom he called. Would also that, when we who have cried out to him and say, Have mercy on us, O Lord, he might call us who are beginning from the Son of David, and standing he might call us as though attending to our request. He said, therefore, to them, What do you want in order that I might do [it] for you? Such is what I take this to mean: Present what you want, make [it] apparent, in order that all those who are coming out from Jericho and are following me might hear and see what happens. But they answered: O Lord, in order that our eyes might be opened. Such is the answer that those of noble stock (being from Israel and Judah) but who are blinded (by the ignorance of which they are together aware of having) <cried> out to him after hearing those who are speaking about the Savior: namely, that they desire in order that their eyes might be opened. And what’s more, they say this who, while interacting with the holy scripture, are not unaware of their own blindness to the meaning in it. For they say, Have mercy on us and We desire that our eyes might be opened. ^Would that we also have the same awareness about the things to which we are blinded and do not see, when we are sitting by the same way of the scriptures <and> hear that Jesus is passing by. Through our request let us cause him to stand and let us say that we desire that our eyes be opened. And if we speak this [request] from a disposition that yearns to see what Jesus would bestow upon [us] to see when he touches the eyes of the soul, our Savior will be compassionate, and as he is the power and word and wisdom and as many such things as are written concerning him, he will touch our eyes which could not see before [his touch]. And when he touches, the darkness and ignorance will flee, and immediately not only will we see again, but we also will follow him, for he causes us to see again by [his touch] for no other reason than [for us] to follow him who made [us] to see again, in order that, continually clinging to him, we might be guided by him to God and that we, with eyes restored to sight by him, might see God together with the blessed [saints] by having a pure heart ^[245].^^[53] We maintain, then, that the people consisting of the great crowd that are coming out from Jericho and are following Jesus are not Israel or Judah; but the two blind men who heard that Jesus is passing by and knew that he is Son of David and perceived together their own blindness and requested to have their own eyes opened, those [we have] taken as Israel and Judah, whose eyes were shut and closed together are restored to sight through the touch of Jesus. These are things [recorded] according to Matthew.

12. But since Mark and Luke set forth the same story in a way that is in certain respects similar and in other respects different, it is a worthy endeavor, then, to look at their [accounts] as well. First, we must observe that, according to Mark, the passage is recorded in this way: “And he comes to Jericho. And as he was going out from there along with his disciples and a considerable crowd,, the blind son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus,” etc., up to, “and he followed him in the way” ^[246]. He who gives attention to the bare history and does not want the Evangelists to disagree will say that Matthew and Mark have not recorded the same event, but that the [event when] two blind men received sight again took place at a certain visit to Jericho, whereas the event involving this one son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, [took place] at another [visit], and the [event] recorded in Luke involve yet another [visit]. For if indeed we believe the Gospels to have been recorded with precision with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, and that those who wrote them did not err when they related [things] from memory, it is clear, since it could not possibly be true that in one and the same visit both two blind men and one [blind man] were healed, that Matthew and Mark have indicated two different visits, and Luke yet another, since this is something that can be demonstrated confidently by carefully attending to the difference from [Matthew] to the rest. Indeed it is no surprise that someone who observed the first healing of the [blind men] in Jericho would want to be healed in the same place through the same words and a similar request. And someone might say <that> the blind man according to Luke is another person who is healed in similar fashion. Nevertheless, he who seeks a deeper explanation of all of these [accounts] might say that one and the same matter can be represented with different readings. For (as has been recounted) the two blind men are Israel and Judah, but they together are one nation, when it is indicated that one blind man is healed. When, therefore, a “considerable crowd” from the nations goes out from worldly things to Jesus and to his disciples, a certain Israelite remnant sitting “by the way” <that is, by the prophetic Scriptures,> and impoverished in the intelligible things [of Scripture] and begging for the things necessary for the soul, hearing “that it is Jesus the Nazarene” ^[247], begins to cry loudly requesting the Savior as Son of David to grant mercy to him. And when you look at the faith concerning the Savior of those who believe on Jesus from the Jews, that at one time they thought him to be from both Mary and Joseph, but then at another from Mary alone and of the divine Spirit, although not with the theology^[55] concerning him, you will see how this blind man says, “Son of David, have mercy on me” ^[248], he whom the “multitudes” were rebuking ^[249]. For there are many from the nations who are going out from Jericho, who are rebuking the poverty of those who seem to believe from the Jews. And [were you] to refer [this passage] to the noble soul who is impoverished of these things and has come to the point of begging, you would in no way be missing the point of the passage.

Since it occurred to Mark also to record that the name of the blind man’s father was Timaeus, and that the [name] of the blind man was called Bartimaeus, let us inquire whether Mark had a deeper meaning in mind with this passage. Perhaps he provided the name out of a sense of necessity to the historical record, but someone might say that he did it as something useful. And even though we might seem to be making vain inquiries in going so far as to investigate these things, let us inquire about “Timaeus,” the eponym of honor, and his son, Bartimaeus, which means “son of Timaeus [Honorable One].” Perhaps he is figuratively “Timaeus” on account of the honor of the patriarch Jacob and Israel. Those who have acquired the noble birth from [Jacob/Israel] are the blind Bartimaeus on account of the things said beforehand, but similarly also he is sitting “by the way” and “is begging” ^[250]. Then, since the “multitudes” rebuke him who says, “Son of David, have mercy on me,” “in order that he might be quiet” ^[251], do inquire if you might say that the multitudes are those from the Gentiles who, “in order that he might be quiet,” rebuke the Ebionite who is indeed impoverished concerning the faith in Jesus.^[56] These [multitudes] have all, by and large, believed him to have been begotten from a virgin, and they are rebuking—“in order that he might be quiet”—him who thinks [Jesus] to be from the seed of a man and a woman, deriving his pedigree from David. But in fact he cried out “all the more” when the multitudes rebuked him, for he believed on Jesus, but believed [that Jesus] was merely human, and cried out saying, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” But when the philanthropic Savior stands [still], he does not now call to him (as in Matthew), but he says that he is to be called ^[252]. Those whom [Jesus] commanded say to [Bartimaeus], “Take heart, arise!” (for they say “arise” to him who is sitting and had fallen back^[57]) and they say, “He is calling you” ^[253]. After this, Mark says that “he cast off [his] garment, jumped up, and came to Jesus” ^[254]. So then, does [Mark] have nothing in mind when he recorded that he cast off his garment when he jumped up to come to Jesus? Indeed, would we dare to say that these things have been included in the Gospel in vain? For my part, then, I do not believe that there is one iota or a single stroke ^[255] that is empty in the divine lessons, but I think that the one who would be successful in interpreting them needs a robust faculty of reason on account of the interpretive difficulty of the matters involved. Perhaps, therefore, the [clothes] *** as though of a blind beggar, by which the Bartimaeus has been covered, indicate the veils and coverings which the blind man cast off when he heard, “Take heart, arise, he is calling you.” And after casting away the veils and coverings of begging “he jumped up and arose” in order that he might come to Jesus and, after obtaining the answer to the request from what Jesus said, “What do you wish that I do?,” even he himself might use a greater term than “Son of David, have mercy on me.” For he had in mind something greater than “Son of David” when he says “Rabboni” and when he presents the form of the merciful act through, “in order that I might see again” ^[256]. Indeed, the Savior did not offer his beneficence through [the petition], “Son of David, have mercy on me,” nor when the garment of <blindness and of> begging is around him, nor when he was sitting by the way begging. But on account of “Rabboni, in order that I might see again,” he says to him, “Get up, your faith has saved you” ^[257]. The Savior says to him, “Get up,” but [the man] performed something better than this command, for he did not go away, but “followed” Jesus “in the way,” when “immediately he regained sight” ^[258].

13. Let us see what is present in Luke as well: “And it happened when he drew near to Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting by the way, begging,” etc., up to, “and when the whole people saw, they gave praise to God” ^[259]. We will not take up again the elements this passage has in common with the previous ones for which we have already offered an explanation as it occurred to us, but let us rather consider that which is critical and unique insofar as we are able. First, you should observe that both Matthew and Mark have recorded that this event with the blind men or the blind man happened when Jesus was going out from Jericho with the disciples. Luke, however, says, “And it happened when he drew near to Jericho” ^[260]. Thus, according to Luke, he completed the [healing] ministry (οἰκονομίαν) with respect to the blind man when he was coming to Jericho and was near it. Now, someone might say that, in terms of the mystical word, Luke’s version is first, Mark’s is second, and Matthew’s is third. For it is necessary first to draw near to Jericho, then to come into it, and <after these things> to go out from it. Luke recorded, then, that “it happened when he drew near to Jericho,” and Mark that “he also came to Jericho, and when he was coming out of there” ^[261], but Matthew recorded neither that he drew near to Jericho nor that he came to Jericho, but only that when they were going out from Jericho, a large crowd followed him ^[262]. It is possible, therefore, that [Jesus] performed [this work of healing] when he was drawing near to Jericho according to Luke, and according to Mark when he came to Jericho, and according to Matthew when he came out from it. Observe as well that, according to Luke, the blind man, “hearing that a crowd was passing through (and presumably Jesus too), inquired as to what might be happening” ^[263], while according to Mark, “hearing that it is Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out” ^[264], but according to Matthew the two blind men who were sitting by the way cried out when they heard that Jesus is passing by ^[265]. Indeed, there is nothing in Matthew’s account from the blind men about Jesus being “a Nazarene,” but with other two accounts, according to Mark the <blind man> hears that “it is Jesus the Nazarene” ^[266], and according to Luke, when “he inquired” from the crowd “what might be happening” ^[267], he learned from the those who reported to him “that Jesus the Nazarene^[58] is passing by” ^[268].

Next in these passages you should take note that, to the blind man who cries out <and> says, “Son of David, have mercy on me,” “those who are going ahead rebuke [him] so that he might be quiet” ^[269], saying as it were: those who are first to have believed rebuke him who says, “Son of David,” in order that he might be silent and might not address [Jesus] with an inferior name, but as if he should rather say, “Son of God, have mercy on me.” But he “cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me’” ^[270]. Then (it says) “standing [still] Jesus commanded him to be brought to him” ^[271]. Now, see if indeed (as we have carefully observed) this blind man is more inferior [than those of the parallel accounts], for neither does Jesus call him nor does he say for him to be called. But as though [this blind man] were not capable of these things “he commanded him to be brought to him” <as though> not being able of his own accord to come to him. Then (it says) “when he drew near He asked him, saying, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’” ^[272]. And he did not ask him earlier except the man questioning drew near to him,^[59] but when he drew near, on account of being asked, he says, “In order that I might see again, O Lord” ^[273]. Then (it says) “Jesus” answered and “said to him, ‘See again! Your faith has saved you’” ^[274]. According to Matthew, the blind men have <something> greater, about whom it is written that Jesus, having compassion, touched their eyes ^[275], but [Jesus] does not touch either in Mark’s or Luke’s account. Yet again, [the blind man] does, according to Luke, have a certain advantage, for when “he immediately regained sight,” not only did “he follow him,” but there is something greater than the rest. For “he followed him” (it says) “glorifying God” ^[276]. And at the end of this passage, when he follows and is glorifying God, <the> whole crowd sees it and gives “praise to God” ^[277]. These are the things, <whether perceived> or received, we understand at present with regard to these passages. But may God grant to whom He wishes a richer word of wisdom and a clearer word in light of knowledge, in order that it might be found that these things are discerned by them from these gifts, as light from the sun.