On the Way to Jerusalem

171:5.1Late on the af­ter­noon of Thurs­day, March 30, Je­sus and his apos­tles, at the head of a band of about two hun­dred fol­low­ers, ap­proached the walls of Jeri­cho. As they came near the gate of the city, they en­coun­tered a throng of beg­gars, among them one Bar­timeus, an el­derly man who had been blind from his youth. This blind beg­gar had heard much about Je­sus and knew all about his heal­ing of the blind Josiah at Je­ru­sa­lem. He had not known of Je­sus’ last visit to Jeri­cho un­til he had gone on to Beth­any. Bar­timeus had re­solved that he would never again al­low Je­sus to visit Jeri­cho with­out ap­peal­ing to him for the restora­tion of his sight.

171:5.2News of Je­sus’ ap­proach had been her­alded through­out Jeri­cho, and hun­dreds of the in­hab­i­tants flocked forth to meet him. When this great crowd came back es­cort­ing the Mas­ter into the city, Bar­timeus, hear­ing the heavy tramp­ing of the mul­ti­tude, knew that some­thing un­usual was hap­pen­ing, and so he asked those stand­ing near him what was go­ing on. And one of the beg­gars replied, “Je­sus of Naz­a­reth is pass­ing by.” When Bar­timeus heard that Je­sus was near, he lifted up his voice and be­gan to cry aloud, “Je­sus, Je­sus, have mercy upon me!” And as he con­tin­ued to cry louder and louder, some of those near to Je­sus went over and re­buked him, re­quest­ing him to hold his peace; but it was of no avail; he cried only the more and the louder.

171:5.3When Je­sus heard the blind man cry­ing out, he stood still. And when he saw him, he said to his friends, “Bring the man to me.” And then they went over to Bar­timeus, say­ing: “Be of good cheer; come with us, for the Mas­ter calls for you.” When Bar­timeus heard these words, he threw aside his cloak, spring­ing for­ward to­ward the cen­ter of the road, while those near by guided him to Je­sus. Ad­dress­ing Bar­timeus, Je­sus said: “What do you want me to do for you?” Then an­swered the blind man, “I would have my sight re­stored.” And when Je­sus heard this re­quest and saw his faith, he said: “You shall re­ceive your sight; go your way; your faith has made you whole.” Im­me­di­ately he re­ceived his sight, and he re­mained near Je­sus, glo­ri­fy­ing God, un­til the Mas­ter started on the next day for Je­ru­sa­lem, and then he went be­fore the mul­ti­tude declar­ing to all how his sight had been re­stored in Jeri­cho.