Luke tells the same kind of healing Mark tells of Bartimaeus — a blind man by the Jericho road, crying to the Son of David — and the saving word again means his sight restored. Luke’s telling ends not only with the man following but with a whole crowd giving praise.
The Cry the Crowd Tried to Silence
And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
Luke 18:38–39
As in Mark, the blind man calls Jesus son of David — the messianic title — and the crowd tries to hush him, and he only cries louder. The pattern is the same: a blind beggar seeing, in his way, more than the sighted crowd; a faith that will not be silenced by those who would keep him quiet. Jesus stops and commands him to be brought.
The Question and the Healing
Jesus asks him, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” and the man answers simply, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then:
And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
Luke 18:42
Hē pistis sou sesōken se — thy faith hath saved thee, thy faith hath made thee whole. The immediate sense is bodily and plain: and immediately he received his sight. The peril was blindness; the result is sight. As with Bartimaeus, the saving word here means the healing of a blind man, credited to the persistent faith that cried out for mercy. That is the high-confidence meaning, and it stands on its own.
The Ending: Sight, Following, and Praise
Luke, like Mark, refuses to end at the healing. He adds:
And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
Luke 18:43
Three motions close the scene. The man received his sight — the healing. He followed him, glorifying God — the discipleship note, the same as Bartimaeus following in the way, now joined to worship. And all the people gave praise unto God — the healing ripples outward into a congregation of praise.
Luke’s distinctive touch is that last clause. Where Mark ends with the man alone following, Luke widens the lens: the whole crowd that had tried to silence the beggar now glorifies God at what they have seen. The healing that began with a man being hushed ends with everyone praising.
As with Bartimaeus, the resonance is real but must not be forced. The verb means the healing of blindness. Luke’s additions — following, glorifying God, the crowd’s praise — let the healing point beyond itself to worship and discipleship, allowing the scene to resonate past the lexical minimum without turning sōzō into a secret technical term for conversion. The man was healed; and the first use he made of his eyes was to follow Jesus and glorify God.
What the Word Means Here
The plain sense: bodily healing of blindness, immediate and complete, credited to a faith that cried out to the Son of David and would not be silenced. That is the high-confidence meaning.
Its contribution to the gateway, alongside its Markan parallel, is the worshipful ending. The healing does not stop at the eyes. The man follows, glorifying God; the crowd breaks into praise. Luke lets the miracle open onto discipleship and worship without making the verb carry more than it should. Sight was given, and spent at once on following Christ and glorifying God — and a crowd that had tried to silence the beggar was swept up into praise at what they saw.
At a Glance
Key Glossary Terms
This study engages several important biblical and theological terms. Review their definitions for deeper understanding.
This study is part of What Does It Mean to Be Saved?, an examination of every New Testament use of saving language in context, within Resource Cluster 3: Life in Christ. 91 of 91 passage studies are complete — see every occurrence.