“And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,”
Luke 18:40 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on Luke 18:40
Because the disciples being yet carnal were unable to receive the words of mystery, they are brought to a miracle. Before their eyes a blind man receives his sight, that by a divine work their faith might be strengthened.
And to show that our Lord did not even walk without doing good, He performed a miracle on the way, giving His disciples this example, that we should be profitable in all things, and that nothing in us should be in vain.
We might understand the expression of being nigh to Jericho, as if they had already gone out of it, but were still near. It might, though less common in this sense, be so taken here, since Matthew relates, that as they were going out of Jericho, two men received their sight who sat by the way side. There need be no question n about the number, if we suppose that one of the Evangelists remembering only one was silent about the other Mark also mentions only one, and he too says…