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MARK 10:51 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 10:50Mark 10:52
And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, rabbi, I want to see — the same question asked of James and John (verse 36) is now asked of Bartimaeus. James and John answered with an ambition request; Bartimaeus answers with a need request. Rabbi, I want to see: the simplest possible statement of the most fundamental need. The contrast with the disciples' ambition request is the chapter's final irony — the blind man who cannot see asks for the one thing that will transform everything; the disciples who can see ask for status.

Church Fathers on Mark 10:51

The name of the city agrees with the approaching Passion of our Lord; for it is said, 'And they came to Jericho.' Jericho means moon or anathema; but the failing of the flesh of Christ is the preparation of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Jerome · 4th century

Matthew says, that there were two blind men sitting by the wayside, who cried to the Lord, and received their sight; but Luke relates that one blind man was enlightened by Him, with a like order of circumstances, as He was going into Jericho; where no one, at least no wise man, will suppose that the Evangelists wrote things contrary to one another, but that one wrote more fully, what another has left out.

Bede · 8th century

It is for this reason that Mark wished to relate his case alone, because his receiving his sight had gained for the miracle a fame, illustrious in proportion to the extent of the knowledge of his affliction. But although Luke relates a miracle done entirely in the same way, nevertheless we must understand that a similar miracle was wrought on another blind man, and a similar method of the same miracle.

Augustine · 4th century · de Con. Evan., ii, 65
Read all 18 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Mark 10:51 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy