And Jesus said unto him,
Go your way; your faith has made you whole.
And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
All Commentaries on Mark 10:52 Go To Mark 10
Jerome
AD 420
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. It goes on: “And as He went out of Jericho with His disciples, and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the wayside begging.”
But Jesus, considering his ready will, rewards him with the fulfilment of his desire.
But the blindness in part, brought upon the Jews, presently the Gentile people began to have hope of its own illumination; for it now sits begging by the wayside, because it has not entered upon and reached the path of truth.
The people of the Jews also, because it kept the Scriptures and did not fulfill them, begs and starves by the wayside; but he cries out, “Son of David, have mercy upon me,” because the Jewish people are enlightened by the merits of the Prophets. Many rebuke him that he may hold his peace, that is, sins and devils restrain the cry of the poor; and he cried the more, because when the battle waxes great, hands are to be lifted up with crying to the Rock of help, that is, Jesus of Nazareth. Again, he throws away his garment and leaps, who, throwing aside the bonds of the world, with unencumbered pace hastens to the Giver of eternal light.
Again, the Jewish people comes leaping, stripped of the old man, as a hart leaping on the mountains, that is, laying aside sloth, it meditates on Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles on high, and raises itself to heights of holiness. How consistent also is the order of salvation. First we heard by the Prophets, then we cry aloud by faith, next we are called by Apostles, we rise up by penitence, we are stripped of our old garment by baptism, and of our choice we are questioned. Again, the blind man when asked requires, that he may see the will of the Lord.
