Mateo 20:31-34

Matthew’s version of this healing stresses Jesus’ compassion that overcame the opposition of the crowds to provide healing for these men (cf. Matthew 19:13-15). When Jesus previously healed two blind men in Galilee, He commanded them to tell no one about the healing. He did not do that here because it was now unnecessary to conceal His identity. Jesus would soon publicly proclaim His messiahship in the Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-11). The healed blind men immediately followed Jesus. This was the proper response for people who had come to see who Jesus was. These believers in His messiahship became disciples.

It is significant that these men where physically blind but spiritually perceptive regarding Jesus’ identity. The other disciples had recently demonstrated their own spiritual imperceptibility (Matthew 20:17-23). Jesus had taught them that insight into messianic truth came only from divine revelation (Matthew 16:17).

"The ’sight’ of these blind men discloses the ’blindness’ of Israel’s sight." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 80.]

"The giving of sight to the blind is a dramatic miracle that points to the dawning of the era of messianic fulfillment. The Son of David is present among his people. And as he compassionately delivers them from their literal darkness, so he continues on his way to Jerusalem, where in his sacrificial death he will deliver all of humanity from an even greater darkness-that of the bondage to sin and death. . . . This healing pericope thus may be seen as the gospel in a microcosm." [Note: Hagner, Matthew 14-28, p. 588.]

This was the last public miracle that the evangelists recorded Jesus’ doing before His death. Even though the nation as a whole rejected Jesus, individuals continued to believe that He was the Messiah. The postponement of the kingdom did not rule out personal salvation for anyone who believed. They would enter the messianic kingdom by resurrection at the Second Coming (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2). For this reason Jesus continued to present Himself to Israel as her Messiah in the Triumphal Entry. This miracle is a prelude to that presentation in Matthew’s Gospel.