4/1/21
Gibbs, Jeffrey A. “9:27-31: Jesus Heals Two Blind Men." Matthew 1:1-11:1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006, pp. 486-489.
In very brief terms Matthew 9:27-31 describes Jesus' healing of two blind men. Gibbs sees some similarities between this passage and the healing of the leper in 8:1-4. Both healings are performed after the person in need confesses belief that Jesus can heal. In both cases, Jesus touches the needy person. In both instances Jesus warns against telling what happened (Gibbs 2006, 487). Here, however, for the first time since 1:1, Jesus is addressed as the "Son of David." Gibbs observes the irony that it is two blind men who recognize Jesus as the Son of David (Gibbs 2006, 487).
The blind men confess that Jesus is their Lord (9:28). They are then healed, in what Gibbs sees as an anticipation of Jesus' work of restoration in the last day (Gibbs 2006, 488).
Gibbs explores several possible reasons for Jesus' request that the men should not reveal his identity. The most likely reason Gibbs finds is that the people would expect the Messianc title to go with someone who would come in power as a revolutionary, rather than as a suffering servant (Gibbs 2006, 489). The men who had been healed proclaimed Jesus as the Son of David, their healer.