Luke 18:37 Meaning and Explanation

The answer is plain information, a name and a hometown: Jesus, the one from Nazareth, is on the road. To the crowd that is all it is. But the name lands differently on the blind man — clearly he has heard of this Jesus, and of what happens to the blind when he is near.

'Passeth by' carries a quiet urgency: a passing Jesus must be called upon now, for the procession will not come twice. Scripture often shows mercy arriving as a moment to be seized rather than a schedule to be consulted. The next verse shows the man seizing it with both hands, turning a piece of street news into one of the great prayers of the Gospels.