Blind Man Lay Beside the Way

DESCRIPTION: "Blind man lay beside the way, He could not see the light of day, The Lord passed by and heard him say: 'O Lord, won't you help-a me?'" "A man he died, was crucified, They hung a thief on either side, One lifted up his voice and cried, 'O Lord...'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious death
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 452-453, "Blind Man Lay Beside the Way" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST San452 (Full)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blind Man" (theme)
NOTES [258 words]: The miracle most associated with Jesus was healing -- especially "casting out demons" (curing epilepsy and/or insanity) and giving sight to the blind.
There are several accounts in the gospels of curing the blind (e.g. Matt. 9:27f., 20:29f.; Mark 7:22f.; John 9:1). The account here is most reminiscent of that in Mark 10:46f.=Luke18:35 (Bartimaeus; in the parallel in Matthew there are *two* blind men).
Although Matt. 27:38, Mark 15:28, Luke 23:32, John 19:18 all mention the criminals crucified along with Jesus, only Luke 23:39-43 mentions one of them repenting or explicitly quotes what is said. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, being volume 28A of the Anchor Bible, Doubleday, 1985, p. 1507, suggests that Jesus's promise to the repentant thief, "Believe me, today you shall be with me in Paradise" (23:43) is in part a citation of the apocryphal Psalms of Solomon 14:3. Since the Psalms of Solomon are an apocryphal work, I think this highly unlikely, and certainly no Protestant songwriter would be aware of the connection that is not made in commentaries on the King James Bible.
Fitzmyer, p 1508, points out something that the Church Father Ambrose had observed long before: That the repentant thief merely asks that Jesus remember him when he comes into his kingdom; Jesus promises more than that. This is perhaps more important to a Catholic, who would believe in Purgatory, than a Protestant; in the Catholic view, Jesus was no doubt sparing the penitent thief what would have been a long spell in Purgatory. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.2
File: San452

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