Citations: Mark 10:46-52 || Matthew 20:29-34 || Luke 18:35-43, the last healing before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the passion.
Narrative
As Jesus and a great crowd pass through Jericho, a blind beggar is sitting by the road, Mark names him Bartimaeus ("son of Timaeus"). Hearing that it is Jesus of Nazareth, he cries out, "Jesus, you Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many rebuke him and tell him to be quiet, but he cries out all the more, "You Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Jesus stands still and calls for him. Mark's vivid detail: "casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus." Jesus asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Rabboni, that I may see again." Jesus says, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." Immediately he receives his sight and follows Jesus on the way, glorifying God; and all the people praise God.
"Son of David", a confession on the road to the cross
Twice the beggar shouts the messianic title "Son of David", the promised king of David's line (cf. 2 Samuel 7; Isaiah 11). It is no accident that this is the last miracle before the triumphal entry: a blind man publicly hails Jesus as Messiah just as he approaches Jerusalem to be enthroned-by-crucifixion. The crowd tries to silence him; he will not be silenced.
In Mark especially the episode is the hinge of the discipleship section (Mark 8-10): it answers the earlier two-stage healing of a blind man (Mark 8:22-26) and brackets a unit in which the seeing disciples remain spiritually "blind" (arguing over greatness, Mark 9-10). The beggar who cannot see physically perceives who Jesus is, asks for sight, receives it, and follows him on the way, the very pattern of true discipleship the Twelve keep missing. "On the way" (to Jerusalem, to the cross) is loaded.
Harmonizing the accounts (presented fairly)
Two classic synoptic-harmony questions arise, and both options are set out here without forcing one:
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One blind man or two? Mark and Luke describe one (named Bartimaeus); Matthew has two blind men. Proposals: Matthew simply records both who were present while Mark/Luke spotlight the one who became known by name (Bartimaeus); or the evangelists shape the same event differently. No proposal contradicts the others' core report. -
Entering or leaving Jericho? Matthew and Mark place it as Jesus leaves Jericho; Luke as he approaches it. Common explanations: there were two Jerichos (the old tell and the newer Herodian city) and the healing occurred between them; or Luke arranges the material to set up the Zacchaeus episode that follows (Luke 19). The question is a long-discussed harmony point.
Theological framing
Messianic disclosure, "Son of David" frames Jesus as the awaited king on the threshold of Jerusalem; the healing accredits the title.
Faith and sight, "your faith has made you well"; physical sight becomes the gospel image of spiritual perception, John 9, where the same seeing/blindness reversal is developed at length).
Discipleship, the man does not return to begging but "followed Jesus on the way"; restored sight issues in following.