Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 11:5

"the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them." — Matthew 11:5 (ASV)

The blind receive their sight — Apparently, no new facts were stated that might not have already reached John the Baptist. At least one instance of each type of miracle had already been recorded by Matthew: the blind (Matthew 9:27), the lame (Matthew 9:6), the leper (Matthew 8:2), and the dead (Matthew 9:25). The raising of the widow’s son at Nain, which in Luke follows closely after the healing of the centurion’s servant, must also have occurred before the events described here.

What the Baptist needed was not the knowledge of new facts, but a different way of looking at the ones he already knew. These works were signs that the coming One had indeed arrived.

But above all signs and wonders, our Lord reserves another spiritual mark of the kingdom as the last and greatest: Poor men have the good news proclaimed to them. They are invited into the kingdom and told of peace and pardon.

It is as if our Lord knew that the Baptist, whose heart was with the poor, would recognize that One who united such power with tenderness could be none other than the expected King.