"...a blind beggar, was sitting by the road..."
Mark 10:46b
His name was Bartimaeus, he was the son of Timaeus. Was his dad the Timaeus of Greek philosophy and historian fame? Maybe one who followed Plato's Socratic dialogues and teachings? I doubt very much he was one of the Three Legendary Dragons from the Japanese anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! But if you look up Bartimaeus' dads name you'll find a lot of common threads surrounding his name.
Timaeus seemed to be a wise man. And his son is named Bar Timaeus which literally means son of Timaeus. And I wonder about the point of pointing this out by including Bartimaeus' dads name in this gospel story. I feel like there needs to be a reason.
Let's think about what we're looking at here. The disciples and Jesus, along with a large crowd of people, are leaving Jericho.
Jericho is a city on the West Bank. Long ago it was a Canaanite city that was destroyed by Israeli forces when they crossed over into the promised land following their time in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt. In each of the three gospels they tell the story of this city and the healing of "Blind Bartimaeus". Unlike many of the people who received healing sight or other types of healing, with Bartimaeus we are given his names and his dads name. And to me that's significant. Especially since it's a Semitic-Greek hybrid name. This suggests to me that there is much more to this story.
The obvious significance of this story in Mark's gospel is Bartimaeus leaves behind his possessions and cries out for Jesus using the title 'Son of David'! That's extremely significant. It means Bartimaeus, a blind man, has a clear understanding of who Jesus the Messiah is. He sees his kingly authority without seeing him. Maybe he wasn't always blind. Maybe he is a learned man, raised by a philosophy teacher named Timaeus. We don't know. But he does seem to be way up to speed in his discernment. This particular point carries many implications with it. You could say that it's an emphasis being put on the crowds of hanger-oners and disciple followers and their 'blindness' – their inability to understand the nature of Jesus' kingship. This Bartimaeus guy gets it. And he's blind. This makes me think about when Jesus says blessed are those who believe but have not seen.
In the other gospels they talk about a couple of blind men being asked if they want to be healed. Some when leaving Jericho and some when entering the city. Apparently, there was a lot of blindness going on in Jericho. And some weren't blind at all.
Remember Zacchaeus? He was a wealthy Jewish tax-collector who was from Jericho. Not blind, but short. Too short to clearly see Jesus over all those crowds of people.
Zacchaeus is struggling to see him through all those crowds of hanger-oners, so he runs ahead and finds a Sycamore tree to climb up into and from there he plans on crying out to Jesus. But before he gets the chance, Jesus looks up at him and says...
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.” - Luke 19:5
By the way, a little side note to take note of. A Sycamore tree has what we in arboriculture circles call, "exfoliating bark". Which means, the bark naturally peels away from the trunk with every new season. I think it's significant that they told us the kind of tree Zacchaeus climbed. It's a tree that represents transformation, cleansing, and restoration. It sheds the old and becomes new.
Long story short: Zacchaeus is a changed man, he gives generously to the poor, follows Jesus, and that's that. The quickest conversion you ever saw. Or is it?
Back to Bartimaeus.
He's crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The crowds were telling him to shut up, stop bothering the Rabbi. But he keeps on saying it, “Have mercy on me, Son of David!”
And Jesus stops and tells his disciples to bring Bartimaeus to him.
And I absolutely love this part. I can feel the excitement and joy. I can sense the fun the disciples had with this. They'd seen Jesus do this sort of thing a lot and every time it's a blessing to watch the transformation of the one who receives salvation from Jesus.
So, they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up; he’s calling for you.” He threw off his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus." - Mark 10:49-50
I mean he JUMPED UP!
Left his stuff behind.
And came to Jesus.
A real-time come-to-Jesus moment.
You can feel the absolute joy. And you can hear his wisdom.
Jesus says to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Rabboni,” [which means Lord] the blind man said to him, “I want to see.”
Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road. - Mark 10:51-52
Though he was blind he could see. And now he can really see in every sense of the word.
And that's that, another satisfied Jericho resident receiving the gift of salvation, and packing up, leaving behind everything, and following his Lord and God, Jesus.
How is it that this blind beggar so easily gets it, when at that same time Jesus had been describing to his disciples in parables about how those who should easily get it, don't and worse even, they work to do evil against him. (See the parable of the ten minas in Luke 19:11-27).
In the parable the story goes, a nobleman leaves for a foreign country in order to be made king. Obviously Jesus is referring to this last trip to Jerusalem, which they are all currently on. However, the man’s subjects “hated him” and sent word to him that they refused to acknowledge his kingship. Time after time we see the Pharisees, Scribes, and Priests going back and forth testing and scheming against Jesus during his mission trips. Ultimately everyone of them is called to account. This is a prophecy. It hasn't happened yet. It was a prophecy for those wicked Israeli politicians, but it's a prophecy for all of us really. Everyone will face this examination.
Jesus tells them and us:
“I tell you that to everyone who has [faith], more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (verses 25–26).
Bartimaeus had faith.
Zacchaeus had faith.
Both are our examples of true discipleship. They gave everything they had to get faith and to follow Jesus. And in the end the prophecy tells us that they will receive tenfold in return.
How much is tenfold of everything?
Doesn't matter. It all gets laid down at Jesus' feet in the end.
And then...paradise.