Timaeus; we know almost nothing about him. His name means honorable. He grew up like most men of the first century. Trained in the occupation of his father, his big dream was to get married, raise a family, and live an honorable life, live up to his name.
As his journey unfolds; he and his wife set up housekeeping, and it wasn’t long before she was carrying a child. Remember what that was like, expecting your first child. She could feel the joy of a new life inside - Timaeus, perhaps he hoped for a son, a son to carry on the work of his father. But this is not the case with Timaeus. Soon after birth, this baby was noticeably different. He did not follow the faces of his parents. He didn’t respond to their smiles. The baby was blind. Something else we know about this child. Or should I say, something we don’t know. We don’t know his name. We only know him as Bartimaeus – that 3 letter addition to the beginning of his name “Bar” means “the son of.”
Bar-mitzvah – son of the law
Simon BarJonah – Simon the son of Jonah
Barnabus – son of Nabus
Barabbas – son of fathers
Son of Man – the name Jesus chose for Himself had the Hebrew Bar in it
Bartimaeus – the son of Timaeus
He is simply known as BarTimaeus, - the son of Timaeus, after all, why bother giving a name to a child who will never see, who will never be able to earn a living, or raise a family. This was the curse of blindness carried in the first century.
Timaeus and his wife had to wonder, “Was this blindness our fault? Was God punishing us for some sin?” In those days, people believed that a blind son must certainly a punishment from God. Not only would he never be able to learn the trade of his father, but he would never be able to provide for himself. He was doomed to the barest of existence from humbly begging. And when Timaeus grew old, there would be no son to look after him in his old age. No son to be by his bedside as his own eyes grew dim and his final breaths faded away. No son to close his eyes as Isaac did for Abraham and Jacob did for Isaac. “Timaeus the honorable” would become known as “Timaeus - the man with the blind son.”
When we meet Bartimaeus, he is on the side of the road waiting. Ever feel that way? Like life has you on the back burner, or at best on the sidelines – waiting. Waiting for the next step, next job, next relationship, next chance. Waiting to get into the game.
John Ortberg – “I put all my hope in a third day God, but I live in a second-day world.”
I am waiting, I live in the second day – the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter morning, a day of which nothing is written in scripture. That is my day. What will I do?
No doubt Bartimaeus is waiting for some generous soul to drop a coin in his cup so that he can eat that night. But down the road he hears a commotion. A commotion that will change his waiting – transform it because as John Ortberg says, “Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.”
This grown up son of Timaeus is about to discover what God wants him to be.
Some have tried to suggest that his name comes from bar-tim’-ai – son of the unclean. Gentiles were generally considered unclean, blind, if only spiritually. I’m not sold on that, but I do believe that Bartimaeus matters to God, and his whole world is about to be turned upside-down as the commotion and the procession with Jesus comes closer.
Healing Blind Bartimaeus
Mark 10:46-52 They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.” 50 He threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the road.
Michael Card’s intro to Blind Bart – 2:37
Jesus meets the disciple he’s been looking for, the perfect disciple, the jewel
He is blind, poor and the only one who calls Jesus by name
He leaves everything he has (coat)
He is asking for something he knows he doesn’t deserve, Mercy
What do you want? If we went down the rows today and asked you one by one, “What do you want?” and if you really were honest with your answers, what would you say? (Pause) What do you want?
Bartimaeus already knows what he wants. “I want to see!” – So Jesus heals him. He simply tells him to Go – and Blind Bartimaeus becomes Seeing Bartimaeus as he becomes a follower of Jesus
When Bartimaeus called out to Jesus – he first called Him by name. Jesus.
It doesn’t happen often in the scripture. In Mark, Bartimaeus is the only one to do so.
Next he calls him the Son of David. This was a title, not a name.
It is a word used in the OT to refer to the Messiah. Remember when Jesus talked about the work of the Messiah in Is. 61 as related in Luke 4?
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
The son of Timaeus calls on the Son of David.
All he hears in response to his calls are shouts and scolding. BE QUIET!
You have no business addressing Jesus! He is on his way to Jericho. And from there He will travel into Jerusalem. Jesus is a big deal, you are a nobody!
But the scolding did not shut him down. He was blind, but not deaf. He was certain that the voices of those shouting him down did not belong to Jesus. And so he shouted even louder, he shouted more insistently.
Jesus, Son of David! Have Mercy on me.
Jesus hearing someone call His name - Stopped. I can imagine the entire procession practically falling over themselves as they try to stop – and Jesus said “Call him.”
Over the chorus of voices, this was the one voice Bartimaeus wanted to hear most.
Jesus’ first words weren’t directly addressed to the man, but to those nearby.
Can you imagine them conceding to Jesus’ command, and then head over to the blind beggar “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.
Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”
So many stories are told of getting what you wish for.
People ask for money, fame, healing, - you name it. - Rabbi – I want to see!
Begging for money every day of his life, it would be understandable if he asked for a lot of cash, enough to take care of him all of his days.
Though he didn’t ask for fame, he certainly got it. His story is included in scripture!
The man born blind wanted something even he could not fathom. He wanted his sight.
Before the first glimmer of light dawned on his darkened eyes, it’s almost as if Jesus ignored his request, because Jesus gave him a command. Go!
Go – go where, to the city, back to your family and your father. Go on the first mission trip of your life! Your faith has healed you.
These words have challenged and changed and scarred many a broken soul.
If I am not healed, does that mean something is wrong with my faith? Is my faith broken like my body is broken? Is the problem not just that there is something wrong with my body, but is there something wrong with ME? Am I broken?
Is there something that Bartimaeus understood that I am missing?
I know that God rewards those who earnestly seek him (Heb. 11:6)
But immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the road.
We find in Bartimaeus a soul who is more whole than most. Even though his life was tragic, his blindness unimaginable, his soul was ready for action. He threw off his cloak. He came to Jesus and he followed him. He is the disciple Jesus has been waiting for. What about you?
Are you ready to do that yet? Are you ready to throw off your cloak, jump up, and blindly run towards Jesus? A cloak in those days was your primary shield against the elements. It protected you from the blazing sun of noon day and frigid cloudless nights. The law forbids anyone from suing another person and taking away his cloak, for that could be the only thing to keep them alive and safe from the elements.
When a blind man throws his cloak aside, and runs in the opposite direction, he is letting go of all of his security. Unless he’s healed – he may never find that cloak again.
Next Step - Dare me to be like Jesus
No heart is as whole as a broken heart; no faith is as solid as a wounded faith – Elie Wiesel. It is no coincidence that the last miracle Jesus performed was the healing of a blind man.
Who do you think was the first person Bartimaeus went to see (literally)
His father, his mother and family. Imagine his delight to see their faces, to tell them about the amazing Messiah, the Savior who gave him his sight.
What ways are you like Bart? How can you be a better disciple of Jesus based on Bart's life? Have you dropped aside your old life, your darkness and blindness? Have you joyfully laid aside your past to follow Jesus? Who did you tell about Jesus? We are inviting people to join a small group of people who want to be followers of Jesus. Mark your CC if you are interested.
This world of ours is filled with people like Bartimaeus. Can you spot them? Can you step into their world long enough to turn it upside-down like Jesus did?
“If you want to do the work of God, pay attention to people. Notice them. Especially the people nobody else notices.”
Imagine coming to Jesus today, as the perfect prospect. Like Bartimaeus.
Blind, poor, will you call Jesus by name?
When asked “What do you want?” can you see that you need exactly what Bartimaeus needed, “Lord, I want to see” – open the eyes of my heart. And what will you do when Jesus touches you? Will you throw everything aside? Will you gladly go – and follow Jesus?
Imagine the sights that Bartimaeus would see the very first week of his newfound eyesight. A triumphant entry into Jerusalem, palm leaves and coat strewn on the path.
Crowds calling his name, cheering Him on – Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!
Imagine seeing Jesus teaching day by day in the Temple courts, or seeing the religious rulers challenge him, trying their best to trip Jesus up. Bartimaeus must have wept over the spiritual blindness of these leaders.
Imagine one day at the end of the week; Jesus doesn’t appear to teach in the Temple courts as he usually does. The son of Timaeus searches the city high and low, looking for Jesus, the Son of David. But the City of David has conspired against its truest Son. Perhaps through whispers, Bartimaeus hears that late last night, around midnight, Jesus had been taken prisoner. That very morning his trial was taking place. I can imagine Bartimaeus – with eyes blurred with tears – one of Jesus’ newest disciples – racing from one end of Jerusalem’s walls to the other, trying to find his Master. And then he spots him. His eyes catch the broken form of a man beaten to within an inch of his life, hopelessly struggling to carry a crossbeam down the narrow streets of the Via Dolorosa – the Beautiful way. Did Bartimaeus see Jesus die? Was he one of the 500 men who saw Jesus with his resurrected body? We may never know.
I am often blind as to what Jesus is up to. Have Mercy on Me is a great intro to a new and better life of Whatever He Wants.
Are you ready to ask Jesus for the Mercy you never deserved? It is called Grace. The unmerited, undeserved love of God. It is here waiting for you. Wait no longer Some of you have been reluctant to declare your faith, to be baptized. Why not this Easter.
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Going deeper
1. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing people in a hurry don’t have. What can you do to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life?
2. In the gaps left over from eliminating hurry, how can you better follow Jesus?
3. The first words from Bartimaeus’ lips were “Jesus, Son of David – Have Mercy on me.” What does it mean for Jesus to have mercy on you?
