This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 10:46-52. The English Standard Version supplies the passage with the heading “Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus.”
The passage is about Jesus, surrounded by a huge crowd, healing a blind man who recognized him and insisted on coming to him against the crowd’s objections. It’s a short passage, packed full of meaning.
Mark tells us it happened as Jesus was leaving Jericho.
Jericho, whose walls fell down. Fell down after Joshua obeyed God. Fell down after Joshua and the Israelites marched around it, once a day, for seven days. Fell down on day seven, after the priests blew their trumpets and a long blast on a ram’s horn. Fell down when all the people obeyed Joshua and shouted together (Joshua 5:13-6:27).
The falling of the walls of Jericho and the subsequent rout of the city by the Israelites was probably as well-known to the people of Jesus’ day as the story of Parameswara giving Malacca the name of the tree he was sitting under when he saw a little mouse deer fighting his hunting dogs.
But the history of Jericho is unlikely to be the reason why Mark tells us where it happened.
It’s more likely that Mark is telling us that the new Joshua – for Jesus’ name was Yeshua in Hebrew, Joshua in Greek – entered the city not as a military and political conqueror, but as a worker of mercy. A healer.
One scholar says the first Joshua entered Jericho on a war horse while the second Joshua entered on a donkey. I doubt the Israelites had horses during their 40-year wandering in the wilderness. But we get the idea.
Jesus entered not to stir fear and gain fear-driven honour, but to heal, free, and restore people.
The right thing to expect from Jesus is mercy. The right things to ask from Jesus are things like healing. Not positions of power like James and John asked for – as Mark told us a few verses earlier (link).
There’s more that Mark has woven into this story. I’ll point out four of them.
First, Mark tells us Bartimaeus was told the person who had caused a stir in the city by his entrance was “Jesus of Nazareth.” But Bartimaeus addressed Jesus as “Son of David.”
In Mark’s gospel, this is the first time anyone addresses Jesus as Son of David.
Why? Because Mark wants us to “see.” See what?
Mark wants us to see that the blind man “saw” who Jesus was before the Twelve saw. The blind man asked for mercy, not a position of power.
Second, Mark tells us Bartimaeus threw off his cloak.
Why? Why does Mark tell us Bartimaeus threw off his cloak?
Modern readers miss the meaning in this. Because Bartimaeus was a beggar. And in those days, beggars spread their cloaks partially on themselves and partially on the ground. The part on the ground was for people to place coins.
When Bartimaeus threw off his cloak, he was throwing off the coins also.
Mark wants his readers to see a contrast with the rich young man he wrote about a few verses earlier: the rich young man who wouldn’t give up his riches to follow Jesus.
Third, Mark tells us Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And the result was instantaneous. Bartimaeus was healed. He recovered his sight. But it didn’t end there. He chose where he would go. He chose “the way.” Jesus way. He followed Jesus to Jerusalem.
Fourth, Mark tells us the name of the person who was healed: Bartimaeus. The way the writing of this name has evolved over time causes us to miss its meaning.
Over the centuries, there have been many suggestions about why Mark names Bartimaeus and what the name means.[1] I’ll tell you what I think is the most plausible suggestion.
In Hebrew, Bartimaeus is actually two parts: bar, and Timaeus. “Bar” means “son of.” And “Timaeus” is a personal name.
I think Mark wants us to “see” something.
The story begins with “son of Timaeus.”
The son of Timaeus is blind. But he “sees” better than those around him. He sees that he lives in darkness. He sees who Jesus is.
Jesus, the Son of God, responds to Bartimaeus’ insight.
From Luke 4:18-19, we know what Jesus said when he announced the beginning of his public ministry. He entered a synagogue, and he read from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, who predicted his coming. He read:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
The Anointed One, The Messiah, responded to bar-Timaeus. He removed the blindness of the son of Timaeus. The son of Timaeus became a bar-Theos, a son of God.
The same happens today and will continue to happen till the world ends.
Whenever anyone responds to Jesus like Bartimaeus did, people will object. But Jesus will over-rule.
Then people will change their tunes. They’ll say, “Take heart. Get up. He’s calling you!”
And Jesus will take the person and make him or her a child of God. Have you heard the call of Jesus? Are you on the way?
Peace be with you.
Note: If you’d like to explore more about the archaelogical evidence for the falling of the walls of Jericho, check this out: https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/the-walls-of-jericho/.
[1] Adela Yarborough Collins writes “Earle Hilgert has argued that the name of the blind man was introduced by Mark in order to allude to ‘Plato’s famous encomium of eyesight in the Timaeus. The story of the Son of Timaeus is a story of the gift of eyesight and with it the gift of insight, a theme that is prominent in Plato’s then widely known encomium.’”
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