In preparing my sermon
for this upcoming Sunday (from Mark 10:46 – 52) I have been thinking about that
name: Bartimaeus.
In the story as told in Mark's gospel, Jesus
–on his way to Jerusalem- is leaving the city of Jericho when he is accosted by
the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. And Mark
goes out of his way to identify Bartimaeus as the “son of Timaeus.” That is, he is "Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus." This may
be, as many scholars propose, evidence that Mark was writing to a gentile
audience that would not have understood Jesus’ native language, Aramaic. In Aramaic
the prefix “Bar" means “son of “(in the same way that “ben” means “son of” in
Hebrew).
But probing a little
further, I wanted to know what the name Timaeus means(which is a Greek name, by the
way…).
If you search online,
as I did, you'll discover two different interpretations of the name. Some claim that it means “honor,” others that
it means “poverty” or “unclean.” So
Bar-Timaeus would mean either “Son of Honor” or “Son of the Unclean.”
The difference comes
down to which Aramaic word lies behind the Greek/Aramaic hybrid construction – Bar-Timaeus. It is either the Aramaic word ṭimē
or ṭmā.
The first means honor. The second means unclean or abominable. [i]
If the name is meant to be an
interpretive clue, we have two very different ways to understand the story.
If Bartimaeus is the “Son
of Honor” we may have an ironic interpretation.
Despite his blindness – a condition that reduced him in social status to
a condition of pitiful beggary – Bartimaeus is indeed (because of his faith? Because
of his spiritual vision?) the “Son of Honor.”
If Bartimaeus is the “Son
of the Unclean” this may be in keeping with the general attitude towards those
with physical disabilities and chronic illnesses. If
this is the case, then we may understand this story as a radical act of
transformative (and healing) power in which the “Son of David” breaks rank with
the crowd in order to meet with the “Son of the Unclean.”
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