thatjeffcarter was here: When the Son of the Unclean Meets the Son of David Meets the Son of Honor

(Mark 10:46 - 52)

Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. He is going up (and it’s always up to Jerusalem) to the city where he will be handed over, going up to the city where he will be arrested; going up to the city where he will die. Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, going up to the place where he will be lifted up. He’s told his disciples about this. Three times, he’s told them what is going to happen when they get there. But they aren't there yet. They are on the way to Jerusalem. And on the way Jesus, along with his disciples and a crowd of his followers, passes through the ancient city of Jericho.

We might want to remember that Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Yeshua or Joshua. This is an incredibly potent combination for our imaginations– Joshua passing through the city of Jericho. Our memories should be ringing with echoes from the Old Testament. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumblin’ down. Joshua led the people of Israel out of the wilderness and into the land of Promise and Rest. But just as soon as our memories begin ringing with New Testament harmonies of that Old Testament story, Mark tells us that Jesus and his entourage were leaving the city. They didn’t linger there. The battle wasn't going to be fought outside the city of Jericho this time. This time the battle was going to be fought (and won) outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem so Jesus leaves Jericho without lingering and continues on his way.

But as they were leaving that ancient fortified city (with its walls still intact this time) they passed by a blind man named Bartimaeus, sitting by the roadside begging. And this is where Mark lingers. Mark lingers to tell us that this blind beggar-man is named Bartimaeus – that is, ‘the Son of Timaeus’.

It is parenthetical comments like this, scattered throughout Mark’s gospel, that cause some NT scholars to believe that Mark was writing to a Gentile audience that would have needed to have certain Jewish customs and Aramaic words explained. Jesus and his earliest followers were Aramaic speaking Jews, but those reading Mark’s gospel some 40-50 years later were not. They lived in a different place, in different conditions, and spoke a different language. And Mark wants to make sure that his audience recognizes the name Bartimaeus as an Aramaic / Greek hybrid name. The first part “Bar” is the Aramaic prefix meaning “Son of” and the second part “Timaeus” is a Greek name. Thus, the man sitting alongside the road outside the city of Jericho was “the son of Timaeus.”

But we can probe that name a little further.

There are two different ways we can interpret the name Timaeus. The blind beggar-man sitting alongside the road outside the city of Jericho is either Bartimaeus- “the Son of Honor” or he is Bartimaeus- “the Son of the Unclean.” The difference comes down to which Aramaic word lies behind the Aramaic/ Greek 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.

So, let’s rewind the story just a bit and start again.

Jesus, along with his disciples and followers, is on his way up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival and, as he’s already warned his disciples, to be arrested and killed. On the way they pass through the ancient fortified city of Jericho. But they don't linger there. Jesus and his followers leave Jericho, continuing on their way to Jerusalem, and as they leave they pass a blind beggar-man sitting along the road. He is Bartimaeus, “the Son of the Unclean.”

He hadn’t always been that pitiful blind beggar. He had been a part of normal, healthy society. He’d had an occupation. Perhaps he was a craftsman, or a farmer. Perhaps he'd been a scholar- a scribe before going blind. But something happened to him and he lost his sight. Perhaps he was kicked by an animal. Perhaps he'd contracted a fever. Perhaps, like the apocryphal Jewish hero Tobit, he was blinded by bird droppings that fell in his eyes as he slept. We don't know how Bartimaeus lost his sight. But it was gone and so was his honor.

To be sick, to be physically disabled, to be crippled, in the ancient world was a sign, to many, of God’s displeasure. Just as health and prosperity were indications of God’s favor, sickness and poverty were often considered to be signs of God’s displeasure with an individual. Barren women were ashamed. Lepers were expelled from the community. To be sick or disfigured or deformed was considered by many to be cursed by God.

It’s somewhat different today. Those with physical handicaps of one kind or another can still be productive members of society. Blind people can work in many fields – but in the first century, to be blind was to be totally dependent upon someone else. The blind were unable to work, unable to support themselves or their family. And those who had no one to care and provide for them were, as Bartimaeus, reduced to begging at the side of the road.

Now he’d picked a good spot. If one has to beg, then the pilgrim’s path toward Jerusalem for Passover was the right place to be, but to be a beggar was to be a “son of the unclean.” There was no honor in it. There was only shame.

But when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by he began to shout. He must have heard others speaking about this Jesus, talking about his mighty acts of power. And Bartimaeus began to shout, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” This is the only place where Mark uses that particular name for Jesus – and is the only healing story where the healed individual is named. The names are important here.

The “Son of the Unclean” called out to the passing “Son of David,” pleading for him to stop and to have mercy. But the crowd tried to silence him. The crowd tried to perform an anti-miracle- they tried to turn him into a mute.[ii] But he wouldn't be silenced. He called out even louder, “Son of David” have mercy on this “son of the unclean.”

And Jesus stopped. He called for Bartimaeus to be brought to him, and he asked the blind man the same question he asked James and John in the previous story, “What would you have me do for you?” Bartimaues, this “Son of the Unclean” gave a very different answer than the “sons of Thunder.” They wanted power and position. They wanted prestige and honor. Blind Bartimaeus wanted to see again.

And, where Jesus was unable to give James and John what they wanted, he grants Bartimaeus’ request. “Go,” he said, “Your faith has healed you.” And immediately Bartimaeus’ sight was restored. He could see again.

This blind man begging at the side of the road outside of Jericho was no longer Bartimaeus the “Son of the Unclean.” He was Bartimaeus “the Son of Honor.” Even in his blindness he saw more than the crowd of Jesus’ followers. And because of this vision he was honored. Jesus broke ranks with the crowd. He left behind their prejudice and scorn, and transformed the “Son of the Unclean” into the “Son of Honor.”

We might also see in Bartimaeus a foreshadowing of Jesus’ final days. Just as illness and physical defects were considered to be a curse from God (or at least an indication of God’s displeasure) a person put death on the cross was understood to have been cursed by God. It was an honor-less death, an abominable death. A victim of Crucifixion was a “son of the unclean,” but Jesus, the “Son of David” has already been chosen and marked by God as his “Beloved” son – a “Son of Honor.” His shameful and unclean death will be undone by his glorious resurrection.