The Blind Son of Timaeus

In the sermon today, pastor taught about "Blind Bartimaeus." We toss that name off quite easily. It is actually Bar Timaeus, son of Timaeus. Elsewhere in the chapter (Mark 10) he is referred to as "the blind man".

So we have this blind man who is only known by his father's name. Who are you? I'm the son of Timaios (greek transliteration). Timaios meaning: either "highly prized" (gr) or "ethically challenged" (Aramaic). So what? What's in a name? Bar Timaeus, or "the blind guy". I suppose names have a lot to do with our own identity. Bar Timaeus would refer others to his "highly prized" father. It was perhaps the one point of dignity left to a man who was reduced to begging for a living. "I'm not important enough to have a name, but my dad was."

Sitting on the ground in beggars clothes, he hears that Jesus is coming by. What had he heard? Jesus (the fame of him went throughout all the region). Hey Jesus! Have mercy on me. Hey Jesus! Nobody pays attention to me, I'm just "the blind beggar guy." "Shut up blind beggar guy, we want to hear what Jesus is saying!" "Hey Jesus!" He screams even louder, more insistent, "have mercy on me!"

It's enough, Jesus stops and says "bring that loud guy over here."

The crowd says "hey blind beggar guy, get happy and get up, Jesus has called you."

"what do you want", Jesus asks. Blind beggar guy says "I want to see." He gets his vision and follows Jesus down the road.

What is the lesson? Oh I suppose there's a thousand of them. A thousand or a hundred thousand, forever known as Blind Bartemaeus. A story of hope for the hopeless, sight to the blind, significance for the insignificant.

A certain man, lame from his mother's womb (Acts 3:2). No name, just a beggar with a need. Beggars- it would be easy to say we're all beggars in need of a savior, and we are.

You can find a message in there for you. Maybe it's not so important who you are, what you or others call you, or who your daddy was, but just what you do when Jesus comes by.

Jesus, Son of David, Have Mercy on Me.