Son of Timaeus: The Desperation of a Needy Man

I was about six or seven years when I desperately wanted my father to buy a VCR player. To my utmost disappointment, he refused. I was so pained, I could have almost traded anything for one, especially since almost everyone had one in their homes. As I saw the isolation of my situation and the adamant stance of my father, I resorted to praying almost every day for God to meet my need so I could watch movies until I went off to boarding school. So many years after, I still smile when I remember how desperate I was to acquire one as though it was food. Not having one till some years later made me resort to watching NTA channel 5, channel 10 & channel 7, and reading novels. It did not have an adverse effect on me; it was not a need, it was a want.

A need is a thing we have to have while a want is a thing we will like to have. A need is essential, compulsory for functional living (food, housing, clothes) while a want is something you can do without.

A couple of days ago, I read Mark’s account of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46 – 52). I have copied it below in italics:

 46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

 48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you."

 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."

 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

There is also a comparative account in Luke 18:35-43.

As I read the first verse, my thoughts went to his family. Per vs 46, Bartimaeus was the son of Timaeus. What of his family? How come his family did not fend for him? Why did they let their son beg? Were they poor or did they just not care? Was he considered as a burden? Who brought him to the station of his begging? Who brought him food? Who guided him home? Did he even have a home?

Whatever the answers are to the questions, Bartimaeus would not have been in that condition if he had his sight. He would have been able to learn a skill or trade and earn a living. He would have been able to move around freely, eat what he wanted, socialize and many other things. For the man who resorted to begging, I doubt if he had a wife. Modern day living seems better equipped to assist the visually impaired so they have a semblance of normal living but that was likely not the case back then.

In this summary of his despairing situation, let’s go through Mark’s account.

46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

Historically, Jews usually were referred to as son / daughter of ‘so so and so’. In Hebrew, the prefix ‘Bat’ or ‘Ben’ while in Aramic, the prefix ‘Bar’ was used. Therefore, Bartimaeus actually means son of Timaeus. Why he was so called in the biblical accounts is not a theological issue I can dabble into. It is interesting to note that Timaeus means ‘to honour’. The irony is that the son of Honour was begging for alms on the way out of Jericho.

Sometimes in life, if not most times, our situations contradict our names, our promises, prophecies and faith. Just like the name Abraham was in stark contrast to his initial childless state. But now with hindsight, we can all see very clearly that Abraham really is the father of many nations! Naomi (meaning pleasantness) also had a contradictory situation and wanted to change her name (to Mara, meaning bitterness) to reflect her despair.

We all face situations that are opposite of God’s will – infirmity instead of health, want instead of abundance, stagnation instead of progress, reproach instead of favour, disgrace instead of grace, closed doors instead open doors and many more. But do these challenging situations nullify the truth of God? Certainly not! Let God be true and every man (contradictory situations) be a liar.

47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Son of Timaeus was in a desperate situation. But note that the passage says ‘when he heard that it was Jesus’ meaning that he already knew who Jesus was. He had heard about Jesus and of the miracles He had performed. He had more than enough for him to conclude that Jesus could heal him. If Bartimaeus had been a female, he would have been daydreaming about how Jesus would saunter up to him and touch his eyes :-) Infact, he had already believed Jesus to be the Messiah because he referred to Him specifically as ‘Son of David’. In his mind, Jesus was the Saviour he needed because his mind had taken more than enough time to ruminate on all the signs and wonders he had heard that Jesus performed and considered that healing his eyes was not a hard thing for Jesus to do. The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Bartimaeus did not have the chance to prepare a grand speech for Jesus like some of us do when we want to see our spiritual leaders and start reciting serious grammar! Thank God the Kingdom of God is not by eloquence of speech or refinement of persona, otherwise only a class of people will get in.

There are days when the traffic in Lagos would seem like it generated from the pit of hell. Almost the entire city would be on lockdown. After spending extra hours in the closing hour traffic, people usually cave in to patronize from street hawkers (who by the way bless God for the traffic). A couple of times, it has so happened that it looked like the hawkers had either sold out or gone on strike. After turning my neck here and there with no gala seller in view, the moment I saw one that was far away, I called another hawker selling something else to help me call the gala seller because he did not seem to hear my shouting or honking. Hian! Can you imagine the vexation if that gala seller had not attended to my hunger? If I could give such a trivial matter the necessary attention it needed to ensure its success, how come when it comes to the things of God, I am more subdued and relaxed? Is it the same for you? You are asked to fast and pray for 3 days and break at 6pm each day but you only go on hunger strike because you refuse to find time to pray or you fast till 2pm. Are we fasting for Jesus or for ourselves? Or you have a vigil to attend in church and you make excuses about having to rest. Is your situation of need desperate enough to warrant your undivided attention?

Back to Bartimaeus, why didn’t he just cry “Jesus give my sight!’? He asked Jesus to have mercy. Because overtrumps any judgement. Many of us live by a wishy-washy moral code that is nowhere near the righteousness of God. Rather than stating why it was not fair that he was blind, the desperate man cried for mercy. Given that all men have fallen short of the glory of God, there is no moral compass that can guarantee our justification other than the imputed righteousness through faith in Christ.

48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

People are wicked, pure and simple. It is only by the grace of God that we are changed to be like Jesus. How could people that had 2 functioning eyes have been telling a blind man to keep quiet? It was not as if Jesus was giving a sermon o, He was on His way out of Jericho to Jerusalem. They knew Bartimaeus, they knew his situation, they had heard of the signs and wonders Jesus performed but they failed to help him get Jesus’ attention. It was not as if Jesus said He would heal only ten people and they were trying to safeguard a slot for themselves. I wonder what makes us humans to be so unkind. Imagine in church, pastor gives everyone a prayer point and the man next to you is shouting out his prayer as if Jesus must literally come down and answer him but his noise is disturbing your focus in prayer. So you open your eyes and shoot him with a dirty look and hiss inwardly as you try to turn to the other side to get some peace to pray your gentle prayers … It is then time for praise & worship and the worship leader says ‘Lift up your hands and give God a wave offering’. You wonder if it is by force to wave. Shouldn’t my wave come from my heart, you ask yourself. In reluctance, you lift one hand to your chest level and try to concentrate on being grateful. Next thing, your neighbour’s arm accidentally brushes your head. You open one eye and see your shorter neighbor, eyes closed hands lifted high above her head waving enthusiastically to the heavens. ‘Hmm...’ you sign in despair…. Can you see yourself? Are you anti-neighbour’s miracle, anti-‘seeing Bartimaeus’?

Why are we seemingly wired to be unkind or selfish or self-centred? That one is another topic really. But what I would like to bring out is that when you are looking for your miracle, do not expect everyone (friends & family) to support you. When you try to be more serious in the things of God, do expect that people will mock you and seek to discourage you. Are you trying to put off bad habits, expect people who are looking out for you to fail. Sometimes, the road to achieving great things is a lonely road. That is why you need the Holy Spirit to comfort you and guide you. By strength, no man shall prevail. See Bartimaeus, as he mentally saw his window of opportunity being hampered human obstacles, he shouted the more. When obstacles as such arise, we need to draw out on that little faith and press on the more because the miracle is just around the corner. Wicked people!

49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you."

I could imagine Bartimaeus shouting at the top of his lungs with the entirety of his being vibrating especially after the people told him to be quiet. Jesus heard his cry, stood still to attend to him and commanded that he be called. Permit me to refer to Luke’s account. Verse 40 says ‘So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.’ Jesus told those who were telling him to keep quiet to bring him to Him! Praise God! It shows God can even use our obstacles or enemies to bring us to our miracles. My prayer is that the stumbling blocks on the way turn to stepping stones leading to miracles.

50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

The kind of noise Bartimaeus generated must have shaken his body. As he kept crying out, I could imagine him struggling to take a kneeling position or trying to stand on his feet, wondering where exactly Jesus was. Imagine him at the road side with throngs of bodies blocking anyone’s view of him. Moreso, the surrounding bodies could easily drown out his voice. But when he realized he had no one to help, his cries grew more insistent. In his agitation, his garment may have encumbered his movement. So when Jesus called for him, he yanked off the annoying garment and rose up and came to Jesus.

Yes, we have to remove any hindrance that would hamper our walk to Jesus. We cannot afford distractions and all manner of hindrances. Sins that easily beset us should be practically commanded to vamoose from our lives.

51 So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."

Even though Bartimaeus situation was obvious, Jesus asked him what he wanted Him to do for him. Bartimaeus could have been thinking about money or having a wife or any other thing. It is important to specify what we want as much as we can when we pray.

 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

His faith was the key ingredient required. Everything else Bartimaeus did was based on his faith. He had heard the Word and ruminated on it, and when the time for action came, he swung out like Mohammed Ali to knock out any opponent that could hamper his breakthrough. In his mind, he had drawn a mental picture of the eyes he hoped for and it served as the evidence required to possess it.

There is so much we can learn from Bartimaeus so we can succesfully take delivery of our needs that the Father is willing and ready to bless us with. But we are sometimes nonchalant about things. Sometimes we believe within one moment and the next moment we let unbelief uproot it.

Nowadays, we Christians seem quite relaxed in the things of God. We are relaxed about our daily walk, spiritual growth, and even getting our daily benefits. We have removed all forms of ‘gra-gra’ needed to make heaven. Our actions seem to say once we make the confession talk, nothing can take out our names from the heavenly register. Now that is a big lie! Where is the part of working out our salvation with fear and trembling? Back in the university, I was quite unmindful of the things of God (I still have a lot to learn o). I had a dream that rapture happened and I was left behind. You would not believe the way I reacted as if nothing happened. Rather than adjust myself, I tried finding out about what would happen after the rapture and considering how I could adjust to it. Now, I shout a loud ‘God forbid!’ to it. Unless you have ‘tipexed’ it out, if your Bible still says from the days of John the Baptist, the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force, where is your spiritual violence? To be mindful of the things of God is to have our minds full of God.

A man of God I really respect passed a comment in one of his messages that got me thinking. He said that it is quite hard to differentiate a Christian and a non-Christian. If you enter an office with many staff members, would you be able to differentiate between the Christians and non-Christians by their mode of dressing, conduct, self-control, speech, work ethics or any other way? Can people identify you to be a Christian by your conduct (without you professing to be one or seeing the tens of stickers on your vehicle or doorpost or bag).

Psalm 20:5

We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.