One of the Mt. Horeb choir members plays a mental agility game while driving the highways and byways of Greater Chapin. Faced with the tag of the car ahead, the chorister provides a Bible name for each letter on the license. Not many come to mind at the end of the alphabet. Fortunately, you can brush up on your mastery of names in the Good Book by – what else? – consulting Wikipedia®, “List of Biblical Names,” long lists provided for each letter. Even Zeus is mentioned. For some inexplicable reason, however, “X” is missing in the list even though King Xerxes does make it in some translations, apparently for King Ahasuerus in Esther 2:16.
Names serve as clearer designators for “Hey, YOU!” Reading Dickens or J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter volumes, you soon discover that a person’s name often reveals a complex back story. Characters’ pedigree, demeanor, social standing, or moral fiber are reflected in their names, some even securing a place in our own speech, such as “scrooge.” Ebenezer Scrooge’s irascible “Bah! Humbug” is set in marked contrast to the benevolent and merry Mr. Fezziwig of A Christmas Carol. Harry Potter’s nemesis, Lord Voldemort, has refashioned his original name to further personify evil.
No less is true in the biblical text, although we are often stymied by Aramaic [Hebrew] and Greek origins of most of the names encountered. I sympathize with lectors and pastors who face a barrage of names, passages like Jesus’ own genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel. Because of our difficulty recognizing the biblical languages which still poke through the English translations, we miss the helpful, sometimes significant back stories the names provide, some referring to persons and others to places. The messages those names carry would not as easily have been missed by folks first hearing the passages still read Sunday after Sunday. And, if we’re not careful, we will miss Blind Bartimaeus’ story present through his name this coming Sunday in Mark 10.
[OK, take a deep breath…] Bartimaeus appears only once in all of scripture, but he comes with a back story well worth remembering. He is a blind beggar who bears a typical name, Bar-Timaeus meaning “son of Timeaus.” [That construction is the same Jesus uses to address Peter in Matthew 16:17: “Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah.”] Nevertheless, the passage in Sunday’s gospel is a bit oddly phrased. Mark 10:46 observes, As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. Given our brush-up on Hebrew naming, this would literally mean, “…the Son of Timaeus son of Timeaus.” Scripture is hard enough in the straightforward parts. To borrow from Luther, “What DOES this odd repetition mean???”
Deciding what the peculiar way to identify the beggar means is one of the many passages which make Bible scholars lose sleep. Bart’s daddy’s name itself has specific meaning from its Greek origin, suggesting “the honored one.” Thus, Bart might at first be thought to be “the Son of the Honored One.” Still, the Hebrew prefix, “Bar” and Timeaus repeated makes that solution somewhat jarring as we’ve seen. Part of the problem figuring out Hebrew sources is that there are no vowels, only consonants, in the language. One decides in situations like this what is likely meant. Another scholar may have come nearer with another solution. The second part of Bart’s name could be based on a Hebrew word for “unclean.” Thus, while Bartimaeus’ daddy is “the one of Honor,” Bart might well imply “Son of Uncleanness.”
Bartimaeus is a blind beggar, one of the nameless poverty-stricken folks who line the roadways or sit hunched up in the doorways. Shunned, they are considered unclean, to be ignored and avoided. No wonder the crowds are angry at his insistence to speak to Jesus – doesn’t he know his place?! The disciples have repeatedly tried to keep such folks with profound needs away from Jesus. They even have tried to block the little children drawn to Jesus. Despite such barriers, this blind beggar knows who Jesus is and his power to heal, insisting that he be received by the only one who can cure him.
Bartimaeus speaks up for us all, breaking through all manner of stubborn resistance to the work of God in Christ [often by otherwise honorable people!]. The blind beggar sees more clearly than the people keeping him away from Jesus. Jesus in another passage declares his mission: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free [Luke 4:18].
Bartimaeus reveals once again that faith is revealed in a person’s claiming part in the healing, saving relationship Jesus offers to “the whole cosmos” [John 3:16]. Perhaps the dying Luther was thinking of Bartimaeus when he concluded on his deathbed, “We are beggars. This is true.”