"Bartimaeus"
Overview
A Name to Remember
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus heals many people—a leper in Mark 1, a woman bent over for eighteen years in Luke 13, a paralytic in Matthew 9—yet the Gospel writers rarely give us their names. Only one healed person is named directly by Jesus's encounter in this way: Bartimaeus, the blind beggar of Jericho Mark 10:46–52. Why Scripture preserves his name we cannot say with certainty, but Bartimaeus is a name worth remembering.
A Cry of Faith
Sitting by the roadside listening for footsteps, Bartimaeus heard a multitude approaching and learned it was Jesus of Nazareth. He began to scream—the Greek word means a loud, urgent shout—"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The title Son of David was a Messianic confession, one Jesus had previously avoided because the crowds associated it with a political deliverer who would overthrow Rome. But now, as the cross drew near, Jesus permitted the cry. Soon the same title would echo on Palm Sunday: "Hosanna to the Son of David!"
When the crowd tried to silence him, Bartimaeus only cried louder. Jesus stopped and called him. Notice the contrast with the request of James and John just verses earlier Mark 10:35–37: asked the very same question—"What do you want me to do for you?"—the sons of thunder requested seats of glory, while Bartimaeus asked only to see. He addressed Jesus as Rabbouni—"my Lord and my Master"—the same word Mary Magdalene would use at the empty tomb John 20:16. Jesus said, "Go; your faith has made you well." His healing was not earned by faith, for Jesus also healed people without faith; rather, Bartimaeus trusted Christ as the Messiah who takes away sin, and so was made well at a deeper level than sight alone.
The Cloak Left Behind
One small detail carries great weight: "throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus" Mark 10:50. In the first century, a beggar's license was not a certificate but an article of clothing—a cloak of recognizable style and color identifying its wearer as a licensed beggar. Bartimaeus left his cloak in the dust because he would not need it anymore. He was confident not only that Jesus could heal him but that Jesus would. The crowd's words—"Take heart; get up; he is calling you"—assured him that the One with power to restore sight was willing to use it.
Throwing Off Our Cloaks
How often we display our lack of confidence in Christ—doubting His power, His presence, His sovereignty, His providential care, His forgiveness of our sins. We pull on cloaks of worry, fretting, and doubt until they become our identity, and we cling to them tightly. Yet Christ comes to us in the blindness of our spiritual condition, stops, and goes to the cross to bear our sin, clothing us instead in His righteous garment so that when God looks upon us He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ.
We can say with confidence that the Lord Jesus can do whatever He wills, and that He will act according to that good will in our lives. Day by day, through His Word, He pries our fingers off the old cloaks and tells us, "You don't need that anymore." Like Bartimaeus, by God's grace, we leave them behind and follow Him on the way.
Transcript
Let's open our Bibles, please, this morning for our study to the 10th chapter of the gospel 1s
of Mark, Mark the 10th chapter for our study this morning. 8s
As one moves through the various gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we see Jesus healing 15s
people. 24s
I think, for example, in Mark the first chapter, a leper came to him, begging him, and 25s
kneeling, he said to him, if you choose, you can make me clean. 33s
We see that Jesus did, indeed, choose to heal, and the leper was healed. 39s
Or, in Luke the 13th chapter. 46s
In just then, there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years. 49s
She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 57s
When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, woman, you are set free from your ailment. 62s
Or another example, in Matthew the 9th chapter. 70s
He then said to the paralytic, stand up, take your bed, and go to your home. 74s
This example with the leper, or the example with the one who is crippled, or the example 83s
with the one who is a paralytic. 88s
There's just a part of the examples of the healings of Jesus. 91s
Did you notice though, in the examples that I shared with you, that Jesus never mentions 98s
the name of the one who was healed? 106s
In fact, as you look at the other accounts of Jesus healing people, there is only one time 112s
where Jesus mentions the name of the person that he healed. 121s
In that name, that person, Bartomase. 129s
Why was Bartomase mentioned? 137s
Don't know. 140s
We can speculate that perhaps Bartomase was well known in the early church, but it would 142s
simply be speculation. 148s
Scripture doesn't tell us why of all the people of Jesus healed. 150s
He was the only one whose name was mentioned. 155s
We just don't know. 159s
But we do know this. 162s
Bartomase is a name to remember. 165s
Let's take a look, please. 172s
In the 10th chapter, we'll pick up in verse 46 for our study. 173s
They came to Jericho as he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho. 181s
Bartomase, son of Temeyes, a blind beggar was sitting by the roadside. 187s
Imagine if you would. 195s
Bartomase sitting there by the roadside and he's listening. 197s
He would do that every single day. 202s
He would listen for the sound of footsteps of someone approaching near him. 204s
So he could ask for money. 211s
He could ask for help. 213s
But on this day, he didn't just hear of one or two sets of feet coming toward him. 215s
He heard a multitude of footsteps. 223s
In the very next verse, verse 47, it says, 227s
when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, 231s
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 237s
The word there that describes how he cried out, 244s
it quite literally means to speak very loudly. 248s
It literally means to scream. 253s
So here is Bartomase screaming to Jesus. 258s
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 263s
He uses the Messianic title, son of David. 271s
Jews would have been very familiar with that Messianic title. 276s
They would have associated the Messianic title in their minds with a political leader, 281s
that they were hoping would come and would destroy the Romans. 287s
Jesus was incredibly hesitant about using that title. 293s
He shied away from it in account after account. 299s
Why? 304s
Well, he understood the association of the people expecting the political leader. 304s
He didn't want to be associated with that. 309s
Also, if he had used it, he would have then been prematurely killed before the appointed time. 311s
But now, as the cross has drawn close, he allows for this title to be shared, 321s
in fact, even screamed and soon in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 329s
He's going to hear Hosanna to the son of David. 337s
So now he doesn't stop the use of Son of David. 344s
We go on, verse 49, 352s
many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly. 357s
Son of David have mercy on me. 366s
You see the picture there of this blind beggar screaming at the top of his lungs, 370s
calling out to Jesus the son of David to have mercy on him, screaming to Jesus. 378s
And Jesus stops. 389s
The text says, Jesus stood still and said, 397s
call him here and they called the blind man saying to him, 402s
take heart, get up, he is calling you. 408s
So throwing office cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus, 413s
then Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? 418s
Compare that question to when Jesus asked the exact same question just a few 427s
verses earlier. They are earlier in the 10th chapter. The story is about James and John, 433s
the sons of thunder. They must have been quite a pair. Well, the Bible tells us 441s
that they came to Jesus and they said, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. 447s
That's a whole other sermon just in and of itself, isn't it? 454s
And then Jesus turns to them and asks the question, 459s
what is it you want me to do for you? 463s
Scripture says and they said to him, grant us to sit, 468s
when it's your right hand and when it's your left in your glory. 471s
So there was they wanted the seats of honor. They wanted the seats of prestige. 477s
They wanted to be on either side of Jesus sitting there in glory. 481s
They wanted that honor. 486s
And what was Bartomancer's response to that question? 491s
He just wanted to see. He just wanted to see. 496s
Look, please, at verse 51, 503s
then Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? 508s
The blind man said to him, 513s
my teacher, let me see again. 516s
That word for teacher is Rabonai. It's different than rabai. 522s
Rabonai is really a confession statement. 529s
Think for a moment to marry Magdalene in the garden 534s
when she sees the risen Lord Jesus Christ and she turns to Jesus and says, 537s
when Bartomancer turns to Jesus and says, 547s
Rabonai, what he is saying is, is my Lord and my master. 552s
Verse 52, Jesus said to him, go your faith as may do well immediately. 562s
He regained his sight and followed him on the way. 570s
Careful with that verse that says, that his faith made him well, 577s
it wasn't the cause of his healing because we see in scripture 583s
sometimes Jesus healed people that didn't have any faith. 587s
No, he had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, 591s
the one that would take away his sins and because of that, 596s
he was made well on a much deeper and broader level than just having his sight restored. 601s
You see, this is wellness now in terms of salvation as he trusted in the Messiah, 610s
the Lord Jesus to take away his sins. 617s
Bartomancer was his name. Bartomancer is the bigger in Jericho. 624s
Bartomancer is the one who cried out to the Lord. 632s
Bartomancer is the one that received the healing of his sight. 636s
Bartomancer is the one who called Jesus the Son of David and trusted in him as the Messiah 641s
that would take away his sin. Bartomancer was his name. Bartomancer is a name to remember. 649s
But here's the question. 663s
Why is this in this incredible encounter that Bartomancer had with the Lord Jesus Christ? 667s
Why is it in this incredible encounter? 675s
Does Bartomancer throw off his cloak? 682s
Leaving it behind. 688s
Why does he throw off his cloak? Why is that detail written in Holy scripture? 691s
Why does Bartomancer throw off? 699s
His cloak. 705s
In ancient day, in the first century, if you were going to be a beggar, 710s
you needed to get a license to beg. 716s
And so what you would do is you would go to the authorities and you would present to them the reason why 721s
you had to beg and they would then give you a license. 727s
So Bartomancer at one point would have gone to the authorities. 731s
He would have communicated to them that he was blind and they would have given him a license. 737s
The license would not have been a certificate or something that he had to carry around with him. 746s
In case someone said, show your license to beg. 752s
Nope. In the first century, the license to beg was actually an article of clothing, 756s
specifically a cloak. It was a certain style. It was a certain color. 767s
So that when people would be coming down the road, if they would see someone along the side of the road, 774s
they could quickly identify them that they were a beggar and a licensed beggar. 781s
Because they could see the license being worn, the cloak. 791s
Bartomancer was confident that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 801s
could heal him. That's why he cried out to Jesus. He was confident that Jesus could heal him. 810s
He also became confident that Jesus would heal him. 819s
That Jesus would heal him. 826s
Take a look again at verse 49. 829s
Jesus stood still and said, cold him here and they called the blind man saying to him, take heart, 833s
get up. He is calling you. Those would have been good words for Bartomancer. 840s
Because he would know that the very one who had the power to give him sight was calling him, 851s
that it was Jesus' will that indeed the sight be restored. 858s
And so what does he do? But he leaves his cloak behind. He throws off his cloak. 865s
Why does he throw off his cloak? Why does he leave it behind? 875s
Because he's not going to need that anymore, is he? 881s
He's not going to need that license to beg anymore. 885s
He knows that he is going to receive because his Jesus will, his sight back. And so he throws off 890s
his cloak. He doesn't need it anymore. And he leaves it behind. 897s
That's confidence in Christ. 908s
If we're honest with ourselves, so often our lack of confidence in Christ is on display. 916s
We can display a lack of confidence in Christ when we doubt his omnipotence. 928s
The fact that he is all powerful that he can do anything. 935s
We express our lack of confidence in Christ when we doubt that he's omnipresent, 940s
that he is always with us. Every one of us. We express our lack of confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. 947s
When we doubt his sovereignty, his rule, when we doubt his providential care, 960s
when we doubt the forgiveness of sins. 968s
And we can put on our cloaks of worry and fret and doubt. 974s
Why even it can become common identity to us, as we wear our cloaks of worry, 983s
doubt fretting, and we can cling to those cloaks so tightly. 990s
But the Lord Jesus Christ comes amidst the blindness of our spiritual condition. 1006s
The Lord Jesus Christ comes and he stops. Even though we don't cry out to him, 1015s
he stops. And he goes to the cross and bears your sin and my sin and the sin of the entire world upon him. 1025s
Effecting forgiveness for us through his blood. He goes to the cross and receives the punishment of God that should have fallen upon us. 1037s
That incredible grace of God as he stops and goes to the cross for us. 1052s
He heals us of the effects of sin. The effects of sin of that broken relationship with God. 1063s
He cloaks us in his righteous garment so that when God looks upon us, what he sees is the perfect 1073s
righteous garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us the sight of faith. All born of his incredible grace. 1081s
In confidence, we can say that the Lord Jesus Christ can. He can do whatever he wants. 1098s
And we can say with confidence that he will, if it's the Lord's will, 1108s
in other words, if it's the Lord's will for a situation to change in our life, then God will change it. 1117s
If it's the Lord's will for a healing in our life, then we will be healed. He can and he will, 1122s
if it is his will. That's confidence that we can have in the Lord Jesus Christ 1128s
as Jesus keeps coming to us. Each and every day through His Word, 1139s
praying our fingers off of our old cloaks, praying them off, removing them, saying to us, 1147s
you don't need to wear that old cloak anymore. You don't need to wear that old cloak of 1165s
any more. You don't need to wear that old cloak of fretting anymore. You don't need to wear that old cloak of 1173s
doubting anymore. You don't need to wear those old cloaks anymore. 1179s
Because it's a new season. It's a new season. 1188s
Bartimeus, he threw off his cloak and he left it behind because he didn't need it anymore. 1199s
And by God's grace, by God's grace, we do the same. 1212s
Who removes those old cloaks from us and says, you don't need those anymore. 1226s
And you don't need those anymore. 1250s
And you don't need those anymore. 1250s
You don't need those anymore. 1250s