Bartimeus (Bartimaeus)

Bartimaeus is the name Mark gives to a blind beggar healed by Jesus on the road outside Jericho; the name is Aramaic, bar-Timai, meaning "son of Timaeus," which Mark both preserves and explains for Greek-speaking readers (Mark 10:46).

The text says he was sitting by the road begging when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, and he began to cry out, "Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mark 10:47). Many in the crowd rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more (Mark 10:48; compare Matthew 20:31; Luke 18:39). Jesus stopped, called him, and asked what he wanted; he answered, "Lord, that I may see again" (Luke 18:41; Mark 10:51). Jesus replied, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well," and he immediately received his sight and followed Jesus on the way (Mark 10:52). Luke adds that he followed "glorifying God," and that the watching crowd also praised God (Luke 18:43).

Established observation of the texts: only Mark names the man and gives his father's name, and only Mark supplies the Aramaic form at all. Matthew speaks of two blind men rather than one (Matthew 20:30), and Luke of a single unnamed man (Luke 18:35). Mark and Matthew set the healing as Jesus is leaving Jericho (Mark 10:46; Matthew 20:29), while Luke sets it as he draws near the town (Luke 18:35). Whether these are variant ways of telling one event or memories of more than one is a question the Gospels themselves do not settle, and interpreters have answered it differently. The title Bartimaeus uses, "son of David," is a royal and messianic designation in the Gospels' usage, so his cry is not only a plea for mercy but a confession about who Jesus is (Mark 10:47-48; Matthew 20:30).

Christian traditions read the figure in different registers. Patristic and later interpreters have often treated his blindness as a figure for spiritual blindness and his healing as an image of illumination, and some traditions venerate him as a saint with a commemoration in their calendars. Others read the account primarily as a discipleship model, stressing that he receives sight and then follows Jesus "on the way" (Mark 10:52), and note that Jesus credits his faith rather than any action of his own (Luke 18:42). The differences between the three Gospel accounts have been harmonized in various ways across traditions, and no single reading of the man's role is held by all Christians.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.