What’s Your Name?

Although I grew up attending Sunday school regularly, while reading through the Gospels recently one story in particular stood out to me all over again. Remember Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus? In the book of Mark, he sat on the roadside begging as Jesus and His disciples passed by.

When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus passing by, he began to shout out to Him in desperation. Although the by standers demanded that he be quiet, Bartimaeus cried out all the more. The fact was that he had a problem. He wasn’t content to just allow the Solution to pass him by. He wasn’t satisfied and he wasn’t willing hide his dissatisfaction behind a mask of religious propriety to appease the 'church folk' around him.

Bartimaeus’ problem was that his situation was making a mockery of his destiny. His name Bartimaeus translated as son of Timaeus, means that Bartimaeus was the son of the one who was “highly prized”. Rather than being the second generation of "highly prized" individuals he was sitting on the side of the road begging. He could have just given in and accepted this as his lot, but he was determined that this would not be how his story ends. Instead, he cried out loud!

Did you know that you could get Heaven’s attention? Did you know that the Son of God would listen if you called? Well, Bartimaeus created such a ruckus that the Son of God stopped in His tracks. Jesus’ words to him were ‘What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?’. At that point, that moment in time a blind beggar who sat on the roadside in Jerusalem had all the attention of heaven. The angels were perched ready to enact Jesus’ command on Bartimaeus’ behalf. All the creative power in the Word of God was holding its breath waiting for Bartimaeus’ response. Just because he had the humility and the tenacity to cry out for help in spite of pride, opposition and disapproval.

I wonder how many other people in that crowd had needs but didn’t cry out that day. I wonder how many of us walk around broken, wounded and stressed from problems in our lives. How many of our situations are making a mockery of our destiny. All it takes is to dump the propriety and the religious mask and cry out with the humility and desperation of a blind man. Don't let the Solution pass you by!!

What’s your name? How will your story end?