Resurrection Sunday
Bartimaeus
5 April – 33 AD
For nearly two weeks, Bartimaeus ben Timaeus walked around in an incoherent daze, overwhelmed by what was happening. His mind literally could not process all that had occurred since the moment 12 days previously outside of Jericho when he encountered the rabbi Jesus on the way to Jerusalem for His triumphal entry into the City of David.
Bartimaeus had been blind for eight tortuous years, having suffered mightily for his sinful lifestyle. Since his father’s death, he had been a worthless fellow, in bondage to strong drink, estranged from his brothers, stealing from his elderly mother, and living a debauched and licentious existence. Then, in the heat of an angry drunken brawl, he received a blow to his head and permanently lost his sight. Since that day, he had become a familiar sight as he wandered about the streets of Jericho, begging for his food and living hand to mouth.
Until Jesus passed just a few feet from him on the way to Jerusalem…
Bartimaeus had heard the numerous, excited tales of miraculous healings performed by this Jesus from Nazareth – that he had even raised a man from death. He could sense the expectant energy of the crowd, and his heightened hearing caught snippets of multiple conversations declaring the truth of His miracles and imminent arrival in Jerusalem as the long-awaited messiah – the Christ.
The fog in Bartimaeus’ brain cleared, and a scene played in his memory as though he were standing there once again. A cold spring night 33 years ago, tending sheep with his brothers just outside of Bethlehem, the city of David, when he was but a youth. A heavenly vision, an indescribably beautiful choir, and an angel who said that the Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born and they were to find and worship Him. His name was Jesus…
Then the crowd increased, and he knew the rabbi was passing near. His time to act was now! Bartimaeus began to cry out frantically and shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Many people spoke harshly to him and kept sternly telling him to be quiet, but he increased his efforts, crying out fervently and repeatedly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Bartimaeus heard Jesus stop and say to His followers, “Call him here.”
He was groping the ground for some form of support when several disciples approached and said to him, “Take courage, stand up! Jesus is calling for you.”
A supernatural strength filled Bartimaeus, and throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up unassisted and came directly to Jesus as the crowd spontaneously parted for him. Suddenly, he knew that he was directly in front of the rabbi, and irrepressible hope filled his bosom.
“What do you want Me to do for you?” the calm yet penetrating voice inquired.
“Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” Bartimaeus cried expectantly, tears of joy and faith already filling his unseeing orbs.
The compassionate and gracious voice of Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.”
A brilliant light seemed to engulf Bartimaeus and then quickly focus to a clear image before him. He was gazing directly at the face of Jesus. As he stared into the eyes of his Lord, Bartimaeus remembered another time when he had looked into those same – albeit younger – eyes. Jesus was a newborn baby lying in a manger, and he and his brothers had come at the angel’s command to worship Him.
At the moment Bartimaeus had the clear recollection, Jesus smiled and nodded to him as if to share the memory. The crowd was erupting in unbridled praise and worship, glorifying God for the unmistakable miracle. As the press of people grew, Jesus turned and renewed His walk to Jerusalem. Bartimaeus used his newfound sight to keep his eyes on Jesus – his Hero, Healer, Teacher, and soon-to-be eternal Savior – following Him on the road.
He continued to keep as close to Jesus as he could while soaking up the beautiful days of sunlight, people, trees, and the world that had been blocked to him for so many years. He inhaled the tantalizing scents of nature as he reconnected the new sights with the smells and flavors of his previous life.
But more than anything, Bartimaeus carefully listened to every single word that Jesus spoke, trying to memorize every single syllable. Each night, wherever Jesus and His disciples slept, he would steal a place on the ground as close as the watchful disciples would allow him. One chilly night, he awoke to feel a cloak being placed over his shivering form by the disciple who was known as John.
In a few days, Jesus finally entered Jerusalem on the back of a colt and received a Hero’s welcome into the city. The crows were cheering and placing their cloaks and palm fronds on the ground before Him. It was during that day that Bartimaeus lost his place close to Jesus and could not regain it again because of the crowds that pushed him aside at every turn. So it was that Bartimaeus found himself alone and falling into an ever-deepening sadness.
He had received his sight again, but he also faced the same old Bartimaeus, his heart steeped in evil, and in a sin debt to God, his brothers, and even to his deceased mother whom he could never hope to repay. He had been handed a gloriously awesome new life – yet he was living with the same old hopelessly corrupt heart filled with a blackness so deep that no one, not even himself, could begin to plumb.
But if the day they had entered Jerusalem had dawned with hopelessness, the coming week would bring him even more. Early Friday morning, he witnessed his Jesus being spared no mercy when the mob of God’s own chosen people, incited by their religious elite, condemned Him to die by the most horrific instrument of execution ever devised, the cross of crucifixion.
Bartimaeus certainly knew that Jesus was not just innocent, but that He was as blameless as the Baby in that manger Who looked directly into his eyes and smiled up at him as a young shepherd boy so many years ago.
When the crowds screamed, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Bartimaeus cried out, “No! No! He is innocent!” But his single voice was so small and so hidden in the mele that it was not heard by anyone except the man standing beside him, who eventually punched him in his face and knocked him to the ground.
For several horrible moments, Bartimaeus stumbled on his hands and feet away from the crowd, expecting his new sight to fade to blackness due to the blow. He knew violence well. And now, once more, he was inciting violence. But this time, he was in defense of the innocent, not the guilty.
Bartimaeus slowly opened his eyes, relieved beyond measure to discover he had retained his new sight. Then, filled with great fear and uncertainty, he ran away into the early morning of history’s most terrible day. It was to be a day like no other, one so black that the sun would soon refuse to shine, and the Earth itself would tremble in sorrow.
Bartimaeus understood the crucifixion cycle well. On several occasions in his life, he had barely evaded it after assaulting Roman Legionnaires or stealing from their compounds in the dark of night. Had he been caught, he would have faced the vicious execution himself.
Thus, he knew what Jesus was about to undergo. The purpose of the cycle was to prepare the victim’s body for death by much violence, beatings, and flogging. The primary goal was to speed death, or the victim could easily hang on the cross for days before dying.
As he considered this, Bartimaeus wept in great anguish. He could not bear to walk to the cross and witness what they were doing to this innocent man – his Friend Who had done the impossible and returned his sight, as wholly unworthy as he was.
In the deepest depression he had ever known, Bartimaeus hid himself away in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. He was ensconced beneath the undergrowth, sometimes weeping about his past, recalling over and over his wasted life of evil, and trying to calculate how he could possibly even begin to start anew, even with fully restored sight. And so it was that an hour before sunrise on the Sabbath morning, Bartimaeus fell into a deep sleep of total exhaustion and did not awaken for a full day.
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Bartimaeus opened his eyes, only to find himself shrouded in complete darkness. He moaned mournfully from the deepest depths of his soul. He was blind still. All the events of the past number of days had been just a dream.
Then, he detected a tiny spark of light. Sitting bolt upright, his head struck the bush branches under which he lay in Gethsemane. Quickly, he crawled from beneath the foliage and stood. It was still dark, but the early morning lights of Jerusalem glowed together in a vast sprinkle of brilliant golden splendor.
He was still breathing heavily from his slumber-induced panic when he saw a man whose face was shrouded in darkness standing beside him. Startled and stunned, Bartimaeus stepped quickly back away from him. “What do you want?” he whispered hoarsely. But the man said nothing.
Frightened, Bartimaeus looked furtively about and suddenly noticed something very unusual about himself. He extended his arms in the exceptionally dim light and realized that they were no longer dirt-caked as before and that he was actually wearing different clothing than he had been. As he examined himself, he immediately noticed that his long, knotted, unkept, and shaggy beard was not covering his chest anymore. His hands flew to his face and felt his beard had been neatly cleaned and trimmed to something less savage.
“Your guardians could not tolerate being close to you anymore,” a deep voice stated matter-of-factly. “You were… ah… groomed… while you slept.”
Wha… what? Why?” Bartimaeus asked with a shudder.
“Come with me,” replied the enigmatic figure as he turned and walked out of the garden.
Bartimaeus trailed a safe distance behind the man down the Mount of Olives, across the western edge of the Kidron Valley, through the Essenes Gate, and into Jerusalem. He felt like he was in a dream while he followed him through winding small streets and out of the city to a row of thick bushes. The trek was less than two miles and required just short of an hour to complete.
When they finally stopped, the eastern horizon was noticeably brightening. The man pointed to three men speaking in low whispers and gesturing across a small pathway to a foliage-covered peak. Bartimaeus stepped around him for a better view of the area and the trio. The flattened solid rock hillside bore an opening carved into it that resembled a tomb. Rolled to the side was the stone clearly intended for its face.
Bartimaeus turned back to address the mysterious man who had guided him there, but he was gone. “Hmmm,” he mused aloud as he looked in every direction. His voice caused the three men to startle, turn around, and face him in the gathering light.
All four of them stood frozen in place, staring speechless at one another in wide-eyed confusion.
Bartimaeus spoke first. “Azriel? Is that you?”
No one replied, as Bartimaeus continued with trembling lips, “And Ethan… and Johanan?”
Hearing their names spoken by a familiar voice, the faces of the brothers lit up at once in amazed recognition. “Bartimaeus!” they cried together. “We thought you were dead!”
Azriel noticed first. “You have regained your sight! How can this be?” he asked.
“Jesus!” Bartimaeus replied. “It was Jesus!”
At that moment, the four brothers united in an embrace for the first time in many years. After they separated, each man wiping their eyes, Bartimaeus asked, looking over their shoulders at the open tomb, “Why are you here together? What is this place?”
“It’s the tomb where they laid Jesus… and now the tomb is empty! See for yourself!” Johanan stated.
They all stared at the empty tomb until Ethan said, “And I know just the man who can explain it all to us! Join me in a visit to my friend Matthew.”
“But before that,” Azriel added, “please come to my home, and I’ll prepare us a breakfast fit for a king!”
EPILOGUE
21 Days Later in the Upper Room
Bartimaeus, Johanan, and Azriel stood together in the open room discussing their immediate future. Johanan had decided to sell his carpentry business, Azriel had hired a trusted manager to assume most of his duties and protect his assets, while Bartimaeus wanted not just a new life – but any life besides the one he lived before.
The door opened wide as Ethan, who had just given up his tax collecting job, walked into the room with another man. They faced one another as everyone introduced themselves to Ethan’s good friend, Matthew Levi ben Alphaeus, the disciple of Jesus.
The story of Jesus’ birth came first from the clear memories of Azriel, Johanan, Ethan, and Bartimaeus, the four sons of Timaeus. But the next story, which took the better part of two days, was told by Matthew. And did he have a story to tell. What none of them could know was the story he related to them together in the upper room would be shared with billions of Jesus’ followers over thousands of years.
The four sons of Timaeus – Azriel, Johanan, Ethan, and Bartimaeus – were in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost and received the Holy Spirit of Jesus. They went on to spread the Good News across Europe and into Asia. Not a single person they met from that day forward escaped hearing the name and promises of their Master and Lord, Whom the Angel described as their “Savior, Who is Christ the Lord”.
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