Tag Archives: Bible

HIDDEN IDENTITY AND XENIA IN JESUS’ HEALING OF BARTIMAEUS by Daniel Molyneux

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Introduction

The healing of blind Bar-Timaeus (Βαρ-Τιμαῖος), in Mark 10, may appear to be one of the simplest and least spectacular of Jesus’ miracles, but beneath the surface of this brief periscope is a key reoccurring theme of Jesus’ ministry and Greco-Roman culture. Providing hospitality to travelers/beggars (Xenia – ξενία), and the related concept of gods, angels and/or heroes arriving disguised as travelers or beggars (Theoxenia – θεοξενία), are frequent themes in the Bible (in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures), as well as in Greco-Roman myth and culture.

Bar-Timaeus may be more than a blind beggar. His “hidden identity” may be that of a Greco-Roman philosopher who has chosen a beggar’s life. And his deepest desire may not be the restoration of physical sight, but obtaining spiritual enlightenment that only Jesus, the Son of David (Υἱὲ Δαυὶδ) can give.

Bar-Timaeus’ healing, in Mark’s gospel, is also a pivotal point for Jesus revealing his “hidden identity,” what some have termed the “messianic secret.” Earlier in his ministry, Jesus instructed those he healed to not “tell this to anyone” (Mark 1:44). When demons begin to announce Jesus’ hidden identity as “Son of God,” Jesus commands them to be silent and “gave them strict orders not to tell others about him” (Mark 3:11-12). Mark 1:34 says, “(Jesus) cast out many demons, but he would not allow the demons to speak because they knew he was the Messiah.” When speaking to the Twelve, Jesus told them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But to those on the outside everything is given in parables” (Mark 4:11). Later, when Jesus asked his closest disciples, “‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’ Jesus warned them they should tell no one about him” (Mark 8:29-30).

When Jesus encounters Bar-Timaeus, however, Jesus no longer seeks to conceal his “hidden identity.” When Bar-Timaeus calls him “the Son of David,” synonymous with Messiah, Jesus does not command him to be silent; and several hours later, when Jesus nears Jerusalem, he rides into the city in a symbolic manner that proclaims his “hidden identity” to anyone familiar with the scriptural prophesies about the Messiah, the anointed King of Israel.

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The Prodigal Son

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Jerash (known in the Jesus’ time as Gerasa) – One of the Greco-Roman cities of the Decapolis (meaning “ten-cities,” but in Jesus’ day there were some 18 cities). In Jesus’ day Gerasa was approximately the same population as Jerusalem. But apart from the size and grandeur of the Jerusalem Temple, Gerasa was more impressive architecturally. Josephus tells us that Scythopolis (Beth-Shean) was the largest city of the Decapolis, and was less than 25 miles from Nazareth. In Jesus’ day, the contrast between Galilean towns, constructed of black basalt, homes having roofs of mud and sticks, would have been a striking contrast to the beauty and allure of the nearby Greco-Roman cities, with their theatres, athletic arenas, running water, indoor toilets, bathhouses, gymnasiums, beautiful streets, public buildings, and fleshly pleasures. Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son was a common problem for Israelite families, where Jewish boys were seduced away from Judaism and their families by the majesty and temptations that the pagan world offered. To illustrate this – when Jerusalem fell to the Roman legions and the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, it was a Jew who was second in command under Titus, Tiberius Julius Alexander, the Alexandrian Jew, was the embodiment of a Jewish prodigal.Jerash

Indiana Jones’ Petra

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For all you Indiana Jones fans – here is a picture of Petra that figure so prominently in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In Jesus’ day, Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, a rock city roughly the same size as Jerusalem (50,000). We climbed to mountain to see the “High Place” above Petra, where they sacrificed to Molech. Herod Antipas was married to the Nabatean king’s (Aretas IV- 9BC – 40AD) daughter, Phasaelis. Herod divorced her to married his brother’s wife, Herodias the mother of Salome. When Phasaelis learned that Antipas intended to divorce her, she fled to her father, King Aretas. Eventually Aretas went to war against Herod and defeated him. When John the Baptist denounced Herod for divorcing Phasaelis and marrying Herodias, this was not merely a moral statement, but worsened the political crisis Herod was facing because of his divorce and remarriage, leading to John’s imprisonment and execution.

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