Luke handles the story in a different way; there is one unnamed blind man, and the author shifts the incident to take place as Jesus is approaching Jericho, so it can lead into the story of Zacchaeus. Son of David Vernon K. Robbins emphasizes that the healing of Bartimaeus is the last of Jesus’ healings in Mark, and links Jesus' earlier teaching about the suffering and death of the Son of Man with his Son of David activity in Jerusalem. The story blends the Markan emphasis on the disciples' 'blindness' – their inability to understand the nature of Jesus' messiahship – with the necessity of following Jesus into Jerusalem, where his suffering and death make him recognizable to Gentiles as Son of God (see Mark 15:39 where, at the crucifixion, the Roman centurion says "surely this man was son of God"). Paula Fredriksen, who believes that titles such as "Son of David" were applied to Jesus only after the crucifixion and resurrection, argued that Mark and Matthew placed that healing with the proclamation "Son of David!" just before "Jesus' departure for Jerusalem, the long-foreshadowed site of his sufferings." The title "Son of David" is a messianic name. Thus, Bartimaeus' exclamation was, according to Mark, the first public acknowledgement of the Christ, after St. Peter's private confession at Mark . Bartimaeus The naming of Bartimaeus is unusual in several respects: (a) the fact that a name is given at all, (b) the strange Semitic-Greek hybrid, with (c) an explicit translation "Son of Timaeus." Some scholars see this as confirmation of a reference to a historical person;<ref>Vincent Taylor. The Gospel according to St. Mark. 1966 St. Martin's Press Inc. p 448.</ref> however, other scholars see a special significance of the story in the figurative reference to Plato's Timaeus who delivers Plato's most important cosmological and theological treatise, involving sight as the foundation of knowledge. Notes See also Life of Jesus in the New Testament Ministry of Jesus Parables of Jesus The Blind Man of Bethsaida References Paula Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ (2000), Vernon K. Robbins, Jesus the Teacher: A Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation of Mark'' 2009, Mythological blind people Miracles of Jesus Supernatural healing