Throw Away Your Cloak!

This Sunday's Gospel reading is Mark 10:46-52 in which a blind man is healed,

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher,  let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

One interesting feature of this miracle is that the blind man is named. This means that he was known and therefore could be tracked down to verify the facts of the story if there were any doubts.

Matthew Henry in his 1706 Commentary adds a few extra points, 

This passage of story agrees with that, Matt. 20:29 Only that there were told of two blind men; here, and Luke 18:35; only of one: but if there were two, there was one. This one is named here, being a blind beggar that was much talked of; he was called Bartimeus, that is, the son of Timeus; which, some think, signifies the son of a blind man; he was the blind son of a blind father, which made the case worse, and the cure more wonderful, and the more proper to typify the spiritual cures wrought by the grace of Christ, on those that not only are born blind, but are born of those that are blind.

... The poor man, hereupon, made the best of his way to Christ; He cast away his loose upper garment, and came to Jesus (Mark 10:50); he cast away every thing that might be in danger of throwing him down, or might in any way hinder him in coming to Christ, or retard his motion. Those who would come to Jesus, must cast away the garment of their own sufficiency, must strip themselves of all conceit of that, and must free themselves from every weight, and the sin that, like long garments, doth most easily beset them, Heb. 12:1.

... It is not enough to come to Christ for spiritual healing, but, when we are healed, we must continue to follow him; that we may do honour to him, and receive instruction from him. Those that have spiritual eye-sight, see that beauty in Christ, that will effectually draw them to run after him.

I have not been able to determine if Bartimeus and Timeus were gentiles, Greek. The names would suggest they were, and this would once again demonstrate that Jesus did not restrict his healing miracles to the Jews.