A Sign of Faith

"Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.' And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. " - Mark 10:46-48

According to prophesy, the Messiah was to be the seed of David - that is, King David. The same David who fought Goliath, to whom many Psalms are either attributed to or written by, and whose annointing turned Samuel's oil to pearls and diamonds. So David is a pretty well known and well-respected figure to the Jews of Jesus's time.

And to have a blind man - no doubt already shunned from society - call out and identify Jesus as a descendent of David would have been both an embarrassment to the Jews and possibly blasphemy depending on who was listening.

But Bartimaeus didn't care. He was willing to call to Jesus in a way clearly identifying who he thought Jesus was, because he knew Jesus could heal him. He knew Jesus wasn't like the temple priests, the scribes, the pharisees. Jesus was wholly someone different - someone who was sent to help others believe. 

When I first started writing this blog, I was fairly shy about my faith. I've certainly had my moments when I was willing to express it - but it was usually in a safe place with fellow believers. I wasn't ever the type to share my belief with anyone who passes by - and certainly not through the channels of social media. After all, what if I risk offending a friend? What if people start thinking I'm one of those people - start developing preconcieved notions about who I am, what I believe and what I think about others? 

While it's been a bit of a struggle on my part, I've tried to take a page from Bartimaeus's book - that I shouldn't care what other people may think or assume about me because of what I believe. That I too should be demonstrating my belief - confirming it day after day - because it's who I am, and how I choose to live. And in doing so, I've learned a lot about my own faith - I've been forced to look things up that I didn't understand, read more into bible passages to figure out the setting, and try to "seek the meaning of divine words which is hidden from others" - including myself.

Thankfully, so far, no one has yet told me to be silent. :)