A Blind Man Sees. Mark 8:22-26.
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit in his eyes and laid hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Dear Citizens of the New Jerusalem,
There are times when we think we have God figured out, then he does something so uncharacteristic of him, in our thinking, that we have to try and figure him out all over again. The people of Jesus’ time had to deal with what seemed uncharacteristic behavior on the part of Jesus, too.
Plea (v. 22). When Jesus came to Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to him. Having seen or heard what Jesus had done in the past, they begged him to touch the man. They had faith, but their faith was based on a specific formula.
Privacy (v. 23a).Jesus leads the blind man out of the village by the hand. It may be that Jesus wanted fewer witnesses, as the excitement around his miracles was restricting his ministry. There is no record of Jesus having done this before, so he must have surprised everyone.
Phases (vv. 23b-25). What really upset the form book was the way Jesus healed the man – he spits in the man’s, laid hands on him, and enquired whether the man could see anything – phase one. The man said he could see people looking like trees, walking. It is most likely that the man had not been born blind but had lost his sight at some point, which explains his ability to tell people from trees. At this point, his vision was blurry, so Jesus laid hands on his eyes again – phase two, and his vision cleared. We do not know why Jesus did what he did. No doubt he could have simply told the man to open his eyes. Maybe spitting had some significance, the way some African peoples spit on someone to bless them, maybe not. Why two stages? Again, we do not know. What we can learn from this is that we do not know everything about the way God works. Our prayers must always leave room for him to do the unexpected.
Preclusion (v. 26). Jesus, again uncharacteristically instructs the man to go home and avoid the village. Charges to be quiet had not worked with others before, not to mention that a blind man walking without aid, clearly able to see, would have attracted much interest, so Jesus reduces the man’s potential for reaching a large number by sending him straight home. Do you have God all figured out? It may be time to open your mind and heart to surprises from him.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.