Another Touch from Jesus

He Saw Everything Clearly

(Mark 8:22-26, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, May 5, 2019)

[22] And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. [23] And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” [24] And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” [25] Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. [26] And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

“Some people” and “a blind man”

Before we immediately begin with speculations about what this unusual passage means, which is not an easy question, we should look at what it actually says. Let's begin with the people involved. Verse 22 talks about two small groups and then focuses on Jesus and the blind man. The original Greek is mildly confusing: “And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought to him a blind man.” The first they is the disciples with Jesus. The second they is either some local people in Bethsaida or the disciples again. Either way, “they” bring the blind man to Jesus believing that he can help. The ESV and many other English bibles translate the second “they” with the words “some people.” That's fine.

It is important for us to to see the relative position of these two groups. The man and his friends and neighbors are desperate. They are unable. Jesus is able. That is why the group with the blind man comes begging. They wanted Jesus to touch him because they had some confidence that his touch the conduit that would transfer his ability to the target of the blind man's need.

The unusual details of the healing

Next let's explore some of the unusual details in this passage, found only in Mark's gospel. First, Jesus “led him out of the village.” Second, in addition to laying his hands on him, he first “spit on his eyes.” (The Greek word is “ptusas” which sounds like what it means.) Third, he inquired about the progress of the healing, saying, “Do you see anything?” Fourth, the report of the blind man does not sound like a complete success. “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” This is perhaps the most unusual detail. Fifth, “Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again.” Sixth, this time we receive the report that we might have expected with the first touch. “He opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” Seventh, Jesus tells the man to go home, specifically instructing him, “Do not even enter the village.”

Of course, all of these details are surprising to those who don't know Jesus. Five or six of the seven are not that shocking if you are familiar with the other healings in the New Testament. Number four is what makes this passage special. How is it that Jesus gives a first touch to the blind man, and the report of this needy person does not sound like a complete success? What are we to make of the Son of God doing a two-stage healing?

The resurrection kingdom—A work in progress

Now on to the more difficult question: What is the use of this passage for the church today? It would not surprise me to hear of an inquirer or a skeptic tripping up on any of the miracles of Jesus or the multiple accounts of his resurrection appearances. This unusual miracle might be a real stumbling block. If Jesus is who the Bible says he is—Jehovah God in the flesh, how could he fail to completely heal on his first try?

As believers we know that this apparent failure is not because of divine inability. The Son is every bit as divine as the Father and the Holy Spirit. The God of creation and providence, salvation, and the new heavens and earth does not need two tries to do anything. What then is his purpose in accomplishing something in more than one stage?

First we should observe that the answer we seek is not explicitly given to us in the Bible. We should therefore be modest in our theories.

Second, if we look for help in the immediate context we will not be disappointed. In the verses from last week you may remember our Lord's question to his disciples before and after his review of the math facts from the two bread multiplications: “Do you not yet understand?” Notice these specific words of Jesus from Mark 8:18, “Having eyes do you not see?” He was not talking about their inability to see bread with their physical eyes, but about their inability to “see” the spiritual reality of the Father's compassion and the gift of the Son as the bread of life. Now look also at the passage that follows in 8:27. It shows two implied stages in Peter's growth in seeing Jesus. First the apostle sees that Jesus is the Christ, yet he does not see what it all means. He has not had the sanctifying touch that would enable him to embrace the hidden Old Testament truth that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” That would require at least a second touch. Embracing the full mission to the Gentiles would take him years to understand. The truth is that the full resurrection-life, new Peter was a work in progress, and that should not surprise any of us.

Third, we can look at the larger context of the whole Bible to support what Mark (and Peter) is saying about spiritual vision by including this miracle. The Old Testament prepared God's people for the lifting of the veil that prevented them from seeing God. In the New Testament we see the love of God in the face of Jesus. Time prohibits a fuller exploration now, but when Jesus died, a veil was torn from top to bottom. Time to see.

Finally, far from stumbling over a two-stage healing, we rejoice in the obvious truth that each of us is a resurrection work in progress. Our bodies are regularly sending us messages that we need a second touch, but isn't this also true of our souls and of our relationships with each other? For the moment, we must admit with the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12 that “for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

In friendship, family, church, and in marriage, we trust that our “faith working through love” journey is a complex story of something that is partial now that will one day be complete. Now, back to the miracle in Mark 8 for an important point for all of us to see: The blind man was unable and Jesus was supremely able. That's why they brought him to Jesus. The sight of his eyes was a gift. So is the sight of our souls. We are unable to love as Christ loved in our own strength or in the wisdom of “the village” of a dying world. In the words of 1 Corinthians 12:31, love is a heavenly gift to be “earnestly desired.” Let's all be part of the “they” who feel the inability of our own blindness, and who bring one another to the heavenly husband who gives gifts to his bride.

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 107 – Consider the steadfast love of the Lord

New Testament Reading—James 2:14-26 – The evidence of living faith