Healing of Spiritual Blindness
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22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Our reading starts with a miracle giving sight to a blind man followed by a question of Jesus to his disciples ‘who do people say I am?’ Peter’s answer demonstrates a miracle of spiritual sight given to his apostles. (Mark 8:22-30)
This is halfway point of Mark’s Gospel. The healing of blindness declares Jesus as the Messiah sent by God. The healing opens the spiritual eyes of the disciples – Jesus is the Messiah.
Mark 8v22-26, the healing of the blind man in Bethsaida. In this story, the healing of the blind man bridges between v21, where Jesus was very frustrated with the disciples as to His identity, to Peter’s proclamation in v29, You are the Messiah!
The healing of the blind man at Bethsaida takes place in two stages and therefore is different from the other miracles Jesus performs, After Jesus’ first touches the man, he could only see partially. It is after the second touch that the man saw ‘everything clearly.’
Jesus Uses Blindness As A Mark Of His Identity
What is stunning in this miracle is that Jesus uses blindness to emphasise His identity. The healing of the Bethsaida blind man becomes the foundation of Peter’s bold declaration in v29 You are the Christ, The Messiah. This was not just another miracle. As John MacArthur points out, this miracle had a massive impact, showing not only that Jesus was the Great Healer, but more so that He was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
To be Blind and then See – The Miracle To be Blind and then See – The Miracle
Mark8V22 tells us that when Jesus came to Bethsaida, (home town of Peter, Andrew, and Philip) the town folk brought a blind man to Jesus, begging Him to touch him. They brought him for healing because they wanted to witness firsthand Jesus’ miraculous power.
Mark 8v23, Jesus follows through on their request. But instead of doing something miraculous in their midst, He takes the blind man by the hand and leads him out of the village and away from the crowd.
Once away from the town, Jesus spits on the blind man’s eyes and then touches him. NB Jesus never does anything randomly. So why did He spit on the man’s eyes? We dont know for sure. Symbolic gesture, spit had healing balm. However, there was something unusual about this man’s blindness that bothered Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus was using the blindness as a teaching moment for His disciples.
After spitting on the blind man’s eyes, Jesus then lays His hands on him, and follows up with a question: “Do you see anything?” 24 The blind man looked around and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.”
Probably the man was not blind from birth. He knew what a tree looked like. So, he had lost his eyesight somehow. After Jesus initially touched him, he could see, but could not distinguish objects.
Mark 8v25 Then Jesus laid His hands again on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. The scales over his eyes fell away. He could see.
Mark 8v26 And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” Jesus didn’t want to draw crowds just for the thrills of miracles. This miracle of sight would be known soon enough. This healing in Bethsaida is a powerful learning transformation for the disciples.
Jesus’ Compassion
I find it interesting how Jesus handles the blind man when brought to Him by the community. There was stigma about blindness. So Jesus leads him away from the crowd’s peering eyes into His inner circle of disciples. This was not a healing show. The man was already an outcast, and didn’t need more community pressure. Jesus took the Man by the hand, touched his face and eyes. NB “touched.” The Gk word sympathy.
In Hebrews 4:15 we are told that we do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who has been tempted like as we are, yet without sin, What we need to understand is, that as Jesus Followers who struggle with suffering, and even temptation, we can be confident that there is someone who knows and is sympathetic. (cf. Rom. 7:14ff; 1 Cor. 9:27). His compassion draws him along side us in our struggles, He feels our hurts, He hears our cries, weeps with us. Jesus cares. The story of the blind man reminds us that God cares even for the socially broken. If that is you, Be comforted by it.
To See and still be Spiritually Blind
John 9:39 I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see’. Jesus came to give sight to the spiritually blind. The blind man is also a metaphor for the disciples’ lack of understanding. Mark 8:17-18, 21 -“do you still not perceive or understand?…Do you have eyes, and fail to see?”
Mark 8:22-26 reveals that the disciples struggled with Jesus' true identity. They heard his words and witnessed his miracles and yet did not know for sure who he really was. Notice in Mark8:17ff words like perceive, understand, eyes then we have the miracle giving sight to the blind man followed by the question to the disciples: Do you not understand who I am? Then Peter’s revelation – You are the Christ.
Like the Bethsaida Blind Man, the disciples were in need of a second touch. They did not fully understand, like the Blind man did not fully see at first.
The beauty of this healing in Bethsaida is that we can identify with the disciples’ blindness. We are no less in need of healing and for the HS to teach us and show us the wonders of whoo Jesus is and his great love for us. We need more than a second touch but a new every morning touch and we see the steadfast love of the Lord is great as is his faithfulness to us.
Who do you say I am?
The backdrop to this great question in verse 27 is in the miracle at Bethsaida. After that they travel north to Caesarea Philippi (25 miles NE of the Sea of Galilee). All around that region are temples and statues to Greek Gods (Pan the god of nature) also political greatness…. in Caesarea Philippi there was a white marble temple dedicated to Caesar and the people of the empire would have pledged their allegiance to Caesar by hailing ‘Caesar is Lord.’
In this place and with this architecture and politics all around him Jesus asks his ‘disciples’ “Who do people say am?” They said: one of the prophets reincarnated, a great teachers of our times. Similarly, today, people say he was a great man, rather like, Caesar the Great, Alexander the Great, Trump the Great!
That is the question: “Who do people say I am?” Then and now people try and answer….he was great ….but that answer is not feasible …John Stott writes ‘Our claim is not that Jesus was one of the great spiritual leaders of the world…Jesus is not ‘the great’ he is the only, he has no peers, no rivals and no successors!’ Contemporary Christian pg 306
Then Jesus makes it personal. Jesus asks them a very personal question ‘who do YOU say I am?’ and Peter answers ‘You are the messiah the son of God.’ And from Peter’s messianic name ‘Christ-messiah’ came the earliest of all the Christian creeds (Greek) ‘kyrios Iesous’ ‘Jesus is Lord’ …the disciples started to call Jesus ‘Lord Jesus’ or Lord Jesus Christ or his full title Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18) . These few words, so simple yet packed with meaning.. Jesus is Lord. Lord and Christ declares that the human Jesus is the divine Lord. Colossians 2v9 ‘In Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form.’ Stating these two words Kyrios Iesous’ became the basis of accepting s.o as Christian in the early church.
When you answer this question personally and say to Jesus and to others ‘Jesus is Lord’ you are saying your life is under the Lordship of Jesus: no longer self-centred but Christ-centred. Perhaps, like the Bethsaida Blind Man, you need a second touch. We are all in need of healing from spiritual blindness. Seeing who Jesus truly is – our Lord, our ever-present helper.
In 1875 Fanny Crosby (RiP 1915) was blinded by medical error as child. As a young person she devoted her life to the Lord Jesus, despite the fact that her healing never came. She memorised the bible. Before she was 15 she could recite most of the Psalms, the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Song of Songs and Proverbs. She wrote hymns prolifically: “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” “Rescue the Perishing,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour.” “Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give him the glory great things he has done.”
The encounter of the blind person with Jesus at Bethesda, followed by Peters declarationn, is not so much about a physical healing but a revelation of who he is and specifically who he is for you.
Is he your Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ?
