Mark 8:22-26, CEB - Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch and heal him. Taking the blind man’s hand, Jesus led him out of the village. After spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on the man, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
The man looked up and said, “I see people. They look like
trees, only they are walking around.”
Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again. He
looked with his eyes wide open, his sight was restored, and he could see
everything clearly. Then Jesus sent him
home, saying, “Don’t go into the village!”
At this
point in our trip through the gospel of Mark, reading about miracles has become
commonplace. It seems that almost every day,
people were brought to Jesus so that He could heal them. With the exception of the Syrophoenician
woman, Jesus immediately obliged and healed them. Even though we’ve discussed this with respect
to previous passages, we need to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus heals not
to show off or even inspire faith, but out of compassion for those in
need. This is why, in the healing recounted
above, Jesus takes the blind man to a more private place and then asks
In the
passage above, we see something new. The
complete healing takes is done in more than one step. Jesus, as he has done before, uses his saliva
as a healing agent in the man’s eyes. Jesus
anticipates that it might take more than that with the question, “do you see
anything?” Partial eyesight is restored,
for man reports he can see tree-like shapes moving around. An additional touch from Jesus’s hands fully
restores the man’s eyesight.
It is interesting
that, in different situations, healing seems to require different things. Sometimes, people simply touch Jesus’s clothes
and the healing takes place instantaneously.
Other times, Jesus simply touches.
Sometimes He spits. Sometimes, He
performs other actions and here, it takes the combination of spitting and
repeated touching. What never happens,
though, is that Jesus fails. He always
gets it done, by whatever means necessary.
That’s what we need to hold onto . . . the healing will come in some
form.
My younger
brother Jeff, who had cancer, died this year.
Jeff, a man of deep faith, told me on multiple occasions that he would
be healed. He said it will be here or in
heaven. Though I and everyone who knew
Jeff would have preferred that the healing take place here, Jeff no longer has
cancer. He was healed as he said he
would be. We don’t have to like that
anymore than the man above liked Jesus spitting in His eye, but Jeff’s cancer
is indeed gone.
His
death has left new wounds, but those wounds will also be healed. We don’t know what the process will look like,
but the outcome is sure. It may happen
here or in heaven, but the healing will occur.
Hold on to that for yourself and for those you know in need of
healing. When it comes to healing, Jesus’s
record is perfect.
Questions: What
healing are you waiting for? What
expectations do you have about how and when it will happen? Are you open to the possibilities that healing
may come in a way that you don’t expect and/or prefer?
Prayer: God, we admit
that we often don’t understand or even prefer the ways in which You work. We want to trust You nonetheless for the
healing we know will come. Help us get
to that place of unfaltering faith.
Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for
your own healing (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual).
Song: On Eagles’
Wings – Michael Crawford
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