Slide 2:
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 upon him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men; but they look like trees, walking.”
25 Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly.
26 And He sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
8:22-26 The Blind Man of Bethsaida :
8:22-26 The Blind Man of Bethsaida Jesus and the disciples went back across the sea to Bethsaida.
The miracle fits in well following the account of the disciples’ persistent spiritual blindness (8:14-21).
We learn from John 1:44 that Bethsaida was Peter’s hometown.
Both the healing of the blind man in Bethsaida and the healing of the deaf-mute (7:31-37) are only recorded in Mark.
These two miracles have several things in common:
In both, Jesus took the man away from the crowd before performing the miracle,
He used saliva,
He touched both, and
He did not publicize the event.
Stages :
Stages This is the only miracle in which Jesus healed in stages.
When Jesus’ arrived, people brought their sick to him.
Jesus responded with compassion to an obvious need.
The importance of this miracle is that it demonstrates faith development, which seldom comes instantly, it develops over time.
The blind man was brought to Jesus because he wouldn’t have been able to find Him on his own and his friends begged, or interceded with Jesus to touch him.
The Disciples Sight and the Blind :
The Disciples Sight and the Blind The man’s friends first had faith and their faith was then developed in the blind man. Don’t miss the connection between the story of the disciples’ spiritual blindness and the story of the blind man being healed.
Sight is a metaphor for understanding.
They had different kinds of blindness, yet both the disciples and the blind man could be given sight if they first had faith.
Christ :
Christ The word Christ comes from the Greek and means Anointed One or Messiah.
Like His healing of the blind man, Jesus’ conversation with His disciples is also done in two stages,
Mark is developing the concept of the two stages of discipleship.
The first stage consists of recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.
Messiah is a Hebrew word meaning “Anointed One,” the equivalent in Greek is Christ.
The second stage of discipleship is our acceptance that while on earth we have the same vocation as Jesus, we will be persecuted for our Christian beliefs, and we also live in the hope of joining the Father in heaven.
Spiritual Blindness :
Spiritual Blindness Jesus heals Bartimaeus, another blind person, just before His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. (Mk. 10:46-52).
10:52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Notice that Bartimaeus’ faith made him sighted and being sighted he understood and followed Jesus.
Jesus had restored the sight of both men through their faith, yet His own disciples remained spiritually blind and lacking the faith demonstrated by both blind men.
Later on even Peter will demonstrate his lack of faith when he tells a maid, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” (Mk. 14:71) and at that point Peter continues to demonstrates his spiritual blindness.