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Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.
Jesus has been traveling through Gentile territory. He started in Tyre and then he went through Sidon and then to the region of Decapolis on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Now after another miracle of feeding 4000 people with the 7 loaves of bread and few small fish, Jesus and his disciples went to the region of Dalmanutha (Magadan) on the west side of the Sea of Galilee near Gennesaret and Capernaum and then returned to Bethsaida at the northern part of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus had in a remote place nearby performed the first miracle of feeding a multitude of 5000 with five small loaves of bread and two fish.
Once again Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida. This is the city that has seen many a miracle of Christ and had repeatedly heard his teaching within it and yet would not repent. Matthew record’s Jesus’s rebuke and warning to this city:
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
In this lesson we see the grace of God as Jesus returns to this particular Jewish region despite their hard hearts once again. How often would he keep coming back? How many more messages would they hear? How many more miracles would they have opportunity to see? They may have grown use to Jesus dwelling in their region and may have assumed that he would always be around, but this is the last recording of his presence in Bethsaida. After leaving Bethsaida this time, Jesus will begin making his way south to Jerusalem as the Passover lamb to be crucified. He will not be returning to Bethsaida. This final miracle he performs in their region, the healing of the blind man, Jesus actually leads the blind man out of the village of Bethsaida before he heals him. Is this a rebuke to Bethsaida that Jesus no longer performs miracles inside it’s region?
Here in Mark is the only place the story of this particular miracle is recorded. It is similar in several ways to the healing of the deaf and mute man that was brought to him by the ambiguous “they” in Mark 7:31-37. Similiar to the storyline of the death and mute man’s healing, it is probably relatives or friends who are responsible for bringing a man in need to the presence of Jesus. Once again we see the power of intercession at work. These healings may never have taken place if their family and friends had not taken the initiative to bring these men before Jesus and begged Christ to lay his hands upon them, having the faith that there was healing in His touch.
They had heard the stories around the region which the deaf and mute man was unable to hear and they saw the miracles that the blind man was unable to see and witness himself. They acted on their behalf, leading them to Jesus on the strength of their own faith, sharing encouragement on the way to these men who they knew how they could be healed.
These family and friends, witness to us still. We may not be afflicted ourselves in this time of our lives, but every man is surrounded by affliction. All around us are people who are in need of healing, of hope of hearing the word of God and who may never see what we have seen what God can do unless we share with them what we ourselves have both heard and seen and bring them to Jesus through our prayers and through inviting them to come hear for themselves the word of God and see for themselves the power of God.
Once again we see their need, their very affliction, their suffering is what draws them to seek Jesus. This is so often the case. Our afflictions and sufferings are the drawstrings that bring us to God. However, in these cases, it is not their need, but the need of another, a family member, a friend that draws them.
The pains of one person is not limited to that one person, but are often shared and their burden carried by all who are in their lives. Their spouse suffers, their children suffer, their parents suffer, their siblings suffer, their friends suffer, all of them sacrifice and try to fill the gap when there is a weakness and a handicap. Affliction and suffering takes its toll on everyone. Family members and friends play caregivers, children bear the effects of grief of their parents, siblings bear the handicaps of one another, spouses deal with the constant demands of long term illnesses and depression. When a healing takes place, it’s not just the handicapped that finds freedom but it’s a new way of life and living for everyone who is involved in their lives.
I imagine it is so for this blind person. Someone has been leading him around all these years. Someone has been caring for him, looking out for him since he lost his sight. Someone, (could be several some one’s) has been worried about him and has carried a burden for him for several very long years with little hope of their own of his recovery…until they heard about Jesus. Someone had been living in the background of his life like a shadow making sure his needs were met. There are other stories around this blind man that we are not privy to but they exist and Jesus answered their prayers on this day, the mysterious “they”.
They asked Jesus to “touch” the blind man. Many times when we think of the word touch we think of light brush as the type of contact. However, the word used here for “touch” is “haptomai” which means to attach oneself to. It comes from the base Greek word “hapto” which means “to fasten to” properly in Greek or “to set on fire” specially in Greek, to kindle or light. This is a wonderful prayer that Jesus would attach himself as the vine to the branches to us, that he would fasten himself to us or to someone we love with a permanence of never letting go. That’s the kind of touch we need from Jesus. The touch that connects and fastens us to him forever.
Jesus just does not touch us and go on, he connects us to himself. He attaches us to him and calls us to abide in him, to dwell and stay now only with Him but in Him. We become one with him in unity of spirit as a man and woman become one in soul and life in marriage. It’s a mysterious eternal fastening together this touch of Christ.
They probably would have introduced the blind man to Jesus. However, we are given no name for this man, we are only told of his condition and his condition probably was his identity. He was “the blind man”. How sad it is that our afflictions sometimes really do replace our names and become part of our identity: he is the alcoholic, she is the addict, he is the handicapped, she is the one with cancer, he is paranoid, she is anxious and fearful, he is brutal, she is loose, he is the arrogant guy down the hall, he was the deaf guy and he was the blind man. That is all many know about us when afflictions rule our lives. Their darkness overshadows us, and prevents the multiple contours and depths of our personalities and lives from being clearly seen like fine cut diamonds for God’s light to shine through all our various angles and shapes but instead turns us into dull, flattened planes of darkness.
It’s not so much our physical handicaps or illnesses, that dull us as our spiritual ones that prevent God’s light from shining through our lives and hearts. Our physical handicaps and limitations are often just the sharp angles that cast His light in unique and individual directions that others have never seen before or imagined were possible for such a unique cut to exist. We have all seen people shine who have epilepsy, or who are in wheelchair, who are blind, who have no arms. Their ailment is not allowed to darken their lives or the unique cut of their lives, gifts and personalities instead it highlights them in very distinct fashions. Their unique sufferings have shaped them in some amazing ways that God’s light illuminates as they attempt to glorify him in their lives despite their weakness and struggles.
It’s hard to understand, why some people are cut the way they are by God, why God has so shaped their lives in such ways and caused them endure such suffering that seem so unfair to have to endure in our short temporary lives
Why was this man born blind in the first place? That is the question we most often ask. “Why did this happen to me? Why did this happen to her?” “He doesn’t deserve this!” We proclaim.
Our very proclamation of “deserving” something reveals our underlying subconscious belief that such conditions come upon a person as judgement or are some form of punishment. Someone must have sinned. We are like the disciples who asked Jesus as John records in John chapter 9:1-3:
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Our sufferings, our afflictions our opportunities to display the work of God in us as God works through us and holds us together and gives purpose and motive to keep living and loving for others and not ourselves. They remind us and others we are not in control of our lives, something or someone else is. Our afflictions cause our to question the reality of the world we live in, to think deeper then we normally would about the hard issues of life and to urgently seek answers for these questions of meaning and purpose. They lead us to God and to the Cross of Jesus Christ who also suffered for us.
Now we know the entire world is under the curse and influence of sin. That is ultimately why there is suffering, affliction and death. However, we forget that God calls forth his light to shine out from the darkness. God makes sin his slave to serve his purposes and ultimate goal which is to glorify Himself and to do good. For all those who love God and who are called according to His purpose, all things work together for their good. (Romans 8:28) Our struggles in this life, our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all and will last forever (2 Corinthians 4:17).
But we must remember and never forget this world is not our home. It is when we forget the kingdom we are called to live for and look to this world to provide us eternal life and joy and fulfillment that we will ultimately be very disappointment when it crumbles to the ground or folds like a leaf for this world really is passing away and all that is in.
This reality is both good and bad. For this blind man’s condition is passing away. Cancer is passing away. Suffering is passing away. Evil is passing away. Death is passing away. All sin is passing away. We are glad to see these items pass away. However, there are many good things in this world that God created that decay has touched that are passing away and that is what breaks our hearts. Lives are passing away. Loved ones are passing away. Pets are passing away. Flowers are passing away, time is passing away, our memories are passing away, our strength is passing away, our beauty is passing away. Everything is continually passing away before us, but God’s word, his promise of a resurrection through the work of Christ will never pass away. It is God alone who can bring eternal life into the hearts of all those who are passing away even as they are passing away, knowing He alone will bring resurrection and redemption through Jesus.
It is this hope and healing that we can bring to the blind man and to all those who are sick and suffering in this world. Death instead of destroying us after a long life of meaningless suffering and toil, has become an agent of redemption, releasing our bonds and ushering us into the presence of Christ. We no longer fear facing God in death, for our sins have been judged and our penalties paid for already for by Christ.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. –1 Corinthians 15:55-57
It is with this hope and faith in healing that we come before Jesus each time we pray.
23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
Here we see Jesus holding a tight grip on the blind man who now has been handed over to His care alone as Jesus leads him away from town as his guide. The blind man follows Jesus as Jesus leads him around obstacles and keeps him from stumbling as they slowly walk outside the town limits together.
Jesus took him away privately as he took the deaf and mute man away privately to be healed. The town of Bethsaida had hard hearts, no more miracles were performed within it. This was part grace and part of judgement. It was grace because each miracle they saw but still refused to believe increased their future judgement. At the same time, it was a judgment as Jesus turned away and took the man outside it’s region to heal him.
Now, Jesus could have healed him instantly just by touching him, just be speaking the words to him, but God’s ways are not our ways and Jesus varied his methods. Probably for our own benefit so we would not trust in a method for healing but a person. We don’t always know how he will heal but we do know that he can heal.
Slowly they came to a stop outside of Bethsaida. This time, Jesus spit on the man’s eye’s before placing his hands on him. Once again it was Jesus’s expelled saliva, similar to when He touched the mute man’s tongue with his spit, that Jesus used as a symbol to heal the man.
Spitting is normally seen as a gesture of disdain, anger and condemnation both back then and even in our day.
And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. Numbers 12:14
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isa 50:6
Yet here, Jesus chooses to use the action of spitting in his symbol and method of healing. He spits to make an eye ointment that brings healing as in Revelation 3:18. No one really knows why Jesus choose to use the method of spitting. Some say it was an extension of himself for it was his saliva, his own body fluid, that He used to touch the blind man’s eye and the mute man’s tongue.
Saliva actually does have some amazing healing properties in itself. This is how the phrase “lick your wounds” came about. It contains antibodies that fight germs and kill bacteria by its high white blood cell count. This helps wounds heal faster than anywhere else on the body and it contains a natural pain killer six times more potent then morphine.
However perhaps spitting was a display of Jesus’ anger and disdain for the existence of sin in the world that cause the blind man to be blind and the mute man to be mute.
Or perhaps it was just practical as he made mud or wet his fingertips so touch his eyes. It was more then a touch. It was an intimate touch.
Take my advice and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness will not be exposed, and buy eye salve to put on your eyes so you can see! Revelations 3:18
Afterwards, Jesus asks the blind man if he saw anything at all and he responds:
24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”
It sounds like a strange statement. It’s hard for us to imagine men looking like trees but this was a great improvement over what he could see before. Everything was still blurry and fogged over, but he could make out shapes and they were moving around, however, these shapes were indistinguishable from one another. They had thick torsos and limbs everywhere as people blended together.
This indicates to us that he must have at one time possessed eye sight and lost it for he knew both what men looked like and what trees looked like and was able to make the comparison.
What is unique about this particular healing and miracle is that it is a partial and gradual healing. Jesus could have healed him to 100% instantly but in this particular miracle he choose not. Jesus who does all things well, healed him gradually instead of instantaneously. This can be quite confusing to us as him being born blind in the first place can be confusing to us.
There are several reasons he might have chosen to heal in this matter. The first reason may be to teach the disciples a lesson about spiritual blindness. They were having issues with “understanding” the miracles of the loaves of bread and what Jesus was capable of and who he was. In the next passage Jesus will ask them directly, who they think He is. Jesus is working towards opening their spiritual eyes to see him and it is a gradual process.
To remind us God’s ways are not our ways. We can’t pin him down to one method of healing. In each one there are similarities but at the same time each one is unique and personalized.
Perhaps also to teach us that God does often heal us gradually at times. Especially as unbelievers coming to faith. Many times it is a gradual eye opening for us to see his ways. We do not see things clearly and perfectly immediately after our salvation. Things are often quite blurry but then over time, Jesus continues to touch us and we grow in faith and our eye sight. This is how most of our healed.
Also, to call us to trust him. We know God heals perfectly and doesn’t do sloppy work. So this story reminds us when we think God might have messed up or left something undone, it’s for a purpose and it’s all a matter of his perfect timing and will for He does all things well.
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”
Jesus places his hands on the man’s eyes again and using his hands he moves his head to look up and then he removes his hands from his and immediately the man’s eyesight is restored, another hint that this man could see before. He could see every man clearly with perfect vision.
So it will be with us one day. Right now, we all have partial spiritual vision. Our eyes have been opened just enough to see the existence of light in our dark world. We can see the distance shapes of heavenly realities and truths without any great detail. We can see men, not as they really are, but stumbling about and blurred together walking around as trees. We truly do not and cannot clearly see other men but only their general shapes and features. We know in part but one day we will see each other clearly and know in full and be known in full.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 1 Cor 13:9-12
At that time the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. Isaiah 29:18
The blind man is no longer blind. He will have to seek a new identity and others will have to assign him a new nick name, perhaps he will now be called as “you know the guy Jesus healed, he use to be blind but now he sees”. He is the healed man, the miracle, a living display of the power and mercy of God. He will be called by a new name as we also will once God takes away all our sin.
Jesus sends him on his way home which is probably in a nearby town but commands him as he commanded the deaf and mute man not to tell anyone. I don’t think either one had to tell anyone or say anything all. The miracle of the healing itself spoke volumes in itself. Such is the power of God that it does speak all languages of itself. The blind can see. The deaf can hear, the mute can talk.
Jesus was not looking for publicity. He did not heal for attention or because healing was his ministry as the reason he was sent. He healed because he had genuine compassion and mercy on the suffering who were brought to him. His ministry was always preaching the kingdom of heaven was at hand and repentance.
Summary
There are a lot of lessons in this short story Mark tells us about the blind man Jesus healed. A lesson on bringing others to Christ. A lesson on trusting God when he does not heal according to our methods or timing. Healings are not always instantaneous but can be and often are gradual. A lesson to trust God in all our afflictions for He does all things well, and he uses such afflictions to display his own glory through us. And a lesson reminding us this world is not our home. Our afflictions and sufferings are temporary and serve God’s purposes in our lives.
