Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

Jesus’ Power over Blindness

Mark 8:22-26

 

Mark 8:22-26

 

Are first glance, it’s easy to say, “Here’s another miracle and it doesn’t need a lot of explanation” and just move on in our study.  But the setting of the miracle is where I see the real significance of its inclusion in Scripture and how it fits in the gospel of . 

Mark and the life of Christ and His instruction of the disciples and eventually how it applies to us. 

 

Let’s begin with

 

 

There are a couple of things in regard to this story that need to be emphasized.  First, this is a miracle!  We should never become so familiar with miracles that we overlook the reality of what a stunning thing a miracle is.

 

An in regard to blindness, miracles were about the only hope for sight.  Some ancient cures involved mixing rooster blood with honey and smearing it on the eyes, but that very seldom worked!  Birth defects and lack of sanitation, infections, accidents, diseases all contributed to people being blind and a lot of people were blind. 

 

In fact, when John the Baptist sent some of his followers to Jesus to see if He was actually the Messiah, Jesus said, “Tell him the blind receive their sight.”

This was a mark of His ministry in a world where no one was ever cured really of anything. Blind people were usually outcasts. They were viewed as having been cursed by God.

 

So, don’t read by this story too quickly.  After all, a miracle has occurred!  Now, Jesus did thousands of miracles. This is just one and it happens to have a unique setting and unique significance.

 

For instance, it is one of only two miracles that you find only in Mark. The other one we saw in chapter 7 where Jesus heals a man who is deaf and mute and there are several similarities between the two.   

 

In both cases, the victim is brought to Jesus.  He is asked or begged to help.  Jesus separates both of them from the crowd.  He uses a physical touch with both and he gives orders not to tell anyone. 

 

So there are some similarities in these two accounts, which lead us to be believe that this was the way in which Jesus healed.

 

Also, this miracle is the final miracle of Jesus in Galilee.  His Galilean ministry is about to conclude.   

After this, He goes 25 miles north into another Gentile area called Caesarea Philippi. Does one miracle there and then circles back through Galilee and eventually makes His way to Jerusalem to die and rise again.

 

Maybe more important is the shift we see in the focus of His ministry.  Mark covers three aspects of His earthly ministry.  First there is the public ministry, then there is the private ministry to the disciples and finally the passion of the cross.

By the end of chapter 8, we have moved into His private ministry and this final private miracle launches His private time with the disciples.  It’s time for the training of His disciples.

 

So that’s the setting in which this little miracle appears. It brings the Galilean ministry to an end and it starts the private ministry of Jesus with His disciples.

 

Now let’s look at

 

 

I find it interesting that the story has the feel of an eyewitness account even though Mark would not have been there since He wasn’t one of the Apostles.  He wasn’t even one of the early disciples of Jesus.  He came along later.   

 

So how does He gather all the details?  I think his source was most likely Peter.  He was from Bethsaida where the miracle occurs.  He is Mark’s mentor.  And he would have been familiar with what happened. 

 

verse 22

 

Jesus shows up in town and is immediately met by the need of this blind man as his friends beg Jesus to heal him.  And notice the tenderness in the response Jesus gives.  Jesus healed by touching people and most often the people He touched were the untouchables of society. 

 

 

In chapter 1, it’s Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever.  Then it’s a leper and then the crowds begin to come including every kind of disease and physical problem you could imagine including a women with an issue of blood and even a dead girl. 

And without exception, Jesus touched them.   

 

There’s something very tender and compassionate about the way the Lord ministers.  He doesn’t keep His distance. He’s not like the leaders of Israel. He touches people. People touch Him. This is the touchable Son of God. That’s the heart of God. He responds.

 

Verse 23

 

He did what no self-respecting religious leader would do when he took a blind man by the hand. Realizing, of course, that blind people need to be led, He brought him out of the village for isolation and for privacy.

 

And then He did what He did with the deaf man in chapter 7 and the blind man in John 9, He spit on his eyes and laid His hands on him. Why does He do this? I don’t know the answer to that other than to say this is a symbol of the transfer of the power from Him to the man. The touch, the saliva coming out of His own mouth, touching the man symbolized the transfer of power.

 

The power is in Christ and it flows from Him to the eyes, from Him to the ears so that there can be sight and hearing.

 

 

Then beginning at the end of verse 23 and into verse 24 we find the distinction of this miracle.  Jesus asks the person a question and we discover the healing was incomplete at this point.  This is the only two-stage miracle in Scripture. 

 

One time He put mud on a man’s eyes and the man had to go and wash it off to discover he could see.  But here the man sees in two stages. This is the only such miracle and it’s the only one in which Jesus asks the man to describe what has happened to him.

 

He lifts his head and he could see, but things weren’t clear.  He says “I see men.” In the Greek it says, “I see the men.”  “However, I see them as trees walking around.” They’re out of focus. 

 

I wonder if he wouldn’t have been satisfied with that much sight?  After all, if you are blind, if you can’t see anything, wouldn’t it be enough to just see some? 

 

A lot of people live there.  They can see just enough to get to heaven but as far as really understanding the Scripture and going deep with the Lord, as far as they’re concerned, the Bible is nothing more than walking trees. 

 

Verse 25

 

This verse uses three words to describe what happened after the second touch. He touched his eyes again. This is the only place in the four gospels where Jesus did a healing in two touches. And every compound verb that could be used in the language of the day to describe seeing is used in this passage. 

It’s all about sight from any way you want to look at it.  And the two words for eyes are used. Mark uses one word to describe when Jesus spit on his eyes then uses a different word to talk about Jesus laying His hands on his eyes. 

 

And when he says he saw “clearly”, it means, literally to see through.  This is penetrating sight.  The fog is gone.  He can now see accurately to put it another way.  Everything he sees is distinguishable.  The fuzziness is gone. 

 

Then Mark says point blank, “His sight was restored”. His vision is back to perfect vision.  He’s got 20/20 eyesight as a result of the second touch.  

 

And then there’s another verb. The last one is, “He saw everything clearly” which means “to fix one’s eyes”.  It literally means to see “far away”.  He could focus his eyes perfectly and clearly and it didn’t matter if he was reading up close or looking far off in the distance.   

 

So why is there so much emphasis through all these description on this healing?  I think God wants us to know Jesus never does a half-way job. Every healing Jesus ever did brought the person back to absolute perfection. This is not a partial healing.  This is perfect vision, penetrating sight, 20/20 vision. He can see near clearly.  He has perfect vision near and far.  He can focus.  He can distinguish. He can see the smallest thing in his hand and he can see clearly the thing that’s far away. And he required no rehab, no reading glasses, no therapy or aides.  He receives total, complete, perfect vision in two steps.

 

 

And in verse 26, Jesus sent him home. He said, “Don’t even enter the village.  Go home.” That’s the same thing He did with the deaf/mute back in chapter 7 in the Gentile area. But that man didn’t obey and the people who were there and saw the miracle didn’t obey and they spread it everywhere.

 

But this is very private and we can assume the man did what he was told, He sent him home. Everyone would know soon enough but not until Jesus and His disciples were out of town.

 

Now there will be no more miracles in Galilee. Don’t even enter the village.  Jesus has left the building. 

 

Now, the $64,000 question is why the two steps? I find nothing in Scripture that explains that, but I do believe the answer explains the significance of the story.  So let’s close with that. 

 

 

Why does Mark and Mark alone, record this miracle?   Remember, I told you it happens at a pivotal time and it is a private miracle.  I think it safe to say, aside from healing the man, the significance is for the Twelve. 

 

First of all, it is a demonstration of His deity.

 

The very next thing we’ll see is that famous declaration of Peter when he says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” It’s all geginning to come together for them.  The light is getting brighter!  Others don’t see it.  They say Jesus is Elijah or John the Baptist come back from the dead, but they know. 

And that great confession comes here on the heels of this demonstration that He is God by virtue of the power displayed in this miracle.

 

This miracle is also done in anticipation of His Kingdom.

 

The disciples have come to accept and embrace Jesus as the Son of God.  So what happens now?  Their expectation was Jesus would set up an earthly kingdom and they would be big shots in it!  James and John were going to sit on the right and left hands of Jesus! 

 

Isaiah had prophesied the Messiah would give sight to the blind and they had watched it happen time and time again, including this time.  No doubt the Kingdom of God was at hand, and wonder of wonders, the Messiah had chosen them to be a part of it!  They got in on the ground floor!

 

But it wouldn’t come to pass the way they had been taught to assume it would when Messiah came.   In fact, before long, they will hear Jesus begin to talk about being rejected and suffering many things and eventually dying.  And more and more than subject will come up in their discussions and in His teaching.

 

And it just appears to me that this miracle serves as an illustration of them and where they were in regard to the kingdom and what God was doing in front of their very eyes.  Remember, Jesus has been talking about spiritual blindness, both temporary and permanent. 

 

 

But now He’s talking about spiritual sight. And when I think about why this miracle was done in two parts, I have to consider, could it be the only time you have a two-stage miracle is right at the crux of the point where the disciples saw some things but didn’t see everything clearly?

 

They believed. They had turned from the darkness and walked into the light, but their ability to see comes in stages. At first, things are out of focus.  But eventually and finally, after the cross and the resurrection it all becomes crystal clear and they will see perfectly.

 

The same thing happens to us.  In fact, I think that’s what Paul had in mind when he said, “For now, we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face..”

 

May God help us to grow and increase in spiritual sight. 

 

Let’s pray.