Mark 8 - Blind Man

[Guest Mores]

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22 ¶ And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

23 And 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 upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

Mark 8:22-26

I've often wondered about this story. 

• Spit in his eyes -- Only partially healed
• Hands upon his eyes -- Completely healed
• Tell no one

Why spit?  Well, after having read up on the theories of spit being considered a "healing" fluid, I was disgustedly wondering how that could be true.  It turns out it really wasn't.  There are historical anecdotes.  But it certainly wasn't true among the 1st century Jews.

The theory I like most is that when Jesus calls us, and we take up His cross upon us, we are not being offered a path of luxury and a pleasant life.  We're told we are going to be hated and despitefuly used and abused.  People will spit in our faces.  And we need to be prepared for that.  While the disciples may have been disgusted that their master would spit in this man's face, the blind man was sufficiently humbled that he would take the abuse willingly, if it meant that he would be healed.  Likewise, we need to be so humbled to be redeemed of the Savior.

The healing in stages was a message that fit perfectly between the other two stories told in the same chapter.  Earlier in the chapter, he feeds a SECOND multitude (the first, he fed in CH 6).  But the disciples still didn't get who it was that they were dealing with.

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17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? aave ye your heart yet hardened?

18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

Mark 8:17-18

He had to remind them of the miracles he just showed them.  And yet they did not know.

Then he healed the blind man.

Then we move on to Peter bearing witness:

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27 ¶ And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?

28 And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.

29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

Mark 8:27-30

This is not the verse which Christ calls him Peter.

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15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matt 16:15-19

Here we see that Jesus named him Peter because he had finally learned through revelation -- the rock upon which the Kingdom is built.  The apostles themselves had some level of belief.  But they did not know who the man standing before them truly was.  But at some later time, Peter "got it".  He finally knew who Jesus truly was.

In Mark, he merely says "Thou art the Christ."  But in Matt, he completes it with "The Son of the living God."  And it was not because of merely witnessing miracles right before him, but having it revealed to him by His Father in Heaven.

How fitting that the blind man story is a type and shadow of the journey that the apostles themselves were taking.  They only saw in part because of miracles.  But the witness of the Holy Ghost was what truly revealed Christ to them.

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Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

John 20:29

[mikbone]

From a 10 year old post.

There was an excellent study done to test the placebo vs. knee scopes for mild arthritis. It was a single blind study where the patients were treated with a spinal anesthesia and then they either had a real knee scope with 1) a debridement or 2) a sham operation (the docs made a real incision and made a fuss about squirting some water and pulling the leg around but no scope or debridement was performed). Results - no difference. Both groups of patients reported a significant increase in knee funciton and decrease in pain. Many of the patients who were in the sham group even stated that they would recommend the operation to their family members.

Why did it work? Because the patients believed that it would help them to feel better. And it did.

John 9: 6-7

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 

And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 

I think that Christ applied clay to the blind man's eyes not because the clay had special medicinal properties. Possibly, Christ knew that the blind man did not have enough faith to be healed and needed this outward display of action to boost his faith.

Christ created worlds without number.  Pretty sure He could have performed this small miracle without spit, mud, or washing in a pool.  

Edited June 25, 2019 by mikbone