Skip to content

Commentaries
English
Mark
  
19. A Blind Man Healed at Bethsaida
(Mark 8:22-26)
22Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.23So 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.24And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”25Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.26Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”


A true Christian develops from partial knowledge to recognition of the redemptive plan of God. He who believes in Christ grows in the knowledge of his love and the experience of his power. He does not become perfect, in spite of the perfection gifted to him, but moves from faith to more faith. This spiritual development may be seen clearly in Christ’s healing of the blind man at Bethsaida.
Some believers brought a blind man to Jesus and asked him to touch him with his healing power. This is exactly the subject of preaching. Your privilege, as a saved believer, is to bring the blind, with respect to faith, to Jesus in your prayers that he may enlighten them with his Spirit. The service of your supplications is the beginning of their healing. Christ did not immediately comply with the demand of those who sought him, but took the blind man aside. He led him from the midst of the multitude into isolation and silence, and was willing to heal him, and the blind man followed Jesus to the silence. As such, Christ takes every seeker after truth aside, away from the clamor of life, to treat him personally in the peace of meditation, according to his own disease and trouble.
The Son of God spat in the eyes of the blind man, as a symbol of purification of his sins, and notification of the divine washing. He who is blind in spirit needs first to purify his heart of its sins with Christ’s blood, for sins have screened our knowledge of God.
Jesus touched the blind man with his divine hand, and his power ran into the patient who expected to be healed, as an electric current runs into your hand and body when you touch an electric wire. As such the power of the Holy Spirit, the new heavenly element, dwells in you when you believe in the forgiveness of your sins by him who was crucified, for Christ does not only speak to you, but he also makes you partner of his own power.
Then, Jesus spoke to the blind man, and encouraged him to look. The blind man began to see unclearly, as some of those who believe in Christ do not see clearly, at first blush, the capacity of their salvation, and the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, especially that the spirit of spiritual blindness had pressed on their tribe over a long period. However, hearing the word of God persistently, and communication with his kind power develop true knowledge, and right faith.
Christ did not lose patience when the healed man could not immediately see clearly, but he put his hands again on the man’s eyes when he had confessed that he could see partially. As such, we encourage you, dear reader, to confess your growing, hopeful faith that you may experience that the Son of God touches you, and gives you wider insight about his salvation, power, and love.
Finally, the healed man could see and recognize Jesus exactly before his eyes. The kind face of Jesus was the first thing to get through that man’s heart. Then, he saw with astonishment all the details of the world around him, but his heart was filled with joy, for his eyes had seen the Lord.
Christ warned him not to hasten to mention this event before the others, but to leave the multitude and withdraw from them, giving thanks to the Lord that he might recognize through his thanksgiving who Christ was, how great his work was, who man is in himself, and his unworthiness of receiving the Lord’s help.
Did you ever thank your Lord for your opened eyes? There are more than three hundred thousand blind people in the Arab world. Do you have enough pity and preparedness to serve them? When will you begin to thank your Lord for the salvation given to you? When will you visit a blind man in your surroundings, pray with him, and help him practically?

Prayer
O Lord, we thank you for your patience with us. Forgive us our spiritual blindness, purify our hearts of all offense, and impurity with your precious blood, and enlighten us with your Holy Spirit that we may see you exactly in your kindness, and never forget you. Help us to know the foolish hearts that we may not become haughty, but be filled with your peace, and bring many from spiritual blindness to you that they may see you, as we do, the axis of our life. Help us also to serve the blind in our surroundings with practical services and persistent prayers. Amen.
Question
What do we learn from Jesus’ healing of the blind man at Bethsaida?