Mark 8:22-26--Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

Mark 8:22-26
English Standard Version
​
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
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 on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

---

I mentioned this miracle at the end of yesterday's blog post.  Mark immediately moves from the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees and Herod to the physical blindness of this man to make a point that Jesus came to give sight to the blind--not just the physically blind, but the spiritually blind too.  When Jesus and His disciples came to Bethsaida, the people of the town brought a blind man to Jesus for healing.  They thought that if only Jesus would touch the man that the man would be made whole again and receive his sight.

Jesus didn't work this miracle in the way that He had so many others though.  This time, He led the blind man outside of the village, He spit on the blind man's eyes and then He laid hands on the blind man' and asked him, "Do you see anything?".

The man looked up and said, "I see people, but they look like trees, walking."  In other words, he could see, but still could not see clearly.  Jesus laid His hands on the man again, and the man opened his eyes to his sight being fully restored.  He saw everything clearly now.  When Jesus sent the man on his way, he told the man not to even enter the village.  This is a strange healing indeed.  How is this man to get home if his home is in the village? We don't know for sure that the bind man's home was in the village, but we might assume so since all of his friends were in the village with him waiting for Jesus.  Was Jesus calling this man to leave everything and follow Him?  We don't see this exact healing anywhere else in the gospels to cross-reference and answer these questions, but we do see that Jesus is concerned that those He heals now not go and tell everyone about their miraculous healing.  That would accelerate the timetable and He wants to control when the Pharisees will want to kill Him, so He's going to be more public and overt about His actions very soon--it's just not the right time yet.