He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village.”
Mark 8:24-26
I know exactly how this formerly blind man felt after Jesus had partially restored His sight.
Several weeks ago I had cataract surgery. First, the left eye; then a week later, the right eye. Both times the affected eye was covered with a bandage for a day. What a relief to get the patch offand know that the doctor had not blinded me!
There was a remarkable change in my vision. Before cataract surgery I, too, saw men as trees walking. After the surgery, my vision dramatically improved. Today I see clearly with just a minimal boost from my eyeglasses.
In the healing of the Bethsaida blind man, after Jesus had spit on his eyes and laid hands on them, the man answered truthfully that he still could not see clearly. Credit him with being honest. He might have chosen instead to try to please Jesus by acting like he had good eyesight, “Oh, thank You, Jesus! I now can see! Oh, it’s so wonderful!” But he didn’t fake his healing; nor did he confess that he could see clearly when he could not.
This time Jesus chose not to spit on the man’s eyes, but simply to place His hands on them again. Full sight was restored.
This is the only progressive healing recorded by Mark—all the others occurred instantaneously. Why this miracle required two actions by the Lord isn’t clear. But there is a clue.
In just a few days (Mark 8:27–29), the disciples would begin also to see clearly who Jesus was. Their spiritual sight had taken more than two years to develop. The healing of the Bethsaida blind man in two stages shows also that sometimes coming to spiritual sight takes time.
One of my friends came to Christ out of a pretty dreadful past of bondage to destructive attitudes and actions. He found that he didn’t gain deliverance all at once over these things that had had such a strong hold on him. He said to me, “It took me awhile to fall into these habits, and it’s taken me awhile to fall out of them.”
It would be wonderful if all bad thoughts and deeds were cured instantly at conversion. And Jesus often does grant complete and immediate deliverance. However, just as with the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida, Jesus may use a process instead of giving deliverance all at once.
We must avoid the danger of trying to program the Lord, of holding Him to a rigid expectation of what He should do in all circumstances. We can see only the moment. He sees the distance, and because He sees farther, He knows best what to do in the present.
The citizens of Bethsaida, as a whole, rejected Jesus (Matthew 11:21). That explains why Jesus told the healed blind man not even to go back into town, but to go to his own home. The folk at Bethsaida missed the chance of a lifetime when they turned their backs on Jesus.
A Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your first touch is salvation and Your final touch is the resurrection of my body. In between those two healings, I often see through a glass darkly or partially. But the Day is coming when I shall see, even as I am seen by You!
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