Mark 8:22-26 22And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought to him a blind man and begged him in order that he might touch him. 23And taking the blind man by the hand, he 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?” 24And seeing again he said, “I see people, for I see them walking like trees.” 25Then Jesus again put his hands on his eyes, and he looked intently and he was restored and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
This story is unique to Mark and not found in Matthew or Luke. Jesus and his disciples had made their way to Bethsaida, which was located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee close to the inlet of the Jordan river. As what happened often, a disabled person was brought to Jesus for healing. Word had spread that Jesus only needed to touch a person and that person would be healed. The way the blind man was healed is significant. First, Jesus guides the man out of the village. Mark does not record the reason for this, but likely this would have been unfamiliar territory to the man who would have been unable to find his way back without assistance. The end of the story hints that the man may have lived outside of the village, and so Jesus may have taken him en route to his home. Everything Jesus did had a purpose.
At first, Jesus seems to fail to heal the blind man, but the two-stage healing is significant for Mark’s message. This is the only miracle of Jesus that happened gradually or in steps. This process becomes symbolic for seeing more of God’s truth in steps. Healing sometimes occurs in stages. Blindness was quite common in the ancient world because of infection and poor hygiene. People’s eyes could become so encrusted that flies would land on them, causing more vision problems.
Jesus used a method of curing that the blind man would understand with the spitting and laying on of hands. Each stage of the process is significant and symbolic. Clear vision came step-by-step. Step one was that the man was brought to Jesus in faith. Some people will need assistance and guidance to Jesus. The intercession of friends and family may be the first step for someone to experience healing. Second was the Master’s touch. Spitting on the man’s eyes would have been a tangible experience for the man. Spit was believed to contain healing power in the ancient world. The man’s faith must have grown when he saw the blurry people walking. Third, came the full physical healing. The last step is implied by how the man saw everything clearly. Everything is undesignated and could include not only the people and scenery around him but a deeper inner understanding of the heart. His faith brought deeper insight into who Jesus was.
The new sight and insight of the healed man can be compared to the lack of insight of the disciples in verse 21. Mark may have intentionally put these two stories together to give a subtle message about discipleship. The healing of the blind man also prepares for the new partial insight Peter and the other disciples have in the next story. The healing of the man in stages corresponds to the sight Peter was slowly gaining in 8:27-30 and the transfiguration in chapter 9. Eight different Greek words for seeing and sight are used in this passage, drawing attention to the need to see and understand who Jesus is and how we should respond to him in faith. The key question Jesus asks the man is the same he asks of us: “Do you see anything?” (verse 23).
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