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Book of Mark

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

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

25 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. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”

Note:
Jesus follow up on what he did. He make sure this blind man’s vision completely restored before sent him home.

v23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
v26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”
One of the reasons why Jesus did so is Bethsaida, the people in this village has the unbelief problem. Jesus also mentioned before that he could not do much miracles because the people’s unbelief. And, he advised him not to go back to the village maybe afraid that he will be influenced by the people in the village to become unbelief. The power of influences of the whole village can be very strong.

I need to also remind myself what types of people I always hang around with. If I always hang around with people who bring negative influences, then sooner or later I will be like one of them. One comes to my mind now is futsal group I joined.

This is one unusual way Jesus heals this blind man. There are many ways God help us. God has unique ways to meet our needs. Sometimes, the way God used is beyond our imagination like what happen in this passage. Why God use unique way instead of normal way? No one knows. Maybe this teach us that our God is a creative God, another quality for us to praise God. And we should also learn from Him to think out of the box for the solutions sometimes.

Adam Clarke has an interesting perspective on this: “It is likely that this was done merely to separate the eyelids; as, in certain cases of blindness, they are found always gummed together. It required a miracle to restore the sight, and this was done in consequence of Christ having laid his hands upon the blind man: it required no miracle to separate the eyelids, and, therefore, natural means only were employed – this was done by rubbing them with spittle.”

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