Mark 8:22-26:  22 They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ 24 And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.’ 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent him away to his home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’

Since we are midway through Mark’s gospel let’s recall where we’ve been. First, Mark introduced us to shocking news: (1) Good News was coming out of Galilee (when we all know that nothing good ever comes out of Galilee) and (2) this Good News was not what anybody had in mind about God’s kingdom. For it is a kingdom where rank and self-made righteousness have no meaning. Then we’re given opportunity to see for ourselves that Jesus is the Messiah – that he is God, with us in the boat through the storms we encounter. That he is God who brings healing and transformation to all people – those in the synagogue and those living on the outskirts of society, in graveyards. We have seen that Jesus is a miracle worker, who heals through very ordinary means, like spit, touch and bread, although often he is misunderstood unless one can step away from the crowd in order to see him and the meaning of his miracles more clearly. Last week we saw that Jesus is very concerned about that lack of understanding and inability to see. But much of what we know only we, the readers, know. The people in the story don’t seem to know much of anything! The religious and political leaders know just enough to be suspicious and conspire against Jesus. Jesus’ hometown, too, is clueless. Those who are actually expected to know something about the true identity of Jesus, his close companions, are again and again seen to be ignorant. They’ve seen him perform miracles, yet seem surprised by what happens next. They’ve heard the parables, yet puzzle over the meaning even though he’s told them that they are the ones with ears to hear. It seems that the only characters in the story who do understand who Jesus is (even before he performs a miracle) are the demon-possessed, those with unclean spirits and those with unclean diseases. Jesus’ disciples know that he is a great miracle worker, but don’t have ears to hear, nor eyes to see. The disciples know he has power over wind and wave, but fail to fully understand who he is.

Which lands us on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee in a town called Bethsaida. There are interesting similarities between this story and the earlier one we looked at in Mark 7 where Jesus healed the deaf and speechless man. (1) In both stories a crowd brings to Jesus a person with a disability that has pushed that person to society’s edge. (2) In each case the crowd begs Jesus to heal the man. (3) In each case Mark’s reading audience accompany Jesus and the person away from the crowd where we get a private glimpse of the healing. (4) In the first case Jesus spits and touches the man’s ears and tongue, healing him. In the second case, the one we read today, Jesus uses spit again, touches his eyes, but this time the man is only partially healed. It’s the only miracle of its kind – a two-stage miracle – from stick-figure sight to clarity.

What’s important to recognize about both stories of healing is their position in the wider story. They come directly before and after the feeding of the four thousand – a miracle that is followed by the Pharisees demand for a sign to which Jesus replies “why does this generation demand a sign?” which is in turn followed by the scene in the boat that we looked at last week where Jesus is warning about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod and asks the disciples “do you still not understand?” These two stories about healing deafness, speech impediments, and blindness are showing us, the reader, something the characters in the story can’t see – our own blindness. At the midpoint in Mark’s gospel, the two-stage healing of a blind man is not just another miracle story; for us it is a parable that depicts the struggle of everyone who thinks he or she already sees, perceives, hears, and understands Jesus the Messiah.

Only those who know they are blind have the opportunity of seeing at all. And those who finally recognize that what they at first thought was sight but turned out to be just stick-figure faith have a chance of the second touch. We will never see that Jesus is the Messiah unless we can see this: We are blind. We lack clarity. We need Jesus. This is not the result of empirical proof it is the result of humble repentance and faith. We need his healing touch to keep us from seeing only in part, seeing a cultural stick-figure Jesus, where the church of Jesus Christ separates folks into the haves and have-nots; a church that is caught up in greatness and material elitism; a church that has lost sight of taking up a cross’s shame and humiliation and losing one’s life to save it. 

There is one more story of healing blindness in Mark’s gospel. Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus in chapter 10 with only a word. No spit involved. Just another question: “what do you want me to do for you?” and then Jesus’ response, “Go, your faith has made you well.”

-René Johnson

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