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

Mark describes Jesus as continually on the move, moving from place to place. When he says that they came to Bethsaida, he could mean that it was their intended destination when they crossed the sea of Galilee (vv. 13-14). Or they may have berthed somewhere else and later travelled to Bethsaida. Mark is the only Gospel to record this incident.

Shared features with other incidents

As we look at his details, we can see similar features to previous incidents. For example, he states the fact that those who brought the needy person to Jesus begged him to help the blind man. Mark has already described several incidents in which those who asked Jesus to help someone begged him to do so. What is notable about some of the incidents is that they follow situations in which Pharisees disagreed with Jesus. The occasions when the women begged for her daughter’s deliverance and when the friends begged on behalf of the deaf and dumb man followed criticism from the Pharisees. And so does the incident here in Mark 8. It would seem that Mark is highlighting that the best way to approach Jesus is to take a lowly attitude, to draw near to him with reverence and respect. When people came to him with that attitude, he helped them.

So we could ask what his disciples would learn from this way of approaching Jesus. Surely the lesson would be that they would have to speak about Jesus in a manner that would cause people to think about him with respect as they considered the gospel message. No doubt it would mean stressing his deity and his coming from the glory of heaven to deliver those in spiritual need. And it would include stating that he was the great Creator who upheld all things and who possesses the power to perform great miracles. That is still a challenge today, to convey to others the definite message that Jesus is great.

A second similarity is one between this incident and the previous one in which Jesus used signs to show what he would do to an individual affected with severe problems. In both incidents, he takes the individual aside and helps him privately. And in both incidents he uses particular signs to inform the person of what will happen. With the deaf and dumb man Jesus touched his ears and tongue (and used spittle) and with the blind man he spat on his eyes. As we noticed previously, this shows the compassion and sensitivity of Jesus and how he found ways of informing people about how he planned to help them.

A third similarity is that Mark gives his readers the geographical location of the miracle. I can think of two details that are connected to the town of Bethsaida. First, it was in Galilee, so it is likely that the people in the story, including the healed man, are Jews. Mark is telling his readers that when Jews and Gentiles approach Jesus correctly he will help them and not ignore them. Second, Bethsaida was the place where Peter and Andrew came from (perhaps the connection with Peter is one reason why the incident is recorded by his friend Mark) – it was also the place where Philip came from. I wonder what Peter felt when Jesus chose to come to Bethsaida. Obviously it would be an occasion of public identifying with Jesus before those who knew Peter best. And Jesus can arrange something similar for us and cause us to have to reveal to those who know us well that we are now the followers of Jesus.

Having mentioned those similarities, it is also the case that there were differences, which is a reminder that Jesus did not always work in the same way with those he helped. Everyone that he did show grace to was dealt by him in a personal manner. We should expect the same and it is not wise to assume that Jesus will deal exactly with each case.

Features from this incident

There is another detail from the incident that we should note and that is that Jesus took the man by the hand and led him out of the village. It is unlikely that Jesus would have remained silent during that walk together. He probably spoke to the man about spiritual things. What this action of Jesus indicates is that he had time for people. The one thing that cannot be done with a blind person is to hurry him. Mark presents Jesus as being in a hurry with his use of terms like ‘immediately’. Yet when necessary Jesus had all the time a person needed in order to benefit from what he could do for them.

We can learn something also from the case of the blind man. Clearly at one time he was able to see, otherwise he would not have known what trees looked like. At some stage in his life he had experienced a tragedy when he had lost his sight. Maybe he wondered why this had happened. No doubt he had prayed that it would not happen. Yet the unwanted tragedy did take place. The good feature of the story is that the tragedy became a means of Jesus revealing his glory and how he was able to turn a tragedy into something beautiful. We can find ourselves in circumstances in which our world seems to collapse. Then Jesus intervenes and turns the situation into one of blessing.

Another lesson applied to the disciples themselves and that is that sometimes Christians don’t see everything clearly. We even get an example of this in the next incident recorded by Mark when he refers to Peter’s confession of Jesus. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ and then insists strongly that Jesus should not die. Obviously Peter was like that blind man and maybe Peter asked Mark to insert the story of the blind man because it would illustrate how he was described in 9:27-33.

The point is we are not to judge someone by how much understanding he has at a given moment. Instead, what matters is whether or not he is making progress. A spiritual giant can stand still, and when that happens he may not be a giant for long. A spiritual pygmy can still be only taking the first steps to becoming a giant, but if he keeps at it he will yet get there. Peter could say, ‘Look at how spiritually immature I was there, and worse was to come when I denied Jesus, before I really started to grow in grace as I should.’

We should always remember that Jesus might be dealing with someone who sees things imperfectly and might not be dealing with the one who is clinically correct, such as Judas. Time will always tell.

Gradual discipleship

The obvious lesson from this incident is that at times Jesus chose to heal a person in stages, or gradually. Jesus healed other blind people immediately, so the reason for the stages is not connected to a failing on the part of Jesus. Instead we are here in another classroom in which his disciples are learning how to serve him.

People have speculated as to what may have been wrong with the man and have suggested that he may have lacked faith in Jesus. From one point of view, it would not be surprising since his blindness would have prevented him seeing other miracles that Jesus had performed. Yet the text does not say that there was something lacking in his faith or even if he had any faith to begin with. Instead Jesus chose to heal him in two stages, a reminder that he will complete the work that he has begun.

We can apply this in several ways to have a person is converted and we can think about some of them briefly and in no particular order. First, we can reflect on the fact that sometimes God blesses a Bible verse immediately to an individual who may not have heard about the Bible before whereas he deals with others more slowly, providing spiritual insight into conversion by degrees over a period of time.

Second, we know that the length and the intensity of conviction of sin can vary in people who are influenced by the gospel. Some who have the deeper and longer experience of conviction of sin may not have committed many outward sins. Yet they become aware that throughout life they have been self-righteous and if brought up in a gospel environment they have rejected numerous offers of pardon through the gospel. So their experience of conviction of sin can be very different from an individual who lived a sinful lifestyle, hears the gospel, believes in Jesus, all in a very short period of time.

Third, the amount of prayer required to bring a person to conversion will vary. Sometimes, when we ask God to convert an individual he may do so very quickly, perhaps after only a short period of intercessions for the person. In contrast, we may pray for another person and discover that we have to do so for years on end before they are converted. Why was that the case? The answer is that is how God chose to bring those individuals to himself. As far as those who are praying are concerned, they just have to keep on doing so until he answers. It will have little to do with the faith of the petitioner, although such may chastise themselves and imagine that their faith is weaker because God is taking longer to answer their prayers. But they should remind themselves that God arranges the steps in conversion.

Three concluding points

Firstly, after he had healed the man Jesus told him to go home and not to go into the village. I read various suggestions as to why Jesus said this, such as to avoid creating unnecessary publicity for the man himself or for Jesus. Sometimes the obvious answer is the best, and maybe Jesus was telling the man, and the disciples and us, that the people who should first know that we have been cured by Jesus are our families.

Secondly, how would the disciples of Jesus know if the cured man had become a true disciple? There is only one way, and that is obedience to the commands of Jesus. If a person is not willing to obey what Jesus requires, there is no evidence that they are converted. The command was not difficult to obey in any case. But it was a test that would reveal a lot.

Thirdly, we can ask the question, ‘When did the man know that he was seeing properly?’ The answer is not when he could see some people dimly. Instead the answer is when he could see Jesus clearly. I think we can apply this distinction to progress in our spiritual vision. Usually when a person becomes interested in Christian things the first objects he sees are believers. But he cannot understand them and their activities are kind of vague for him, although they themselves are happy in doing them. In that situation, the person that the seeking individual needs to see is Jesus. Once he sees Jesus clearly, he sees everything else clearly as well.