Summary
Spiritual Sight
A miracle is an extraordinary event involving the supernatural action of God, and the Gospels overflow with them. When Jesus heals, the pattern is almost always the same: a word, a touch, and an immediate result. The leper is cleansed at once Mark 1:40-42. The paralytic stands and walks Mark 2:10-12. The woman with the hemorrhage is healed the instant she touches his garment Mark 5:29. One step. Immediate. Complete.
But there is one exception. In Mark 8:22-25, a blind man is brought to Jesus at Bethsaida. Jesus takes him by the hand, leads him out of the village, places saliva on his eyes, and lays hands on him. When he asks, "Can you see anything?" the man replies, "I see people, but they look like trees walking." Jesus then lays his hands on the man's eyes a second time, and only then does he see clearly. It is the only two-stage miracle recorded in Scripture. Why?
The answer appears to be that this miracle is itself a parable—an earthly story with a heavenly meaning embedded in the supernatural act. Mark's Gospel is preoccupied with the theme of seeing clearly. The disciples fail to understand the loaves and have hardened hearts Mark 6:51-52. Jesus presses them: "Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear?" Mark 8:17-18. Immediately after the blind man is healed in two stages, Peter confesses, "You are the Messiah" Mark 8:29—and yet he profoundly misunderstands what kind of Messiah Jesus is, rebuking him when Jesus speaks of suffering, death, and resurrection Mark 8:31-33. Peter sees, but not yet clearly. He needs the second touch.
This is the parable hidden in the miracle: the Christian's need for the repeated touch of Jesus through his Word. The law works as a mirror, exposing our sin and our need for a Savior. The gospel announces that Christ has shed his blood, made atonement, and reconciled us to God. We confess him as Lord, Savior, Messiah—and yet our spiritual vision rarely stays crisp. We slip into thinking faith is something we must drum up rather than receive as a gift. We wonder whether some particular sin lies outside his forgiveness. We see him as absent when Scripture says he is omnipresent, or powerless over a circumstance when Scripture says he is omnipotent. We expect him to remove every difficulty rather than use difficulties to mature us beyond the kindergarten of our walk.
The good news is that he is not finished with us. Just as Jesus laid his hands on the blind man's eyes a second time, he continues to touch his people through his Word, again and again, removing the cataracts of cloudy faith. What Luke 24:31 describes—"their eyes were opened and they recognized him"—and what Luke 24:45 records—"he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures"—is the ongoing gift of God to his people. Spiritual sight is not a one-time achievement but a lifelong gift, given graciously and repeatedly through the continual touch of Christ. See Spiritual Sight 1-21-24 for the full study.
Video citations
- Spiritual Sight 1-21-24 — Would you open your Bibles, please, with me for our study this morning to the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The eighth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, if you're using a Pew edition of Holy…