Part 7: "Was blind, but now I see..."
In the previous study we looked at Jesus’s purpose in healing many people. There is the account of a very strange healing in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus and his disciples had come to Bethsaida and a blind man was brought to Him. Jesus took the blind man outside the village where He spat on his eyes and laid his hands upon them as well. Jesus then asked the man if he could see anything, to which he replied, “I see men as trees, walking.” Jesus then laid his hands on the man’s eyes a second time and the man’s sight was completely restored (8:22-25 KJV).
Why was the blind man not completely healed after the first time Jesus laid his hands on him? Did Jesus not do it right the first time? Was Jesus confused or struggling? Definitely not. Jesus is all-powerful and all-knowing; He could have healed the blind man completely after the first time if He wanted to. Jesus purposefully did it in “two phases”.
To understand Jesus’s way of healing the blind man, we need to understand the significance of seeing or looking in the Bible. There are many helpful references in Scripture. We find an important one in the book of Numbers. The Israelites had been traveling through the wilderness with Moses and the people grew impatient and complained (21:5). Consequently, the Lord struck the Israelites with snakes that went among them and bit them, so that many of the Israelites died. Realizing their sin, the Israelites repented and asked Moses to speak to the Lord on behalf of them. The Lord commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and to place it on a pole. Those bitten by the snakes would live when they saw or looked upon the bronze serpent.
Jesus spoke of this to Nicodemus when He was explaining what it meant to be born again, “…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15 - emphasis added). Here, Jesus substituted seeing or looking with believing. Jesus was ultimately referring to His death, where He would be lifted up on the cross. Everyone who “looked” at Him on the cross would live. This does not refer to just a literal “looking”, but a believing, a trusting that Jesus’s sacrifice paid the price for all sin. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, all humans deserve death, because of sin, but when they look upon the Bronze Serpent, Jesus, death will only be a bridge to Eternal Life with God.
Now why is this important to understand Jesus’s healing of a blind man? A closer look will help us to see (puns intended!) that this healing served as a symbol of understanding the whole Gospel. Right after Jesus healed this blind man Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, but was confused when Jesus told him that He would suffer and die (Mark 8:27-33).
Without the Gospel, all humans are spiritually blind. Only God can open our eyes to see Jesus for who He truly is. Peter and the rest of Jesus’s disciples were like the blind man who, after Jesus laid his hands on him the first time, could only see in part. They were beginning to understand Jesus’s purpose, but did not fully grasp it yet.
To confirm this, Jesus’ disciples argued amongst themselves about whom they thought were the greatest, at the end of Mark 9. Jesus foretold his suffering and death to them a third time and yet James and John responded by asking Jesus to do for them whatever they wanted; that they may sit “one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.” (10:35-37) Jesus gently rebuked them for their misunderstanding.
We find Jesus healing another blind man, Bartimaeus, right after. Interestingly, and definitely with no coincidence, Jesus uses the exact same words as He did when he spoke to his disciples: “What would ye that I should do for you?” (10:36; 51). Bartimaeus gave a better request than James and John – he wanted to see – and, instantly, his sight was restored.
It’s very easy for us as Christians to criticize the disciples for their ignorant behaviour and arrogance, but each one of us were once blind to Jesus’s identity, His truth and our sin. God, in His great mercy, opened our eyes so that we could see our sin and gaze upon Jesus at Calvary, so that His death could bring us life.
Even after our spiritual sight has been restored, we can easily forget to fix our eyes on the Cross. Especially when a pandemic hits the world. The author of Hebrews encourages Christians to “run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (12:1b-2 - emphasis added). When we fix our eyes upon Jesus “the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace” (H.H. Lemmel).
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:1-4 KJV
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10 KJV
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 KJV
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 KJV
“But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 KJV
“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 KJV
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 KJV
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 KJV
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."