Lovers of God

Jesus heals a blind man at Bethsaida

Mk 8:22-26 22 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24 And he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around." 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. 26 And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

Why did Jesus do such a humiliating thing like spitting into the blind man’s eyes to heal him? Why did Jesus take the man out of the village, and after healing him, tell the man not to enter that village? In the other instances of Jesus healing blind men, He didn’t do these things, so clearly such things were not required for healing. I think He was trying to symbolically convey a message through His actions.

When you are blind (which is a picture of not seeing things correctly theologically) it requires a lot of humility to admit that you are wrong. It is like having someone spit into your eyes.

Further, to change your position on things, you have to be taken out of the village i.e. you have to come out of the church that you currently are in. For example, if you are in a church that does not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and God shows you that you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit before you can serve Him, if you stay in that church, you will find it difficult to obey God because of all the others there trying to pull you down. You can to come out of there, and once you believe, go to another church where they do believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit; don’t go back to your old church, unless you have a specific word from God to do so.

Sometimes, our blindness in certain areas doesn’t get taken away in one encounter but requires multiple encounters. We often don’t see theological truth immediately, but gradually. We shouldn’t be satisfied with a partial understanding but pursue a full understanding of God’s truth.

Seeing the symbolism here, I began to wonder whether the miracles are symbolic of spiritual things, and then I began to see the picture that I describe at the end.