Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, February 16, 2022

Mark 8:22-26

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?”  Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly. Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”

“People brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.”  We ought to consider the strangeness of this scene.  Jesus and his Apostles make their way to Bethsaida, just off the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee.  He is recognized on the road and the news of his arrival spreads quickly.  Men put down their work, women and children emerge from their houses.  A great crowd forms around the entrance of the town in order to greet him — not a public official, a general, or even a rich private citizen, but a preacher without credentials from any of the schools who had a reputation for performing miracles.  This preacher did not distinguish himself by his dress or appearance, nor did he sport an educated accent.  Members of the crowd bring to him, partly leading and partly pushing, a blind man.  They have heard that Jesus cured the sick; here was a sick person.  It is not as if Jesus was expected to go to the patient, as doctors of the time did.  Here, the suffering man is brought before one who could cure him.  It is hard to think of a modern equivalent to this scene.  It might only occur where a deep religious atmosphere existed and where people that in miracles.  

“He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.”  Jesus led this afflicted man “by the hand” outside the village.  An often overlooked feature in the life of Jesus is how often we see him touching someone or being touched by someone.  St. Mark tells us that the people of Bethsaida “begged Jesus to touch” the blind man.  Now, he tells us that Jesus led the man by the hand. In the next verses he tells us that Jesus laid hands on the man’s eyes not once but twice.  We can think of ourselves as blind through our ignorance and sin, and yet Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us where he wants to go in order to heal us.  We can also think of him taking us by the hand as we strive to make our way through the darkness of this world until we come to heaven, where we will see him “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13, 12).

“Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.” This verse startles because it seems as if Jesus has failed to perform the miracle.  In fact, the failure is not that of Jesus but of the man whom he is trying to heal.  Jesus wills for the man to receive his sight, but if the man himself does not wish to be healed or lacks faith that God can heal him, then he will not be healed or will be healed only partially.  God does not force his gifts on anyone.  The man does see, but poorly.  At this point he could go his way with what sight he now has, but he remains.  This remaining tells Jesus that he wishes to be fully healed, and so the Lord lays hands on him a second time so that “he could see everything distinctly.”

Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”  This verse tells us that the man did not live in Bethsaida itself but in a hamlet or farmhouse outside the town.  The Lord thus tells him to go straight home, not to go into the town to show off his sight to the people there.  Jesus often tells the people he has healed not to talk about their healing by him.  The main reason for this is that some of these folks would embellish or otherwise distort some aspect of what had happened and so act as poor witnesses of God’s glory.  Another reason, probably, was to protect the cured person from the curiosity of others.  Whatever the reason for the Lord’s instruction, we note that he does not make the continuance of the cure contingent on whether the person obeys him.

One way to interpret this cure is that a Gentile (an unbeliever) is totally blind, that a Jew (who thinks of Jesus as a prophet or philosopher) sees partially, and that a baptized, believing Christian sees “everything distinctly”.  This “sight” is necessary for life in Christ, for through it we see how and who we are to serve for his sake.