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Gospel: 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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This is the only miracle in all of the Gospels that takes place in stages.
Usually, Jesus speaks and something happens – a storm is calmed, a demon is cast out, a person is raised from the dead. Elsewhere, a woman touches the tassel of his cloak and her flow of blood dries up.
Not today.
This man is healed in stages … and several, painstaking ones at that.
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Why is his healing not immediate?
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It isn’t because Jesus is having an off day… not because he lacks the power to heal… not because he’s trying to torment the man.
Perhaps it’s this man’s lack of faith that slows the momentum.
The Gospel tells us that it was his friends who brought him to Jesus; meaning, the Lord was otherwise unknown to him.
Even after Jesus takes him by the hand, nothing happens. (In other cases, anyone who simply touches Jesus in faith is healed).
Then these two proceed on a private journey, leading them all the way out of town. In doing so, Jesus fulfills that great prophecy of Isaiah in such a literal way: “I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them.”
When they finally stop, Jesus spits on the man’s eyes, then presses his calloused carpenter’s hands onto the man’s eyeballs! Even so, it took another round of spittle and touch to finish the job.
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So, what’s the point?
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Imagine how often God must try breaking into our world, but a lack of faith, or an unwillingness to change, slows the momentum. This doesn’t mean that God ever stops trying.
But the stronger our faith – and the more we surrender – the faster we get what we need; the quicker we “see.”
Lord, give us eyes of faith.
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Image credits: (1) Independent Catholic News (2) Osprey Observer (3) Biblical Wallpapers, WordPress