Mark 8:22-26

Progressive Healing?

Devotional 41 of 50 · Mark chapter 8

00:00--:--

Audio coming soon

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the

Mark 8:22-26 · BSB

²²When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked. ²⁴The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.” ²⁵Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly. ²⁶Jesus sent him home and said, “Do not go back into the village.”

Jesus

Most people are shocked and confused when reading about Jesus using spit in the healing process. This isn’t a magic recipe to heal blind people, so what is going on here? No biblical scholars have definitive answers. Some have found spit being associated with healing practices, and others connect spit to the blood of Jesus that brings healing. No matter the case, the big picture is that when Jesus touches the unclean and the sick, they are healed.

Yet, more puzzling than Jesus using spit—why did it take Jesus twice to heal this man? Is healing sometimes a process? Was Jesus sending a message? And maybe the strangest theory—did Jesus open this man’s eyes to the spiritual realm the first time He prayed for him? Jesus is clearly able to heal the first time, without error or mistake. So it feels safe to assume that He was sending a message. If we zoom out and look at the context, we see the disciples struggling with hard hearts (Mark 6:52) and even the possibility of them falling into the doubts of the Pharisees. Jesus does not give up on them, but repeats the miracle of the loaves and continues to reveal Himself to them.

Then in the next story, Peter declares that he finally sees Jesus for who He actually is. The disciples move from a place of being blind to Jesus, then partially seeing, and finally to clarity of who He is. This healing parallels their journey of gradual revelation of the character of Christ.

His Desires

Jesus desires that we know and behold Him, and He is at work for full revelation. We see that Jesus may also desire for us to ask follow-up questions when praying for people’s healing. When praying for healing, many will ask if they notice any improvement, and if the healing is partial, they continue to pray for full healing.

Lastly, we continue to notice Jesus’ desire to remain obscure and for this man not to spread news about Him. This is likely because Jesus wanted to control the spread of His message, knowing widespread popularity would lead to killing by the religious leaders.

Follow Through

Continue to look to Jesus for healing and deliverance.
Press on when Christ has given a partial work, knowing He’s not done.

Testimonies

This is where people will share how they actually obeyed this passage — and read what happened to everyone else who obeyed the same words.

Coming soon

Devotional 41 of 50

NextYou Are the ChristMark 8:27-30

← Leaven, Loaves, and Lies

Comments

Coming soon. This is where readers will share how they obeyed this passage.