PrintToday's "Moment with Mark" (55) - a second touch
15 January, 2013
Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, "Can you see anything now?" The man looked around. "Yes," he said, "I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around." Then Jesus placed his hands over the man's eyes again. As the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. (Mark 8:23-25 NLT)
I like this account of Jesus' healing ministry! It gives me re-assurance that not all healing is immediate or perfectly instant
Now I believe in the truth that our God can heal and restore the body that He created. Today, we encounter a man who became example of the fact that healing can be a process, rather than an event. It heartens me that even Jesus had to touch the man twice before he was completely healed. I don't want to make more of this one incident than is reasonable but I believe it has to be taken into account as we grow in our understanding of the healing ministry.
"I see people but I can't see them clearly. They look like trees walking around".
I wonder what an eye specialist would make of such a statement? "...like trees walking around". I'd like to know if this man had been blind from birth and, until this point, had never actually seen people. What did he imagine they would look like? Apart from touching and feeling his own body and the physical contact he may have had inadvertently with others, his knowledge was limited.
The initial touch of Jesus ("spitting", did the text say?) gave him blurred vision, so it would seem. People looked like trees. That's rather a good description if we think in terms of the human body. We often refer to the torso as the 'trunk' of the body and arms must have looked like 'limbs' - another word we use for 'branches.
It was the second touch that made the difference. Sometimes we can't see people clearly. People who have needs. I often feel the need of that second touch so that I can see people and situations more clearly. What about you?
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