Mark 8:22-26 (New International Version)

The Healing of a Blind Man at Bethsaida
22They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" 24He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." 25Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village."

Seeing People Through Christ’s Eyes

This is a strange story for all sorts of reasons! First of all, the story has been cleaned up a bit by the editors of the NRSV. I wish these scholars would not do such things. The original does not say Jesus put saliva on the man’s eyes. The original text says Jesus spit on his eyes. I am certain my use of the vernacular is at least ten years behind the times, but all I can think to say in response is, “Eww! Gross!
The next strange bit is the two stage healing. No getting around it, folks, the first touch of Jesus prompts an incomplete healing. I am reminded of a story some of you, I think, have heard. One day here in my office I took a piece of paper out of the printer and laid it on my desk. It was a normal 8½ by 11 page. But it didn’t look right to me. It looked as if the top was wider than the bottom. I showed the page to Elizabeth. She confirmed the page looked perfectly normal to her and was kind enough not to suggest I had finally gone off the deep end.
Unfortunately this was not an isolated incident and I began to get a little worried about what was going on. I went to see our family doctor and she said there was nothing in any tests she could do to indicate why my eyes seemed to be playing tricks on me. She suggested that perhaps I ought to have a more detailed examination.

But before we went in that direction it occurred to me I ought to get the lenses checked. Are you ready for this? It likely does not surprise you that I have bi-focal spectacles and that I have just enough vanity that I have the invisible kind. When the lenses were put in the frames they were not glued in place. When I was cleaning them I was turning the lenses. Some days the near vision part was at the bottom where it’s supposed to be and some days I had turned it to the side. My vision was only partially corrected. (How many of you are wearing spectacles today? Hands up. Trade with the person closest to you. Probably doesn’t do much for you.) So what’s with this story that tells us Jesus needs two tries to bring about the expected result.
One more thing: Jesus sends the man on his way home and says, “Do not even go into the village.” What do you suppose that means? Let’s have a look and see what we can discover.
It would be helpful for you to have a Bible open to the text. It’s on page 43 of the New Testament in the pew Bibles. Have a look at the whole of chapter eight. It begins with a miracle, the feeding of four thousand people. The raw material of the miracle is seven loaves and a few small fish.
In verses 11, 12 and 13, we are told the Pharisees have come to Jesus asking him if he can show them a sign from heaven. In other words, they are spiritually blind to what is going on. God’s people are being miraculously fed and they ask if there is any proof of God’s presence in the life of Jesus.
In the next section, verses 14 to 21, Jesus attempts to teach the disciples and they are shown to be clueless. What does Jesus ask them. “Do you have eyes, and fail to see?” In other words, what do you think is going on here? Are you like the Pharisees, asks Jesus? Do you look at the activity of God, only to turn away and wonder if God might somehow give a sign of his presence in the life of Jesus?
Then comes our text about the man who is cured at Bethsaida. We will come back to this in a few minutes.
In verses 27 to the beginning of chapter nine, there is the well-known story of Jesus asking the disciples about his identity. Many of you will remember the details. Peter makes that marvelous confession, “You are the Messiah.” In the next breath he rebukes Jesus because the Lord has attempted to tell the disciples what it means for him to be Messiah. Jesus in turn rebukes Peter. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
What follows is the story of the Transfiguration and then we are told that Jesus ordered [Peter, James and John] to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Many had risen from the dead (Mark 9:9). Try to keep the sequence of events straight and let’s get back to our text.
This is what I think is going on. It may appear to you Jesus is somehow using the blind man as a prop. Let’s look at it differently. Miracles in the New Testament were signs of God’s power and activity. But it is not just in the miraculous that God was and is at work. God is also at work as Jesus teaches. God is also at work as the disciples both then and now clearly see what it is Jesus is telling them. So God uses the miracle as an opportunity to picture what is going on in the encounter between Jesus and his followers.
The first thing is the spit. We have a drawer in our kitchen where we keep four boxed rolls—plastic wrap, aluminum foil, waxed paper and parchment paper. I won’t speak for anyone else in the house, but I tend to just toss the box back in the drawer without paying much attention to whether the serrated edge is sticking up or is safely at the bottom on the box. Which means the next time I dive my hand into that drawer there is a 50/50 chance I will run a finger over one of those serrated edges. If I do the most likely thing to happen next is I will pop the affected finger into my mouth. Why do we do that? Who knows, but I can tell you that in the time of Jesus it was believed that saliva had a medicinal value.
A blind man is brought to Jesus and those who brought him beg the Lord to touch him. Jesus takes the man out of the village. The village is the context of his life, which is likely lived as a beggar, a pan-handler. Jesus demonstrates in his action that if something new is going to happen in the life of this man, he needs to separate himself from the place in which his former life was conducted.
Outside the village Jesus spits on the man’s eyes and puts his hands on him. He asks him, “Can you see anything?” The man replies, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” This demonstrates, I think, the old ways will only bring a person so much spiritual sight. It’s like me without my spectacles. I can see things but the province of Ontario says I can’t see enough to be trusted behind the wheel of a car.
Jesus then touches the man for a second time and his sight was restored—he saw everything clearly. Jesus sends him home but tells him to stay away from Bethsaida. Again I believe there is a symbolic meaning here. Do not go back to the old ways of understanding God at work in the world. If you do you will lose the spiritual sight that has been given to you.
What happens next? Peter has been waiting for God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. He sees him in Jesus. But he sees him as defined by the old categories. He does not see clearly. When is it Peter will see clearly? It is defined by Jesus when he orders them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. In other words, disciples of Jesus do not see clearly until they see him as the resurrected and victorious Lord of the church.

How is your spiritual sight? I believe the story points us in two complimentary directions. First, it tells us that we will not see Jesus as God intends him to be seen until we see him as the one who burst through the gates of death, transforming life in this world and giving us hope for eternity. Friends, those of you who know me know that I try my best to never cut off any conversation about spiritual matters, but, I am convinced that if we see Jesus as merely an inspiring teacher and nothing more then we have not seen the Lord and Saviour who is clearly portrayed in the pages of the Bible.
The second thing, or the other side of the coin, is that unless we see Jesus clearly, our spiritual vision of others will be unclear. I see people, but they are like trees, walking. I don’t see them clearly. I don’t see the pain that only the comfort of God can soothe. I don’t see the hopelessness that only the forgiveness of Jesus can transform. I don’t see the darkness that only the light of God-with-us can conquer.

Friends, I want to finish up by saying something you may find offensive. Blythwood Road Baptist Church has an agenda. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Long ago I learned churches are invisible. In 1981 I became the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Windsor. At that time one of the main downtown intersections was the corner of Wyandotte and Ouellette. The church was two short blocks west of Ouellette and perhaps 50 metres  south of Wyandotte. Day after day, hundreds of people exited the back door of the downtown Woolworth’s store and looked directly across a parking lot at the back of the church where a large sign announced what the building was. But time and time again when I was asked that very male question, “So what do you do?” and replied that I was the pastor at Temple Baptist Church, I had life-long residents of the city say, “Where’s that?” A local watering hole, the Kilarny Castle, was at the corner, a mere 50 metres away. Everyone knew where that was. I even had the odd person say, “Are you sure there’s a church there? I’ve never seen it.”
Friends when we allow community groups to use our facilities, part of the reason is I want them to know the we are followers of Jesus Christ and Jesus is ever and always inviting those who do not yet trust him to turn to him in faith and believe the good news of God’s love. When Jesus looks at people he loves them and calls them to follow him, not simply because he had a few insightful and interesting things to say, but because he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death on the cross, and is now alive and exalted and the one before whom every knee is intended to bend and every tongue is intended to confess Jesus Christ is Lord.
We’re not talking about being a club. We’re talking about being the church, the church where Jesus Christ is Lord.

B