Mark 6-10: Blurry Vision

I hope you are blessed by your journey through the New Testament thus far!

In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus performs what seems to be a perplexing miracle.  A blind man is brought to Him, and Jesus spits on his eyes and lays hands on him.  When Jesus asks the man if he sees anything, the man says "I see men, but they look like trees, walking."  In other words, the healing of his eyes was incomplete.  Jesus then lays His hands on the man's eyes again, and his sight is restored fully! 

What is going on here?  Did Jesus mess up?  Not have enough power on the first try?  Of course not!  Just prior to this encounter, we read that Jesus told His disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.  While Jesus meant that they must not be poisoned by their teaching, the disciples thought Jesus was chastising them for bringing no bread on their journey!  Jesus reminds them that He had fed 5,000 and 4,000 with very little, and He says to them, "Do you not yet perceive or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?" 

The disciples were a living representation of the partially healed man!  They had blurry vision!  They watched Jesus miraculously provide food for thousands, they themselves were empowered to go out and proclaim the gospel, casting out demons and healing the sick.  They saw Jesus walk on water, heal the sick, and some even saw Him fully transfigured before their very eyes!  Yet they still did not understand.  Even their moments of clarity (8:27-30) are quickly seen to be fleeting (8:31-33).  On multiple occasions in these chapters, Jesus makes clear that He will be delivered over to death and then will be raised on the third day (8:31, 9:30-31, 10:32-34).  On each occasion, the sinfulness and lack of understanding on the part of the disciples is quickly evident.  One tries to teach Jesus that no such things will happen, many argue about which of them is the greatest, a couple ask for prime seating in the kingdom.  Blurry vision, all needing full healing!  When some of the disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a young boy, Jesus says "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?"

What an act of mercy that Jesus did bear with His disciples in the midst of their lack of sight!  His death and resurrection, the very thing that they could not conceive of, would purchase their pardon from sin!  He would send the Holy Spirit on His children that they could have "eyes to see!"  What they did not fully understand when they walked side by side with Him, they were granted the understanding by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them by faith!

We too can rejoice in the same hope!  Through the atoning death and victorious resurrection of Jesus, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are given eyes to see His glory!  We are given power to live a life that glorifies Him!  We are given understanding that our earthly life is not about how to achieve personal greatness and glory, but about laying our lives down, picking up our crosses and following Jesus so that HE may receive great glory!  All of this is from Him, and through Him, and to Him!  And even though the Holy Spirit lives within all who believe - giving us eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ - He also teaches us that "...now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face."  What a day that will be!

Lord, give us eyes to see the real hope of that coming day, and grant to us the grace to live in light of it, laying our lives down, if only Christ may be seen as more glorious!