Our trust for the Father must be more than our preconceived notions or expectations about what we believe should happen.
First and foremost I would like to encourage you to read this passage – Mark 8:22-9:1.
There are so many topics to point out in this passage. Most commonly is the confession of the Christian (Mark 8:27-29), or the relationship between Jesus and Peter (Mark 8:31-33), or maybe most importantly the path of a disciple (Mark 8:34-38).
However, for the sake of this blog, I would like to talk about something that absolutely fascinates me found at the beginning of this passage.
In Mark 8:22-25 it says, “They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He 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?’ He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
What is going on? I mean; this is Jesus, God Incarnate. Why didn’t it “work” the first time? As we start to dive into this we must remember that while Jesus is fully God, He chose not to use His divinity while He was incarnated on earth (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus fully submits Himself to the Father desiring His will in all situations (Matthew 26:37-50; John 5:19; John 8:28-29; John 12:49-50).
So, when we look at this situation, although unique, as we do not see other healings in stages like this one, we learn a tremendous lesson. First and foremost, we learn that we must start the way Jesus started. Before Jesus ever encounters the blind man at Bethsaida Jesus is fully submitted to the Father desiring His will in all situations. How does He do this? He spends time in the Scriptures (Luke 2:52). He daily spends time in prayer in the morning and at evening (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12). We must adopt this posture as well to grow closer to the Father and live out His will.
Secondly, our trust for the Father must be more than our preconceived notions or expectations about what we believe should happen. In this instance, Jesus continues to pray until the healing is accomplished. This is reminiscent of how James encourages us in James 5:13-16.
So, what does this mean, and how did we see Jesus live this way? This means that we continue to pray for someone until that healing happens, understanding that the healing may not happen before their death. But, that in death there is a restoration as we become whole when we are face to face with our Lord.
