Pastor's Column 9/22/2024

PASTOR’S COLUMN

“When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged Him to touch the man and heal him. 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 on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened.  His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. Jesus sent him away, saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.”      Mark 8:22-26, NLT

“Seeing Clearly!”    

There are a number of incidents in the Scriptures where Jesus recovers vision to unsighted and severely, visually impaired persons. In each of these narratives – and a few are reiterations of the same incident - the focal point is on Jesus as the Savior who heals. The healing ministry of Jesus focused on the restoration of vision because it was such an acute problem during the time in which His earthly ministry was shaped. There hardly is any narrative we read in the Scriptures that does not have some implication for our lives. They are more than mere stories that arrest our imagination and pique our interest. In the instance of Mark’s iteration of healing, an anonymous blind man as he is described, has engaged the empathy of his neighbors. The people “brought the man to Jesus and were emotionally invested in him. The man was taken to the village of Bethsaida, which was not where he resided. This was a very kind act on their part. We read; the neighbors “begged” Jesus to heal their friend. Perhaps because of the faith demonstrated, and the plight of the man, Jesus took him aside. Jesus prepared an ointment of soft clay and saliva; rubbed the man’s eyes and asked him what he saw. The man, possibly somewhat elated with visual images he had not seen for a while, exclaimed, “I see people, but they look like trees walking around.”  Without any medicinal application, Jesus touched the man a second time. This time, the man said he “saw things clearly.”  Jesus told the man to bypass the village. He wanted the man to avoid the crowd; return home, and there live with clear vision!