In Mark 8:22-26, we are told of an instance where Jesus heals a blind man. The interesting thing is that Jesus has to touch the man twice before he is fully healed. We read “spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, ‘Do you see anything?’ He looked up and said, ‘I see people – they look to me like trees walking.’ Again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and he saw distinctly.” This seems to be an embarrassing passage for Christians because we claim Jesus to be God incarnate, yet He had to heal the man twice. Would God really have to heal a man in stages?

I suggest that there are two reasons why Jesus healed this man in stages, and neither of them is because He was not powerful enough to do it in one. Firstly, such a passage would indeed be embarrassing, if it were without context. The only way that people can use this text as an argument against the deity of Christ, is to rip it out of its context, ignoring what was going on around the passage, and to dismiss any possible reason that Jesus may have had to heal the man in stages. This also lends credence to the historicity of this passage. If it were not historical, but rather fictional, then why Mark include it? Why not paint Jesus in the best light possible and have the healing done immediately? Some may say, “Well, Mark was trying to make Jesus more human, and balance out all of the people who were making Him divine.” Then why mention this passage at all? Or any of the miracles that take place in Mark. Why not just mention everything that makes Jesus human?

I mentioned two reasons, and the second is this: Looking at the context, specifically Mark 8:11-21, we see that the disciples had a hard time understanding Jesus. He told them “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They thought He was talking about some yeast that had been put into bread, but they did not have any bread. Jesus asks (among other things), “Don’t you understand or comprehend? … Do you have eyes, and not see, and do you have ears, and not hear? … Don’t you understand yet?” It seems that Mark was using the passage of the blind man healed in stages to show that the disciples understood Jesus in stages as well. So, the blind man may not have believed that Jesus could heal him. Jesus then partially healed him, and asks what he sees. The blind says, “I see people – they look to me like tress walking.” When I read this, I can see the man with a look of amazement and happiness on his face, but then some disappointment as he realizes that he cannot see clearly. Then Jesus fully heals him. He leads the man to a healing faith, not in spite of the man’s disbelief, but because of the belief of his friends that brought him to Jesus.

There is a sad reality that is also two-fold. Fold number one, some Christians do not pray for the repentance and salvation of those they care about, let alone those they are indifferent towards or do not care about. This is something that we should be doing, and something that we should be open to God using us for. Fold number two, sometimes those who are prayed for get a chance to “see” what this is all about, but they are unsatisfied, and so they turn from God, going back to their blindness.