Jesus the Challenger.

Mark 8: 22-38

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 
23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 
26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, rnor tell anyone in the town.”

27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”

28 So they answered,  “John the Baptist; but some say,  Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

29 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

30 wThen He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 
32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 
33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them,  “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s 
will save it. 
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

                                             ......................................................................
 

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 
 

The healing of the blind man is the only biblical episode in which Jesus heals an individual but the healing is not immediate. Although the man’s vision is ultimately restored, Jesus must provide a second healing touch to accomplish the miracle.
Also in this healing, Jesus uses a physical application to bring about the cure. He uses spit, (Greek, ptusas,) which means to spit on or, into his eyes and put His hands on him,

At one time, Jesus heals a deaf man who could hardly talk. Jesus healed the man, of course, but in an interesting manner: “Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears”.
On another occasion Mark 7:33, Jesus used spit and touched the man’s tongue”.

In John 9:6, to heal a man born blind, Jesus “spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes”.

Of course, Jesus if He wanted to, He could have spoken the word and this man would have been instantly healed.
This is the same today, where healing from God is concerned.
God can if He so chooses, heal someone instantly. However, sometimes God uses the medical profession to accomplish His will.
By the use of medicine and other applications.

Adam Clark suggests: that no miracle was needed here but a natural healing was performed.

Whether this is true or not, the man’s sight was restored.

Got Questions suggests:
One possible reason for Jesus’ use of His saliva has to do with the beliefs of His contemporary culture. Several Roman writers and Jewish rabbis considered saliva to be a valid treatment for blindness. Since the people of that day had a high view of saliva’s healing properties, Jesus used spit to communicate His intention to heal. Those being healed would have naturally interpreted Jesus’ spitting as a sign that they would soon be cured.

Whether either of these two comments are correct, is debateable.

What we do know for certain is that there is nothing in the text that should not be there.
Jesus had a reason for everything He did and said. We have to keep this account of this healing in context with the surrounding text.
Jesus was teaching His disciples, by His actions and His parables. He was also challenging convention and challenging beliefs.
To spit in public was seen as something offensive.

This account of the healing of the blind man was preceded by Jesus teaching, about the leaven of the Pharisees, which ended with Jesus saying, in verse 21,
 

Mar 8:21  And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand? 

Jesus knew that His disciples at this time, did not have a clear understanding of who He really was and what His mission was.

Many other scholars have noted that this healing of the blind man is an illustration of the disciples.

The two-stage healing is a parable of the disciples. They are “blind” about Jesus. They only have a partial understanding of the One in whom they have believed.

They will also go through a two-stage “healing” in their understanding of Him.
 

A thesis, by Sarah Bourgeois, from Dallas Theological Seminary. says:
 

Even though Peter and the disciples do not have a clear picture of the kind of Messiah Jesus would be, and what His mission involved, they were still believers in Him. They knew He was the Messiah.
John makes it clear that they believed He was the Messiah early in His ministry (John 1:41-50).

Extract: (John 1:41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" )

They already had eternal life, as the purpose of the Gospel of John states (John 20:30-31). Peter confirms that faith in Mark 8.
Mark’s point here in Mark 8 was not that the disciples were not eternally saved. It was also not the case that Jesus was keeping His Messiahship a secret. They “saw” who Jesus was and they believed that. However, they needed to see something shocking and disgraceful about the One in Whom they had already believed.
End of quote.
 

Mark 8:23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

The man still could not see clearly.

 

25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 
26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, rnor tell anyone in the town.”

 
This is a good example of how some people are led out of darkness of sin, into the light.
There are those that have what appears, to be dramatic conversions, like Saul on the road to Damascus. Or Cornelius, in Acts 10.
Then there are others that seem to come to Christ gradually over a period of time.
This could have been an act that Jesus was showing His disciples how the light would dawn on them.

His followers won't understand He is the Messiah until they see His miracles. They won't understand salvation until after the resurrection. They won't understand the church until after His ascension. And they won't understand that salvation is for all people until they see Gentiles converted.

The disciples needed to see something else. In this sense, their sight is only partial. They are like the blind man when Jesus placed His hands on him the first time.

They need to have “sight” about something else. They will only see this later. Only then will they see what they need to see, and see clearly. It concerns the mission of Jesus. They will come to this sight in stages.

Salvation comes by the Holy Spirit revealing who Jesus really is, (the Christ). However, one must put their trust in the Christ to be saved. It is acting on the belief by faith.
Believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth.
 

Peter’s Confession of Christ

27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”

In this next section, Jesus asks a leading question. “Who do men say that I am?”
Jesus was not separated from the talk that went on around Him. He would hear the questions and murmurings. He was leading up to further questions.
 

28 So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say,  Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

Of course it was obvious that Jesus was not John the Baptist. The people that said this must not have known that Jesus had been baptised by John and that they both were around at the same time.
The others that thought He could be Elijah or one of the Prophets, were those that were expecting a political figure, who would stand against the Roman oppression.

Jesus was in the process of teaching His disciples. It was their understanding that He was concerned with.

 

29 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Of course, the disciples being with Jesus constantly, and seeing the miracles He did, and hearing the things He said, were convinced that Jesus must be the promised Messiah.

Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

In the parallel passage of scripture in Matthew, we see Jesus telling Peter that this answer was revealed to him by God.
 

Mat 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 

Mat 16:14  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 

Mat 16:15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 

Mat 16:16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 

 

There are many people that know about Jesus, many that study Jesus but never get to know Him.
Many clever people, university educated, religiously trained, or well read investigators that know of Jesus but they do not know Him personally as their Saviour.

There are also many people who are uneducated and ignorant men that know of Him and the reality of who He really is, has been revealed to them. Why?
The knowledge of Christ comes by revelation.

John 1:13 “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Jesus was moving forward according to God’s timetable. Jesus was predestined before the foundation of the world to be the sacrifice for sin.
All things were to be at the appointed time.

30 Then, He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.

Jesus began to reveal to His disciples, the things that were appointed by the Father. He very likely reminded them of the scripture in the Prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:3-12. He must die, and He must after His death, He must rise again.
 

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 
32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 

This action by Peter proved the point. The disciples did not get it. They did not fully understand. They only saw men as trees walking.

33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
 

Jesus was showing them that they were thinking with the natural minds.

These things that Jesus was saying to them, was shocking. They just could not comprehend how the Messiah could be crucified and killed.
This was unacceptable to the disciples minds. It was just like the spitting in a person’s eye.

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
 

Jesus was saying, not only that but this is the cost of discipleship, the same thing will happen to you.
Not only will I carry a cross but you must also.
 

34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them,  “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s 
will save it. 
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

This whole passage of scripture is all about teaching His disciples. Where they were at and what they needed to see fully.
Their vision at this time was blurry like the blind man after the first touch of Jesus. They needed the second touch to see clearly.

What Mark, here in his gospel wants his readers to grasp, is the shocking and disgraceful aspects of this healing of the blind man. How they related to the cost of following Jesus.

He was showing the disciples that they did not fully understand what following Him involved.

When Christ tells them what will happen to Him, He is in the process of healing their “blindness” about what it means to follow Him.

Come to Jesus and He will take all your problems away. Come to Jesus and all in the garden will be rosy.
NO! This is not the true gospel.
There is a cost to the gospel. Notice, no cost not for the gospel. The price was paid by Christ on the cross but there is a cost to following Christ.

John 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Too many do not count the cost and when trials come, they soon fall away.

This we saw in the parable of the soils.

16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 
17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 
 

In all of this, Jesus was challenging, not only convention but all their preconceived ideas about who He was and what His mission was.
This was a preparation for what was to come in the future for true believers.

​

​

​