JESUS HEALS A BLIND MAN, BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE

When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, God gave them a great promise that He Himself would drive out the nations for them. In many cases it was obvious that God was doing this, that it was His doing, such as when the walls of Jericho crumbled with just a shout.

God could have wiped out the godless nations in an instant, but He didn’t. It was one by one. When Joshua died, there was still land left to conquer. In Judges 3 it says that for the next generation of Israelites God left some nations like the Philistines “only so that the children of Israel might be taught to know war” – to strengthen them – and there were other nations, the Canaanites, Amorites, and a few more, whom God left “that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord.”

God had done so many all-in-an-instant miracles for Israel: the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, water from the rock, etc. It shows His almighty power. But the fact that now He did things gradually, and left things for them to take hold of, didn’t mean He was less potent. Sometimes He does things gradually, bit by bit, to lead us on in faith, to have us grasp and hold onto His promises as our own. This is what we see as Jesus heals a blind man, but not all at once.

Sermon Text, St. Mark 8:22-26. 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, nor tell anyone in the town.”

Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Dear Lord, You washed the eyes of the blind man so He could see, and You washed our eyes in baptism so that the eyes of our understanding have been enlightened: Don’t let us think that we’ve arrived and know it all already. Keep us searching and reaching to hold onto Your promises, and to make progress in our faith which You increase in our hearts to full assurance. Amen.

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, who helps each person individually: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus and the disciples have just come across the Sea of Galilee, and when they land they see something familiar. Coming up to them are men bringing a friend with them for Jesus to help, in this case he’s blind, and they “begged Him to touch him.” People knew, when Jesus touched a person with a defect or sickness, that they would be made well, in that very moment, immediately.

Well, remember at the end of Mark 7, when people brought a friend who was deaf and mute, and Jesus put His fingers in the man’s ears to indicate He would heal His hearing, and spit on the man’s tongue to show He was going to heal His speaking? Then He spoke the word “Ephphatha,” and “immediately” he could hear and he could speak perfectly.

This looks similar. Again it’s a group of friends leading this man to Jesus, again Jesus takes him off to the side, again He uses saliva – He puts spit on the man’s eyes to show He was going to heal His eyesight – and He puts His finger over the man’s eyes, just as He had put His fingers in the other man’s ears.

But this time, when He pulls His hands away from the man’s eyes, the man doesn’t immediatelysee. Instead, “Jesus asked him if he saw anything.” What do you mean, “if,” Jesus? The man doesn’t say, “I see clearly!” as we expect, but he says: “I see men like trees, walking.” He could only see vague upright shapes, which made him think trees, but they were moving so they must be people. He sees like a very near-sighted person without glasses.

But then Jesus “put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” This is strange to us, that first Jesus does a part-way healing, it’s not immediate and total, but gradual.

What’s going on here? First, no one should doubt that He’s all-powerful. This must be how Jesuswanted to heal this man. This shows that He helps people as individual cases. He knows you personally, and does for you as you need. This is how He wants His church to be: to see people as individuals and care for one another individually, not demanding everyone be the same.

The main thing we want to know is: Why doesn’t Jesus heal him all at once, why is it gradual? Again, Jesus is teaching. What’s He teaching?

Because it’s healing blindness, this has to do with faith. The Bible pictures unbelief as blindness. It says Satan “has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel should shine on them” (2Co 4:4). A few verses before this in Mark 8 Jesus says to the disciples, “Having eyes, do you not see?” He shows He isn’t talking about eyesight when He adds: “How is it that you do not understand?” The very next words are this blind man being led to Jesus.

So in this miracle, Jesus is teaching. All his miracles of healing the blind are teaching us about the Holy Spirit giving us faith. This happens first in Baptism but also whenever His powerful Word is spoken. In the catechism we learn to say: “The Holy Ghost has enlightened me with His gifts.” He comes to one who’s living in the darkness of unbelief and removes the darkness and blindness, opens the eyes so you see with the eyes of faith, no longer in darkness.

When the Holy Spirit comes in Baptism, it isn’t partway. A baptized baby does have everything. When the words are spoken as water is poured, it happens immediately. The child has full forgiveness, has saving faith in the true God. He/she is saved. It’s like when Jesus immediately heals the blind.

But this miracle has something to teach us about how it goes after baptism. You grow in the faith, but it isn’t a steady progression. You struggle to believe. We’re slow to understand. We don’t understand God’s ways. You aren’t always confident. Your joy goes up and down. Your faith goes up and down.

This is the Holy Spirit’s area. Why can’t He get better results? Is He lacking in power? We don’t only look at ourselves that way; we also look at the church that way. Why aren’t there better results? Things improve too slowly for us.

We can look at the moment when Jesus touches the man’s eyes the first time, and his vision is blurry, not clear. It’s a moment of frustration for him and his friends. I felt that frustration when I expected my first eye surgery a year ago to cure my double vision, and it was better but not all the way.

Now think of the life of faith. Frustration comes when your faith doesn’t feel stronger but weaker, or when a teaching of God’s in the Bible is difficult for you to accept because of something it clashes with in your life, or when the world is spinning out of control, or if you are impatient with others, if someone you know is straying, not willing to listen or accept what God says.

This is when it’s helpful to see that when it comes to our spiritual blindness God heals us gradually, patiently, not all at once. Even mature Christians show spiritual immaturity – often due to the devil’s attacks or due to how much we are in the world and influenced by it – but hear comes Jesus, healing but not all at once, but still doing His healing work in Word and Sacrament.

When Jesus heals the blind man gradually, where the first step is that he has blurry vision, it’s first of all a warning. It’s possible for us to not see clearly. This is a warning against sinful pride, thinking that we’ve arrived in all respects in our faith and that we don’t need to be taught. It’s urging us to humility, something our old Adam, our sinful nature, rebels against.

But this blurry vision isn’t only a warning to us, which is Law; it’s also an invitation, which is Gospel. Jesus gives the blind man a hint of what’s there, even if it’s blurry and out of focus, and why? So he will long to see clearly, and hunger to have it – not partway, but to have the fullness of the blessing. Then Jesus gives it to him! In a similar way, the Holy Spirit uses your frustration to make you long and hunger for Him to make your faith clear through His Word, to see Jesus clearly, to see yourself as God sees you in Christ.

This is a great comfort to us. It’s a sign that the Holy Spirit does enlighten us with His gifts, and even though it’s gradual, it’s step by step and bit by bit, and sometimes we struggle and it’s slow going, He does finish the job. He is completing and perfecting our faith all the time through the Gospel.

This is how the Holy Spirit works. In Baptism you were enlightened with all His Gospel gifts, so now when you hear the Gospel you’re hearing familiar language. It’s like that blind man. It says “he was restored.” He got his eyesight back again. When you hear “for His sake I forgive you all your sins,” when you hear “for you, for the remission of sins” in the Lord’s Supper, it isn’t blurry for you anymore. You get it all back again. You see clearly: you see your sins laid on Jesus. The light of His grace fills you, and remaining on this path, your hand in His, you will come to the light of glory where it is never blurry and nothing is partway, but you have fullness of joy forevermore. Amen!