A Flag to Follow

“And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And 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 upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.” Mark 8:22-23.

Expectations. 

We all have expectations. And I think this blind man did too. 

When he was brought to Jesus, the expectation was probably that Jesus would simply speak, or touch him, and heal him. This was commonly how Jesus went about healing other blind people (Matthew 9:27-30, 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43).

It is possible that this man expected the same treatment. Instead, imagine his confusion as Jesus takes him on a walk, and then proceeds to spit on his face!

In the Bible (same as today), spitting on someone was very disrespectful and offensive, especially spitting in a person’s face. Jesus was spit on when he was being mocked and tortured (Matthew 26:67). If an unclean person were to spit upon a clean person, the clean person also became unclean (Leviticus 15:8).

I wonder, did this man feel insulted? Did he think to himself, “Why didn’t Jesus spit on those other blind people? Why me?” Or did he feel angry because Jesus healed others immediately but was taking a lot longer on him?

The story of this blind man continues. Jesus had just spit on him. Then, after this seemingly rude and gross gesture, the man still couldn’t see well at first!

“And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.” Mark 8:24.

I imagine disappointment and frustration crashing through his mind as he wonders, “is this going to work? Can this man really heal me?”

“After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” Mark 8:25

At last, the man’s vision had been restored. He may have been frustrated in the moments before, and he may have been puzzled looking back at his story. But I imagine that the minute he could see, the time and humiliation were forgotten in the glorious ending.

The application is this: do you ever feel that God has insulted you? Do you ever feel embarrassed by God’s weird way of doing things? Or do you ever have expectations about how God should work in your life because he worked in someone else’s life a certain way?

Christian, don’t let God’s strange methods make you forget about his miraculous results. The Bible never tells us why Jesus healed this blind man differently from the way He healed the others. But the end result was the same: they could all see. The Bible doesn’t tell us why Jesus is working on me differently from how he is working on you. But the end result will be the same: we will all be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).

If the blind man had gotten angry at Jesus and walked away, he would have missed the miracle.

If I get angry at Jesus and walk away, I will miss the miracle.

I need to take my eyes off of how God is working on me, or how long He is taking, and focus on the truth that He is making me more like Jesus. He’s not always going to meet my expectations. But He will always meet my need. 

And Jesus just might need to spit on my eyes to help me see.