The healing of the blind man at Bethsaida

Mark 8:22-25

There are several distinctions in this particular healing that make it different from other times when Jesus healed blind people. Some he spoke to and some commended their faith, once he made clay with spittle and put it in the hollow eye sockets of the man born blind, but this time he did it differently. Let us see what these distinctions can teach us.

1. A crowd brought the blind man to Him and demanded that Jesus touch him. But Jesus never pandered to the crowd’s demands, because He only did what His heavenly Father showed him to do. Don’t be swayed by the demands of people who want to set you up or harm you. Follow the inner voice of the Holy Spirit who leads and guides you and shows you things to come.
2. Jesus took the blind man by the hand outside the village. It is necessary to get some people outside of their surroundings and comfort zones in order to minister to them. But people do not leave their surroundings willingly. You have to take them by the hand and gently lead them, step by step. We are sometimes in too much of a rush to get someone saved or baptised or filled in the Holy Spirit. When they are ready and have faith for it, they will receive it. Jesus has to open their eyes to the truth first, and then they will believe and receive it.
3. Jesus put saliva on the blind man’s eyes. He did not have to make eye balls like he did with the man born blind. He simply had to heal the blindness. He knew He was anointed to heal the blind. He operated in His anointing. We are often impressed with how God uses someone else and then we fall into the trap of trying to imitate or copy them. We step outside our anointing. If you stay within your anointing you will have good results. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth is not necessarily the way He anointed you. Jesus explained His anointing by quoting Isaiah 61 when he preached His first sermon in Nazareth (Luke 4:18-20)
4. Then Jesus laid His hands on the man’s blind eyes and asked him if he could see anything. It does not say that Jesus prayed for him. He only laid His hands on him. The promise of Jesus to believers in His Name as that they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. As we obey that command in a childlike manner we will see results! God will honour and confirm His Word.
5. The blind man said he could see the people coming towards them, but they looked like trees walking! We need God to open our eyes so that we see people as they really are – not as walking trees! We use trees for firewood, we carve our names out on the bark, we use branches to build our houses, and we couldn’t care if the trees receive enough water or not. We cannot treat other people like that. God has to open our eyes.
6. Jesus laid His hands on the blind man’s eyes for the second time. This time he said he could see clearly, even at a distance! It is no disgrace to lay hands on someone the second time. Jesus did it. We all require clarity of vision in life. Jesus gives clear vision. Jesus brings clarity. We need to see things clearly in a distance. God wants to give prophetic vision to his children. That is what prophecy is for. You can always be a step ahead if you walk by faith!