Read
Mark 8:22-26(NIV)
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 

He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

Reflect
A blind man is brought to Jesus at Bethsaida. Jesus restored the man’s sight, but the curious thing about this story is that Jesus did not restore the man’s sight all at once. After Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes the first time, the man said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” So, it sounds like he could see, but things looked blurry. Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes a second time and then the man “saw everything clearly.”

Any time I read this passage I wonder why Jesus allowed healing to take place in this manner.  Some people think that Jesus restored the man’s sight and it just took time for his eyes to focus properly. Others think that the man’s sight was restored in two stages in order for the man to first see Jesus as healer and then later as the Saviour of the world. Both views are just guessing and have no particular theological foundation. 

My view is that Jesus healed people in different ways so that man would not try to fit healing into a pattern or system that they could replicate and expect for the same results. At the core of this event,however, is another miracle that shows us Jesus’ power to heal. It does not matter how he heals, one step, two steps or even more. 

When I talk about the pandemic that has ravaged our world, I often speak of the fact that we may have to live in a new concept of what is normal. I believe that is true.  But this is also true: I believe that God will heal our land and our world. It may take hundreds of little steps, but the world is God’s creation and until he decides to bring a new heaven and a new earth into being, he will heal this world. Praise be to God that he is still in control.

Pray
Father we believe in your power to heal. We ask Father that you would heal our world. Heal the people of your world. Heal the hearts of your world. Heal the physical world which you entrusted to us. Amen.