I watched a Youtube video on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). I guess I was trying to find a way to explain to so-called friends and family why it is that my daughter, Sarah, cannot work full-time and cannot do some of the things they think she should be doing. Makes you wonder why God heals some people and not others. Today my reading was Mark 8:22-26. Jesus heals a blind man from Bethsaida. Bethsaida was not far from where Jesus was living in Capernaum and Jesus had probably been to Bethsaida at least a couple of times. This was another case where other people brought the infirm to Jesus and begged for healing. Remember the friends who destroyed someone’s roof to drop the paralytic thru? There were other times that the person himself did not ask for healing, someone did it for him. Interesting that prior to this the sick had just touched Jesus’ clothes and were healed yet Jesus took this blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Taking someone by the hand is definitely touching them. Why wasn’t he healed right then? This is also the second time Jesus put spit on someone to heal them. In Mark 7:33, He spit and touched a guy’s tongue, here He spit and put the spit on the guy’s eyes. I’m not sure we would be excited to have someone put their spit on us. Even then the guy could only see shapes and outlines of things. It took Jesus putting his hands on the man’s eyes for him to see clearly. Can you imagine being able to see after being blind and then told not to go into the village and tell everyone. Like we’d keep something like that quiet. Sometimes it seemed like the people were only interested in what they could get from Jesus and perhaps Jesus was not wanting to be mobbed at this time. The people who brought this man knew he was blind, the man knew he was blind. The question is not whether the man was blind or not it is whether Jesus would take the time to heal him. The people who brought the man begged Jesus to touch him. Why didn’t the man ask for the touch? Why do you suppose that Jesus healed this person differently than most of the others? What do you think the people were wondering when Jesus led the man out of town and put spit on him? If you were a bystander what would you be thinking? If you were the blind man what would be your thoughts? What would you have done, even though Jesus told the man not to go back into town? You know that the people who brought the man had followed them out of town. There is no way they were not going to be there for the healing event. Since Jesus told the man not to go back, would you have reasoned that He didn’t tell you that so as soon as the healing was over would you have run into town and told everyone? Something that exciting would have been difficult not to tell anyone.
What impact does this story have for me?
1. It’s okay for other people to go to Jesus on my behalf.
2. I need to allow Jesus to lead me where he wants me to go in order to receive from him.
3. Sometimes having not so great things put on me/happening is a step in the healing process
4. Healing sometimes takes time and more than one step.
5. I may not see everything clearly at first, only shapes and outlines giving me the assurance that God is working.
6. There will come a time when I will see clearly
Perhaps this is God telling me to be patient concerning Sarah’s healing. Then again may not. It also seems like everything boils down to trusting God to know what He is doing. Difficult concept and easier done on some things than others.
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