The Second Touch
“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.”
— Mark 8:22-25 (NIV)
Bethsaida sat on the northeastern shore of the lake, near the point where the Jordan runs in. John's Gospel names it as the home town of Philip, and of Andrew and Peter. In the first century saliva counted as a remedy rather than an insult. Pliny the Elder, who wrote in that same century, lists it among treatments for eye trouble. So the method itself would have looked like ordinary medicine to anyone watching. What no one expected was the pause in the middle. Every other healing Mark reports happens in a single moment. This is the only one in the four Gospels that arrives in two stages, and Mark placed it where he did on purpose. Just before it, in the boat, he asks the twelve why they still do not understand. Right after it, Peter calls him the Messiah and then argues with him about the cross. A cure given in two stages stands between two scenes of men who grasped only half. Work that is not finished yet is still work he is doing.
Something in your life got halfway better and then stopped. Maybe a talk at home that went well for a week. Maybe a treatment that helped and then leveled off. Maybe money that got steadier and then slid back again. Half results are easy to file under failed. Jesus did not walk away from a cure that was only half done. Look at what actually changed before you decide nothing did.
Take the second step today
- 1Pick one thing you gave up on because it only half worked, and do the smallest next step on it before the day ends: one message, one phone call, or ten minutes of the actual work.
- 2If nothing like that comes to mind, finish one half done job where you live today: one drawer, one form, one unanswered letter.
God, some things in my life got better and then stopped. I wrote them off and I quit trying. Help me go back to one of them today and do the next small thing. I do not know how it will turn out, and I am asking anyway. Thank you that you do not leave half done what you started. Amen.
Today I go back to what I wrote off, and take the second step.
Why does this healing happen in two stages?
Mark gives no reason. What he does is place it between two scenes of partial understanding: in the boat just before, Jesus asks the twelve why they still do not understand, and just after, Peter calls him the Messiah and then argues with him about the cross.
Why did Jesus use saliva?
In the first century saliva was widely treated as a remedy, not an insult. Pliny the Elder, writing in that same century, lists it among treatments for eye trouble, so the method looked like ordinary medicine to anyone watching.
What kind of place was Bethsaida?
A town on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, near where the Jordan runs in. John's Gospel names it as the home town of Philip, Andrew and Peter, and Jesus elsewhere names it among the towns that did not turn at what they saw.